Bee on pyracantha

Like many gardeners I have a love-hate relationship with pyracantha. I love its evergreen presence, snow-like covering of white flowers and plentiful orange berries that keep the birds happy. I hate its lethal, stiletto thorns. This year our pyracantha has been particularly well covered in flowers and each time we have walked past it has hummed with the sound of bees collecting the plant's pollen. This busy buzzer spent only a couple of seconds on each cluster of flowers. But, by chasing her around, I managed to get a couple of reasonably sharp shots.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

A lunchtime interior

Last November we were sitting in a hotel having lunch when I looked up and suddenly appreciated the scene before me. It was one I'd seen before on quite a few occasions but this time it was different. As I reflected on what I was looking at I decided that it was because there were fewer people than usual, the view through the window was more visible, but more importantly, the soft, autumn sun was penetrating the room, enhancing the colours and making the scene resemble a genre painting i.e. a painting of everyday people undertaking everyday activities.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100     2019

Voluted bracket, The Prospect, Ross on Wye

In 1700 John Kyrle, a benefactor of Ross on Wye, gave to the town two stone gateways that opened on to The Prospect, a public, park-like space with a view over the town, the valley of the River Wye and beyond as far as the Welsh mountains. These are both in the classical style, the one near the church having large voluted brackets that support the gateposts. As we passed them the other day I noted that ivy had grown on to the brackets adding real foliage to the the carved acanthus leaf foliage in the volutes. I presumed that the dead ivy indicated someone's earlier attempt to prevent the ivy from damaging the stonework and reflected that another, more concerted effort, will be needed very shortly.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Houses in the evening sun

The word "photography" was invented by combining the Greek words for "light" and "drawing" and literally means "drawing with light". Remembering that helps photographers to recall the importance of light in the images that they make. Light can transform a scene and render the mundane memorable. In today's photograph the light of the low, evening sun has, I think, elevated the brickwork and solid forms of these mundane houses through colour and shadow.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Spot the dog

Another day with a cloudless blue sky caused me to look nearer and look lower in search of photographs as we walked in and around the town of Ross on Wye. Few subjects presented themselves until I saw this young couple walking their dog and entering the "tree tunnel" that we were in. The dog was off its leash and was too quick for me to get a shot of it silhouetted with the people. However, this photograph allows you to play "spot the dog" - it's visible in the shot and not too difficult to find if you follow the obvious clues.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Medieval reenactors

It seems there are precious few periods of history that don't attract reenactors. In the UK it is not unusual to see enthusiasts dressed as Roundheads and Cavaliers (The Sealed Knot), WW2 army and air force personnel, knights on horseback jousting or Roman soldiers. At Tewkesbury's annual medieval fayre soldiers, ladies, musicians and more, all in medieval attire can be seen. Some spend their nights in colourful pavilions to extend the experience to their sleeping arrangements. I imagine the coronavirus has put paid to this year's fayre so here is a shot from the 2018 event.On a very hot July day the chain mail must have weighed heavy.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10     2018

Martello Tower, Aldburgh

England's Martello Towers were built on the south and east coasts between the years 1804 and 1812. They were fortified buildings with guns and a small garrison designed as part of the country's defences against a Napoleonic invasion. The tower at Aldburgh, Suffolk was the last to be built. In plan view it is four intersecting circles (a quatrefoil), on each of which a large cannon was mounted. The structure required about a million bricks. Today this building is managed by the Landmark Trust and can be hired as a rather different holiday cottage.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Canon 5D2     2012

Goosander and mandarin duck families

Click to enlarge
A walk along the river near Ross on Wye produced today's charming scene. The subjects were relatively distant, on the far side of the river. However, I was carrying what I call my "bird watching camera" and so they were still within reach: in fact I didn't need to call on all its telephoto power to include all the disparate parts. The female goosander with her thirteen youngsters first caught our eye and I took a few shots of them lazing on the fallen tree. But then the mandarin mother with her eight young in tow conveniently swam into the scene greatly adding to the interest.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P900

Hebe

Hebe was the Ancient Greek goddess of youth, a daughter of Zeus and the cup-bearer for the gods and goddesses on Mount Olympus to whom she brought nectar and ambrosia. Hebe is also the name of a genus of plants native to New Zealand and a particular favourite of mine. The approximately one hundred species come in varying sizes, varying leaf shapes and colours, and varying flower colours. In their native land large leaved varieties favour coastal areas and small leaved species are usually found in mountainous areas. In the UK, therefore, leaf size has come to determine hardiness - small are hardy, large less so. This photograph shows a new arrival in our garden seen through a macro lens.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

St Michael and All Angels, Brampton Abbotts

The name Brampton Abbots reveals two things about the small settlement near Ross on Wye. Firstly, it was noted for the broom that grew in the area, and secondly the church was owned by the abbots of Gloucester. In fact it was gifted to them by William I shortly after the conquest. It's likely that the nave and chancel that we see today, with it Norman rounded arches, dates from those years. The church is a lovely, modest building that has recently been sensitively restored. The wood shingle tower is supported by a timber structure within the west of the nave. Both roofs have been repaired with, it looks like, many of the original stone tiles. The fourteenth century south porch retains many of its original timbers, a tribute to the durability of oak when it is carefully used. The fine Victorian gate  seen in the photograph opens on to a field with a footpath through it, indicating that many of the congregation came to the building across the fields rather than from the nearer dwellings whose inhabitants would have entered through the lych gate.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Bill Mills, Pontshill, near Ross on Wye

On a recent walk of several miles from home we came upon a place that perfectly illustrates the rural context of the early industrial revolution. Bill Mills, in the Castle Brook valley, is a rural site first mentioned in a document of 1362. At that time it is likely to have been a small, water-powered corn mill. From about 1638 to 1821 it was a paper mill, mainly dependent on water power, but latterly using a steam engine. Thereafter it returned to grinding corn for flour using the water wheel driven by the brook. In the second half of the nineteenth century the mill also bottled beer and mineral water with the aid of a steam engine. Flour milling and mineral water bottling continued until WW2 using a Tangye horizontal steam engine (still in situ). In the last quarter of the twentieth century the building was largely disused and derelict apart from a few dwellings acting as holiday cottages.

In recent years the whole site has been sensitively restored to incorporate ten dwellings. Its Grade II listing has ensured that care was taken to preserve features that told of its interesting past.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Spring in Ross on Wye

Our daily exercise, within the terms of the coronavirus lockdown that currently holds sway, has involved walking routes from home that we already know and trying new ones. Today's photograph shows a view from Merrivale Wood, somewhere that we hadn't before explored. As with most distant views of the town the spire of St Mary is the eyecatcher of the scene. However, it being May, spring is bursting forth and the field of oilseed rape and the different hues of the trees, as well as the varied roofs of this part of the settlement, result in a colourful landscape.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

May in the Dales

It seems very recently that we walked from Settle, over Giggleswick Scars to Feizor, then across the Ribble to Stainforth, up to Catrigg Force, and finally back to Settle via Langcliffe. Yet it was almost exactly three years ago. It was a fine, quite sunny day, but still with a slight chill on the wind so we wore light jackets. The clear light picked out the limestone walls of the lane, the fields and the skeletal branches of the late opening trees. Our path had taken us down into the valley from the height of Smearsett Scar, now a lone lump on the horizon, and we were climbing again to see the waterfall of Catrigg Force. As I looked back at the view I felt the composition needed a figure so I went ahead a little and my wife completed the scene.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100     2017

Birches Barn, Weston under Penyard

We came upon this Birches Barn on a walk that took in the edge of the woodland near Ross on Wye known as Penyard Park. It has the characteristics of quite a few old barns I've seen in Herefordshire and Gloucestershire - two-storey, stone built, slate roof, full height doors on both long elevations. What was odd, however, were the two lean-to extensions and the fact that the pointing (and the roof and timber) looked quite recent. A little research suggests that the barn was part of an old farm site that had been the subject of a planning application (refused) to turn it into a dwelling. That could explain the work done on it. Barns such as these provide landscape interest and a tangible link to the past. It's good that some of them endure. Incidentally, the splash of blue on the wood edge is bluebells and the nearby white, ramsons, also known as wild garlic and stinking onions.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Orange tip butterfly

One of the butterflies of spring in the UK is the orange tip (Anthocharis cardamines). These distinctive insects with their illustrative name appear after the brimstones, around the time when the peacocks become noticeable. On a recent walk we saw what appeared to be a particularly small orange tip and I wondered if, like some other genera, there were distinct "greater" and "lesser" or "large" and "small" species. It appears not. The explanation, however, is very interesting. It appears that the size of the male orange tip (the female is more drab without the eye catching colours) depends on the food that the individual feeds on. Smaller examples favour Cardamine pratensis (Ladies Smock or Milkmaids) whilst the larger butterflies feed on Alliaria petiolata (Garlic mustard). Interestingly, before seeing the orange tip, we had noted the milkmaids growing on the verges and by the hedges.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Red acer, blue sky

Can there be a more popular genus of tree than the acer? Flowering cherry I hear you cry, and I must admit they do seem to be equally beloved. I currently live in the well-wooded county of Herefordshire and here it seems that the acer almost competes in numbers with the fruit trees in the plentiful orchards. Breeders have ensured that an acer with almost any tint of red, orange, yellow and green is available and in gardens, parks, roadside verges, even supermarket car parks, they are currently (mid-April) showing their leaves to great advantage. This example is in our garden. We had a similar variety in our previous garden but it succumbed to successive hard winters. I have higher hopes for this tree.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10