Lockdown High Street, Ross on Wye

The terms of the most recent Covid 19 lockdown severely restrict the circumstances under which people may leave their home. For someone of my age the two main reasons are shopping and physical exercise. I combine photography with the latter. But, a further restriction - the requirement to remain "local" to my home - limits the subjects on which I can focus my camera. Consequently one has to look more carefully at the immediate surroundings and search out subjects that, in more relaxed circumstances, might not be considered worthy of a shot. Not a bad discipline. Today's image was taken because of the way the sunlight was reflected from buildings across the street and from the damp road and pavements. The normally busy High Street at Ross on Wye is usually thronged with shoppers and visitors but on this occasion there were only two.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

A winter's day at Skegness

Winter at a sandy coast is a time for the warmest clothing because the wind is often bitter. Usually the most appropriately dressed are the sea anglers. Standing by a rod for a few hours very quickly tells you about any shortcomings in your clothing. Bird watchers are usually well dressed for the location, as are dog walkers. It is the casual winter visitors to the coast, the sort who wear their car as a coat, that often get caught out. I remember taking this photograph in January 2014, at Skegness in Lincolnshire, because of a family with children who charged down the beach to the water's edge, pleased to see the sea, and almost immediately turned round and raced back to their car making noisy complaints about the cold.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100     2014

Black-headed gull

This photograph of a black-headed gull was taken in February, a time of year when usually only slight remnants of the bird's black (actually dark brown) hood is visible. It was part of a flock numbering about twenty. Some of them were more advanced in acquiring their black heads with newly grown dark feathers starting to cover the sides, top and back of their heads. Only by the end of March will most black-headed gulls have their full breeding plumage. This gull's vantage point on the top of a river level gauge on the River Wye at Ross on Wye was a windy spot and the bird adopted this streamlined shape to keep its balance. A couple of days after I took this photograph I passed the gauge when a kingfisher was perched in exactly the same position. Unfortunately it sped off before I could bring my camera to bear on it.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Britain's biggest wild bird?

The biggest wild bird found in the British Isles is not, as commonly thought, the mute swan. The bird with the biggest wing span is the sea eagle (over 8 feet - 244cm), the tallest is the common crane (100-130cm), and potentially the heaviest is the great bustard (up to 21kg). The latter is a large "game" bird that formerly flourished on downlands and parts of eastern England until it was shot to extinction in 1832. In recent years a re-introduced population sourced from European birds has been established on Salisbury Plain and there are hopes they can be established elsewhere. The mute swan is, however, the biggest commonly seen British wild bird. The swan in the photograph is an adult (four or more years old) and probably a male judging by the size of the "blackberry" on its beak. There are three kinds of swan regularly seen in Britain - the mute swan, the whooper swan and the Bewick's swan. Since my recent relocation to Herefordshire I have yet to see the latter two, but mute swans abound on the River Wye.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Dusk over the Fens, Lincolnshire

The Fens is an area of low-lying, flat land in eastern England. The soils are very fertile and consequently it is not heavily populated but is intensively farmed. The landscape has a character of its own with level expanses punctuated by church towers and spires, sparse trees and more recent intrusions such as electricity pylons and wind turbines. The Fens also have big skies. Clouds assume the significance of mountains in the Fens and the hours of sunrise and sunset are especially noteworthy, as is dusk, the time of day shown in the photograph above.

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

Medieval timber porch, Brampton Abbotts

Quite a lot of the oak timbers of the south porch of St Michael's church, Brampton Abbotts in Herefordshire, date back to the 1300s when the structure was first erected. Any wood that was rotten and unable to be salvaged was probably replaced in 1907-8 when a wider renovation was undertaken by the architect, W. D. Caroe. The wooden pegs that hold the pieces together would have been drilled out where required and then replaced with new. It is not unusual to find timber porches that have lasted for many centuries. The fact that oak hardens as it ages, and that the tradition is for a south porch that dries out quickly in the sun accounts in part for this.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Scala lighting

When we lived in Lincolnshire and travelled by train to London we would arrive in the capital at King's Cross station. This is  a marvellous location for photography next to several other marvellous locations for photography, including St Pancras station and hotel. At night, one of the lesser attractions is the lit-up facade of Scala outside King's Cross on Pentonville Road. This is a former cinema that has been turned into a nightclub and live music venue. It looks unremarkable during the day. But, when lit up at night, the white paintwork, windows, columns, arches, cornices and rustication, as well as the well-judged neon sign, make a splendid sight.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10     2017

Weston Hall, Weston under Penyard

 
Most of Weston Hall at Weston under Penyard, Herefordshire, is said to date from around 1600, though it has been suggested it is a later build of c.1650. The arms of the Nourse family and the symmetrical plan, mullioned windows, characteristic doorways, drip moulds and finials all point to the seventeenth century. There are later additions of the eighteenth and twentieth centuries, with the most recent structure (dated 2000) a circular, ornamental gazebo with a tall ogee top. This photograph, that shows one of the formal gardens, was taken through a gate in the roadside wall.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Heaven and Hell, Burghley House

Burghley House near Stamford, Lincolnshire, was built between 1555 and 1587 and is the grandest Elizabethan house in England. It is also one of the most palatial country houses open to the public. The two photographs from its interiors feature the painting of Antonio Verrio who worked there in the late 1600s. The first is the Heaven Room where on the walls and ceiling the classical gods disport themselves among Corinthian columns. 

The second, nearby, shows a detail of the Hell Staircase where Verrio depicts the entry to Hell as the open mouth of a cat. Medieval Doom paintings of the type commonly seen in churches, were intended to warn observers of the perils of a life that ended in Hell. Verrio and his patrons seem to have had no such didactic aim: entertainment seems to have been their motivation.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10     2017

Stonechat, Malvern Hills

When I first watched birds, decades ago in the Yorkshire Dales, I never saw stonechats. There were plenty of whinchats, a species whose numbers have tumbled to the point where their conservation status is Red and I rarely see them today. When I lived on the west coast I knew I would see stonechats at St Bee's Head in Cumbria. And in Lincolnshire they were relatively common on The Wash bird reserves and were occasionally seen further inland in winter. Today I know I can guarantee seeing stonechats on the Malvern Hills. Not only are they easy to see at that location, you can also hear their distinctive call that sounds like two stones being knocked together.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P900

Sunbeams and showers, Lytham

For twenty years of my life I lived within two miles of the Lancashire coast. It was a time when I relished photographing the shoreline, the sea and the skies above it, and appreciated how the weather could transform very familiar photographic scenes. The beach at Lytham always had inshore fishing boats, tractors and buoys, and the view always had something of both the sea and an estuary about it. In this photograph I had my camera turned seawards, away from where the River Ribble enters the Irish Sea, because the sunbeams and showers off the coast made such compelling subjects.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus E-300     2005

Metal paint palettes

When I looked at our shiny, metal paint palettes loaded with watercolour, brushes resting across them, it occurred to me that they would make a good subject for a painting. Or even a semi-abstract photograph. So I took them to various locations in search of good light, reflections and backgrounds. After much trial and error the best location proved to be the interior window sill of the study. Here the blue sky, orange of the curtains and white of the window frame brought them to life.

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

Tree pollarding

Our neighbour recently took advantage of still air, a dry day and the season of winter to have a large beech tree pollarded. Seeing the tree surgeons at work in the garden reminded me that ten years ago, almost to the week, we had a large willow tree in the garden of our previous house pollarded. Having such work done is always a hard decision. On the one hand a very tall tree near buildings presents a potential problem in high winds and can impact on the cost of insurance. On the other hand big trees bring beauty to gardens and the wider neighbourhood as well as providing food and habitats for birds and insects. About a third of the height was removed and inevitably it looks odd at the moment. However, the leaves and fresh shoots will soon return it to a more natural shape.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Little Egret

I never imagined, during my teenage bird-watching days in the Yorkshire Dales, that I'd see little egrets almost daily in England because at that point I'd never seen one.  But that is what has happened during my lifetime. The first large influx of the species was noted in the south of the country in 1989 following a period of northward expansion in France. The first recorded breeding success was in Dorset in 1996. At that time I was noting lone birds on the Lancasire coast in the salt marshes. After I moved to Lincolnshire in 2007 I saw them regularly with the highest count being forty two on The Wash. I even saw the bird on several occasions by the stream and on the willow trees in my garden. When I photographed this bird recently by the tree lined Rudhall Brook in Ross on Wye, Herefordshire, it was one of three in a stretch of one hundred yards of water.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2