Wood pigeon in rowan tree

The colours of the wood pigeon (Columba palumbus) have a soft, subtle character that are overlooked by many. Why so? Well, it's largely because the wood pigeon is often seen as a too numerous, messy bully, a pest in field and garden that monopolises the food that ornithologically-inclined householders put out to attract a wider variety of species. The wood pigeon population is estimated to number 5.2 million in summer. Farmers complain about its impact on field crops and use ever more fanciful and intrusive bird-scarers to chase them away. In gardens the bird appears to barge to the front to gobble up any offered food, and leaves large droppings wherever it goes. All of which makes people see the species' negatives rather than the delicate plumage that makes it stand apart from the drab and the dazzling birds that we see about us.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P900

The Mitcheldean "Doom"

"Doom" is the name given to a painting that depicts the Bible's Last Judgement, particularly the torments that await in Hell and, often, the delights of Heaven. In English churches they were common in the medieval period and many survive in varying states of repair. A common location for the painting is above the chancel arch or on the west wall. Others can be found on the north or south walls. The purpose was to impress on the illiterate congregation the folly of departing from Christian teaching. The "Doom" in St Michael & All Angels, Mitcheldean in the Forest of Dean, was painted in the late 1400s on oak panels that separate the nave from the chancel . It shows the usual subject as well as the Betrayal, Passion and Ascension of Christ. The two dominant colours are red and green, both of which were widely used in church paintings of the time.

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

Churchyard compositions

Unusually, the medieval church at Weston under Penyard was closed and so, after a cup of coffee on a bench in the sun, I cast about for some churchyard compositions. The first I came up with reminded me of a shot I took many years ago in which I, broadly speaking, found a composition that clearly emphasised separate areas. In the example above the areas intersect more via the bold diagonals. So, top left is the tower, top right is the Scots pine, bottom left is the shaded chancel wall, and bottom right is the aisle tracery.

The second composition has a void at the centre of the composition and gives no particular emphasis to anything -  a cardinal sin in photography!. But, what it does do is give a feeling of what the churchyard is like and points out the attractive light that is falling on the scene. The shot was taken a couple of yards from the point where I took the first photograph.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Propagator condensation

Sitting at the picnic bench in my grandchildren's garden I couldn't help noticing a pink and clear plastic, domed container with condensation inside it. Curiosity got the better of me and I took the top off to find it filled with soil and child-painted labels/signs. There were also a few green shoots and I worked out that it  was my five year old grand-daughter's plant propagator. When I put the clear top back on I noticed the multitude of different sized beads of condensation, each displaying some of the painted labels. It looked like it might offer a macro semi-abstract image so I took this shot.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

May is a green month

April and May this year seem to have merged and swapped some characteristics - April passed its famed showers on to May with the latter month's temperatures decidedly cooler than usual. However, a walk around the village of Hope Mansell and its secluded Herefordshire valley showed that May is, this year notwithstanding, a green month.

Most of the trees are now displaying fresh leaves and the pastures, meadows and most of the crops exhibit greens of one tint or another. The temperatures do seem to have slowed down the oilseed rape and its bright yellow is still evident though not in either of these landscapes.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Watery reflections, ducks and swans

I think we all, photographer or not, like to see reflections in water. Non-photographers seem to prefer the most perfect reflections, but photographers have just as strong a liking for the less mirror-like effects. This is partly because the camera can freeze the moving water and allow us to see what we can't with the naked eye, something that was most forcefully brought home to me when I reviewed a photograph of a swan on the River Witham in the middle of Lincoln. It appeared to be swimming through paint! To the naked eye the reflection was just a background swirl of colour. I recently posted a photograph of a duck "smearing" a reflection and here is another one of a pair of ducks on the canal in Worcester doing just the same but to more spectacular effect.

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

Naval Temple at the Kymin, Monmouth

Near the Roundhouse at the summit of the Kymin (see previous post) is the Naval Temple. This is a memorial structure, with classical details, built as a commemoration of the second anniversary of the Battle of the Nile. It was erected by the Kymin Club in 1800, probably to designs by T. Fidler, and additionally commemorates sixteen British Admirals who were responsible for significant naval victories up to that time. It was visited by Lord Nelson who made admiring comments about it during his visit to Monmouth in 1802. Other writers of the time were less complimentary.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

Roundhouse at The Kymin, Monmouth

The Roundhouse at The Kymin, a hill and view point above Monmouth,was built around 1796 by the Monmouth Picnic Club, also known as the Kymin Club. This was a group of gentlemen who met weekly "for the purpose of dining together, and "spending the day in a social and friendly manner."  The building's purpose was to give members "security from the inclemency of the weather". It has a kitchen on the ground floor and a banqueting room above.

It was furnished with a telescope to take advantage of the views of Monmouth below and the Welsh mountains in the distance (click photo above to enlarge). In 1807 the Monmouth antiquarian, Charles Heath, noted that ten counties can be seen from the Roundhouse - Gloucestershire, Monmouthshire, Herefordshire, Glamorganshire, Breconshire, Worcestershire, Montgomeryshire, Shropshire, Somerset and Radnorshire. Today the building and the immediate area is owned by the National Trust and is open to the public.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

Herefordshire fields

Herefordshire is an agricultural county. Where it is known elsewhere in the world it is usually for its breed of cattle. On a recent walk we looked north from the slopes of Penyard Park woods at the chequerboard of fields bordered with hedges that stretched away to the horizon and considered what we could see. Rows of blackcurrant bushes, tree nurseries or orchards, pasture with cattle and sheep, wheat, barley, bright yellow oilseed rape and polytunnels, probably over strawberries, were all visible. And, here and there, prepared but unplanted fields of characteristic red soil added contrast to the landscape.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Sugar Loaf and the Skirrid seen from the Kymin

On a recent visit to the Kymin, a hill that overlooks the Welsh town of Monmouth I put a long lens on my camera and photographed the distant summits. On the left is Sugar Loaf, looking like (but it isn't) an extinct volcano. The long "whaleback" of the Skirrid, dotted with trees, is next. On the right is, I think, Patrishow Hill, though that may be incorrect. The day was sunny, with a chilly breeze, but warm enough for a haze that gave something of a blue tint to the far off hills. Such things can be "corrected" in software these days with a haze filter but what's "correct" about rendering a scene so that it doesn't look like what is seen?

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

St Paul, Parkend, Gloucestershire

The church of St Paul at Parkend, Gloucestershire, was designed and built in 1821-2 by Rev. Henry Poole, its vicar, a man who had architectural training before he entered the ministry. What makes it a remarkable building is most evident inside but is hinted at on the exterior. Its plan is a Latin cross with extensions across the right-angles that make the centre of the interior octagonal. You can see one of these as a splay between the nave and transept in the photograph above. Poole used the same device in his rebuilding of the medieval St Anne (Old Church) at nearby Coleford. Unfortunately, there only the tower remains after the rest was pulled down in 1882. We have seen the interesting interior of St Paul but our recent visit fell on a day when the church wasn't open. We will return.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

Dean Forest Railway, Parkend station

The Dean Forest Railway is a heritage line that runs 4.25 miles between Parkend and Lydney in Gloucestershire. It was formerly part of the Severn and Wye Railway that ran from Lydney to Cinderford. The railway is run by volunteers who manage the track, buldings and a variety of heritage steam and diesel powered locomotives, carriages and goods wagons. There are plans to extend the line a further 2.5 miles to near Beechenhurst. Currently the railway's activity is curtailed by the Covid19 pandemic but the outside of the station at Parkend is open to visitors. As I stood on the footbridge to take this photograph I was struck by how much the scene resembled a model railway layout and how it was the sort of shot that some would process with a "toy" or diorama camera effect.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

Fire insurance plaque, Ross on Wye

House fire insurance in England began in the late seventeenth century, perhaps spurred on by the Great Fire of London (1666). It worked much as insurance does today (though some companies also had their own fire engines) with risk calculated by the insuring company and premiums paid regularly by the owners. In 1680 the London rate for timber built houses was twice that for those built of brick. Companies advertised themselves by fixing a plaque to insured properties. These were made of  lead, copper plate, tinned iron or cast iron. Designs usually included the company's emblem and name. Some had the specific insurance number too. The photograph shows one such plaque on the Man of Ross Gallery in Ross on Wye, Herefordshire. The building dates from the seventeenth century but the plaque, as far as I can ascertain, dates from the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Hill Paul building, Stroud

The Hill Paul building in Stroud, Gloucestershire, is a late Victorian (1890s) structure erected to house the business of Hill Paul Clothiers Ltd, who made men's clothing. It was built by the architect Henry A. Cheers and is a prominent building in the town, near the railway station. After the closure of the Hill Paul business in 1979 a number of uses were mooted for the site including a museum and a cinema. When these fell through demolition was proposed.

Fortunately local action prevented that and a deal was made with a developer who added a reasonably sympathetic penthouse level and turned the whole property into apartments - an outcome that kept the landmark building. My photographs show a detail of the windows and a view of the main elevation.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Fonts, ballflowers and chancels

Medieval builders almost always started building a church at the east end of the chancel, the place that housed the high altar, the necessary prerequisite for worship. Consequently this is often the oldest part of a remaining medieval church. However, rebuilding in a more modern style, or expansion of the church, often meant building anew, and in such cases the area around the high altar may not be the oldest. Sometimes a font, the necessary prerequisite for admission to the faith, is the oldest part of the church. And, many churches kept a venerated old font even when rebuilding took place. But a font, though usually made of stone, is easily moved, and many were replaced, or even moved elsewhere. The font stem at Tewkesbury Abbey (above) has ballflower decoration that dates it to the fourteenth century (the bowl is newer), similar to the age of the chancel, but a couple of hundred years more recent than the nave. 

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2