The warm light of (almost) winter

The pollarded willow tree above featured in a photograph with vapour trails that I took in June. This was shortly after it had been cut and all the year's shoots had been removed. The photograph above is testament to the resilience of the willow: by next year it will have quite a full head of shoots and branches. I took this photograph at sunset as we walked by the River Wye, the warm tinges of the sunlit clouds contrasting with the cold blue of the sky and the growing shadows. The image is a reminder that winter will offer warmth to photographs but mainly when the sun is near the horizon.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

The cold light of (almost) winter

 

A necessary visit to Tewkesbury found us, in the early evening, on the bridge over the canalized River Avon looking towards the dark, derelict bulk of the Borough Flour Mill. The cold colours of the sky and its reflection caught my eye, and as I studied the composition in my viewfinder I noticed the pleasing contrast of the leafless branches. In the bright light and colours of daytime in spring and summer this view has only a little to commend it. But in these almost monochrome conditions of late November the silhouettes of the same view are much more appealing.

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

Late afternoon light, Ross on Wye

I imagine that more people than not regret the changes that late autumn and winter bring to the light that we experience on a daily basis. Gone is the sharp brilliance from on high. Now it is less bright and the lower position of the sun means it is often tinged with a yellow hue. Moreover, the shadows are longer and deeper. To most photographers, however, these are things to relish. If you add to the mix the more moisture-laden skies of our islands then soft, more muted images become possible. That is probably what appeals to me about this photograph of Ross on Wye taken from near the river.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Flats, Franciscans and fish shops

Was it wilfulness or ignorance on the part of the owners or constructors that led to the apartment block built off Greyfriars Avenue, next to Greyfriars Bridge, being called Fryers Gate? Greyfriars refers to the colour of the religious habit worn by members of the medieval Franciscan Order, the former inhabitants of the area. "Fryers" makes it sound like the site's earlier occupant was a fish and chip shop. The apartments are built on legs - pilotis - to prevent flood damage from the adjacent River Wye. In recent years they have proved their worth, the water level having risen to within a couple of feet of their tops. I'm quite pleased by the oddness of my photograph; the way the single image can also be seen as subdivided into two or four sub-images.

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

Speech House Lake, Forest of Dean

The Forest of Dean has a few small areas of open water. Most, if not all, of these are man-made, some connected with the powering of mills, others associated with workings that led to hollows filling with water. The Speech House Lake seems to have been created by the blocking of a stream for landscape or fishing purposes, though I may be wrong about that. What I can say with certainty is that it is one of the most picturesque of these stretches of water and I'm glad our first visit to it coincided with low morning sun and the remains of autumn leaves on the surrounding trees.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Rudhall memorials, Ross on Wye

Part of the interior of the church of St Mary, Ross on Wye, is dedicated to the display of memorials to a local family, the Rudhalls (spelling varies). The earliest piece dates from c.1530, the latest from 1817, and the photograph shows two of the most prominent examples. In the background is Colonel William Rudhall (died 1651), a local commander of Royalist troops in the Civil War. He is dressed in ancient Roman armour but his hair and beard are contemporary to his day. In the foreground is a portrait bust of Thomas Westfaling (died 1814) who married into the Rudhall family. It too is classical in inspiration and is the work of William Theed Senior (died 1817). The absence of irises and pupils in the subject's eyes appears odd to us, but it is a feature of both ancient Greek and ancient Roman portrait sculpture, though in those cases the marble may well have been painted, as was the rest of the sculpture including clothing.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

St Mary, Ross on Wye

The church of St Mary, Ross on Wye, stands at the highpoint of the town above cliffs that fall away to the River Wye below. Its significance in the landscape - it is visible from great distances - is ensured by its 205 feet high tower and spire.

We recently climbed the tower, to the parapet where the spire begins, and briefly enjoyed the view over the town, valley and nearby wooded hills. I say briefly because when we were up there a squally shower that had been approaching when I took the main photograph, lashed the church and drove us back under cover.

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

Edge of Chase Wood, Ross on Wye

One of our favoured walks takes us through Chase Wood, one of the areas of woodland that crown the two hills behind the town of Ross on Wye. On a recent day, as we pulled ourselves up the steep track by the side of the wood, we stopped to admire the trees growing along its edge and the way they contrasted with the green of the pasture. They seemed to be in their final array of autumn colours and I took this photograph as a reminder of their beauty, something to look at again when they have become the dark skeletons of winter.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Sallow Vallets Inclosure, Forest of Dean

The small plantation of conifers in this photograph form part of an area of the Forest of Dean known as Sallow Vallets Inclosure. I caught them at a point in the afternoon where the low sun was illuminating only favoured areas of the undulating ground, the cold shade of the tree trunks contrasting with the strong sunlit colour beyond. This oddly named location is today largely given over to challenging cycle tracks. Sallow Vallets refers to its original appearance as an area of small valleys (vallets) where sallow (a low, bushy form of willow) grew. Inclosure is an old form of the word "enclosure" describing a piece of "waste" land taken into cultivation.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Autumn afternoon light

Some of the best light for capturing the colours of autumn can be found in the afternoon. Find the right angle to the sun and you can engineer greater colour saturation and stronger contrast in photographs. In this part of the Forest of Dean the trees, mainly beeches, were showing to great effect as we walked among them.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Cattle as habitat managers

Walking through Woorgreens Nature Reserve in the Forest of Dean, an area of heathland and a lake, we came across six young Highland cattle. Some were the traditional ginger/brown, the others black. They were introduced in 2019 to restore, create and maintain the heathland by grazing the bramble, coarse grasses and gorse, as well as restricting the bracken by trampling it. This will allow a wider range of plant species to flourish and attract a greater variety of insects, amphibians and birds.

A few weeks earlier, when the cloud was low, we had seen the Belted Galloways of May Hill going about similar work. These cattle, however, sported bells, something we haven't seen in Britain before.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Stag's Horn Sumac leaves

Many years ago we had a Stag's Horn Sumac tree (Rhus typhena) growing in our front garden. It was an attractive specimen that flourished in the city in a relatively small space and it could easily be kept small and still offer the beauty of its leaves. However, it had two faults which, eventually, caused us to replace it. Firstly, it sent out frequent suckers which tried to establish themselves and which required controlling. And secondly, it had the habit of losing limbs in strong winds and therefore was frequently an odd and unattractive shape. I was reminded of this tree when I photographed the colourful autumn leaves on a "Rhus", as we call them, in a front garden in Ross on Wye.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Churchyard tree

This fine specimen of a tree can be found in the churchyard of St Mary's, Ross on Wye. It is a notable tree for its short trunk and fan-like shape as well as the spectacle it presents in autumn. And for the fact that I can't identify the species. I've seen the tree in a few places around the country - they draw attention to themselves with their tightly packed branches that are sharply angled upwards - but I've never been able to put a name to it. I suspect it may be a Caucasian Elm (Zelcova carpinifolia), or perhaps a Keaki (Zelcova serrata), but the descriptions and illustrations of neither of these are entirely like the tree in the photograph.

Addendum: It's a hornbeam!

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Autumn, Ross on Wye

The village of Brampton Abbotts is on high ground just to the north of Ross on Wye. At the highest point in the village stands the church. From the area around it, and from the fields to the west, are some of the best views of the town. On a walk that took us through this area we paused to look at Ross and I took a few photographs of the buildings among the changing colours of the trees. A slight haze gave the scene a hint of John Keats' "Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness".

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Echo sculpture, Forest of Dean

We've never been ones for guided tours or carefully constructed trails: we much prefer to wander where our fancy takes us or the details on a map suggest. Consequently we have never "done" the Forest of Dean Sculpture Trail in its entirety, from beginning to end. Instead we have, by chance, experienced a few small sections over the past couple of years. In time we will see it all. We came upon this exhibit the other day unexpectedly. It is a cast of the face of the small quarry in which it sits and which can be seen behind, the work of Annie Cattrell dating from 2008, called "Echo".

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2