Ramsons

The bluebells are past their best, as are the white-flowered ramsons that often accompany them. When I was young the Yorkshire Dales name for this plant was "stinking onions". Over the years I have increasingly heard them referred to as "wild garlic", and there are those who advocate picking them and using them in cooking, perhaps encouraged by this less derogatory name.

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

House Sparrow

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds' "Big Garden Birdwatch 2024", concluded that the house sparrow (Passer domesticus) was the most common bird to be seen in the gardens of the UK, a position it has held for the past twenty one years in a row. In second place was the starling and the blue tit came third. The house sparrow held the top spot in the survey despite the species' sixty per cent decline since 1979. Interestingly, the house sparrow is one of the most widely distributed and most numerous birds in the world, a situation that came about with the help of mankind. The bird in today's photograph is a male of the species that was broadcasting its tuneless chirps from a buddleia bush.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P900

The Herefordshire School of Carvers

In the church of St Michael, Castle Frome, Herefordshire is a magnificently carved Norman font. It is the product of a group of sculptors who carved distinctive fonts and other objects within the county. They date from the twelfth century and incorporate a number of styles - Anglo-Saxon, Norse (Viking), Benedictine, Western France and Northern Italy. The font in Castle Frome is probably one of their last works, perhaps carved c.1150. The top of the font exhibits bold plaiting and the lower features interlace. In between are figures of the Evangelists and scenes telling the story of the baptism of Christ. St Luke holding a book is prominent in the photograph. At the base, in a different type of stone are three disfigured crouching creatures.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Chiffchaff

There are several onomatopoeic bird names, that is to say, names based on the call of the species. Cuckoo is probably the best known but curlew, peewit (a country name for the lapwing), jackdaw and kittiwake immediately spring to mind. So too does chiffchaff, a small warbler, a harbinger of spring named for its call that for the past couple of weeks has accompanied our daily walks.

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

Lower Brockhampton House

click photo to enlarge
Lower Brockhampton House is located in a small valley near Bromyard, Herefordshire. It is a timber-framed manor house that dates from the early 1400s. It is still almost completely surrounded by a moat, with a gatehouse of c.1542-3 giving the visitor access to the garden and main building. The house received additions in the 1600s and it remained a residence for most of its life until it was given to the National Trust in 1946. The last owner's family had lived there for more than twenty generations.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: iPhone

Decorated church organ pipes

It has long been the fashion for the organ pipes in churches to be painted. A visit to major and minor churches is sure to present an opportunity to admire this form of decoration. Most examples will be from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, but more recent examples may be seen too. The examples here are in Gloucester Cathedral and appear to use the acanthus leaf as the basis for the design. The colours are brighter than is often the case.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Robin red breast

click photo to enlarge
When I was young the robin (Erithacus rubecula) was often referred to as the "robin red breast". When I first heard this it struck me as odd because the robin's breast is clearly orange. I supposed that alliterative charm appealed more than colour accuracy. More importantly, however, is the fact that "orange" as a colour name didn't come into usage in Britain until the sixteenth century and prior to that date red was the nearest colour to orange. Interestingly one of the old names for the robin was the "ruddock", a word that also means red. This robin allowed a close approach, standing on the railings, probably hoping for some food from us.

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

Car door sculpture

I'm no fan of cars - nothing would please me more than to see the back of them and then witness their replacement by a comprehensive system of public transport that complemented proper provision for walkers and cyclists. We would gain so much and lose only a little - such as witnessing the work that automobile manufacturers and designers put into making the inside of a car door look like the output of a sculptor. This is a shot I took with my iPhone when I noticed the forms and textures of my car's door.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: iPhone

The wren

One of Britain's small birds that are widely recognised by name is the wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) or, as it is colloquially known, "jenny wren". It is brown, short, rounded, with a relatively long beak and legs and a short tail that sticks up. It also has a much louder voice than you would expect. The wren is a regular visitor to gardens and, being small, suffers in harsh winters. Looking at the bird you can see why the designers of the farthing chose it to decorate the coin in circulation that was of the smallest value (see previous post).

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

The farthing

Recently I was wondering about British coins. Our current batch are, I think, a mixture of the good and the bad. One design that I find particularly unappealing features parts of heraldic figures - lions, harps etc - that mean little to the viewer who is unfamiliar with the whole from which the fragment is extracted. Another complaint I have is the relatively short duration of some of the designs. With that in mind I researched the eight new designs to be introduced in 2024 that feature various species of UK flora and fauna. I am pleased to say they look quite attractive.

The inclusion of two birds, the puffin and the capercaillie, reminded me of the only other coin to have had a bird on it - the farthing (a quarter of a penny in value) - featuring the wren. This was taken out of circulation on 1st January 1961. The farthing featured in the photographs is the sole, and quite battered, example in our collection of old British coins.

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

Colourful drake, drab duck

click phototo enlarge
In the world of birds it is quite common to find the male of the species to be relatively colourful in its plumage and the female to be more subdued. This isn't a universal rule, of course, and in species as disparate as the tree sparrow, the magpie, the kittiwake, the sand martin and the snipe, the male and female are pretty much identical. The distinction in colour is particularly noticeable in ducks. The most common duck, the mallard, has a colourful drake and a subdued female, the latter only sharing the purple speculum with the male. One of the biggest contrasts is between the male mandarin duck and the female, though in this case the female shares a couple of characteristics as well as having some unique features, such as the "spectacles".

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

The solitary crow

In a tall, old pine at the edge of the grounds of a former hotel sat a carrion crow looking like the lord of all he (or she) surveyed. The crow didn't call, it simply looked first one way then another. Had it found a useful vantage point from which to spot the odd tit bit? Or was it near a newly built nest, tucked away in the branches, over which it was standing guard. I mean to check it out when we pass by on our walks around the town.

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

The Herdsman mural, Hereford

We came upon the mural in today's post purely by chance. A little research discovered that it is one of eight that aim to brighten up the city. I'm not the biggest fan of such things, but when the quality is good I can appreciate a mural as much as anyone. And this one is, I think, very good. It enlivens part of "The Herdsman" pub, a hostelry dating from 1900. The pub's name must surely derive from the location outside the former city walls on Widemarsh Street, along which cattle (and sheep) would be driven into the city, and where there was a cattle market.

The depicted cattle are, of course, the world-famous Herefordshire breed, and the apples may well be cider apples, the county and city being known for cider-making.

I can't explain the flowers that form part of the cattle, nor do I know quite why the robin has a visible heart, but these details all add interest to a fine piece of work, by Curtis Hylton, that is a pleasure to view.

photos 1 & 2 © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10
photo3 © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

Goat willow or sallow catkins

When the catkins of the Goat Willow or Sallow (Salix caprea) first start to open they have characteristics that remind me of insects. This small tree is one of the "spring willows" that bear flowers before the leaves have appeared, usually in March. It gets one of its names from the leaves being a favourite food of the domestic goat. "Summer willows" bloom later, at the time of, or after, coming into leaf, and include the crack willow and the white willow.

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

Berberis buds

One of the March-flowering shrubs of our garden is the Barberry (Berberis darwinii), an evergreen with prickly leaves. It is a plant that requires annual pruning and those leaves have to be handled with care. However, the local house sparrows don't mind the prickles and can regularly be seen sheltering in the bush, indifferent to people passing close by. The photograph was taken before the flowers opened, and the buds were making a fine display, almost looking like berries.

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

Coracles in Hereford

Quite by chance, as we wandered around Hereford, we came upon a pair of coracles. They were on what remains of the moat of Hereford Castle. Coracles are small boats, rounded in shape and paddled with a single oar by the occupant. They were noted by Julius Caesar when he first arrived in Britain, probably pre-dated him here, and remained in use for fishing until the middle of the twentieth century.

Today they are sometimes used, in small numbers, recreationally, on the River Wye in England and Wales, and elsewhere. One of their virtues is that they can easily be carried by one person, as shown in this C19 photograph taken in Ross on Wye.

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

Preaching cross, Hereford

The Blackfriars, i.e. the Dominican Order, were given a site outside the Widemarsh Gate of Hereford in 1246. They built a monastery there and, in the 1300s erected a preaching cross to be used to preach to the local population. It is 6-sided with four steps, buttresses, tracery, vaulting, a cross on a column, and is made of local sandstone. Though restored it contains a significant amount of original work. It is the only remaining example of a friars' preaching cross in England.

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

Former Cottage Hospital, Ledbury

click photo to enlarge
The former Cottage Hospital on The Homend, Ledbury, is a brick and half-timbered building: not proper timber framing, but decorative, in the gables and porch only. It is the work of the architect Henry Haddon and was built in 1891. The effect he sought was a slightly picturesque asymmetry. Today it appears to be divided into separate dwellings. Of itself it isn't much of a photograph, but with its magnolia tree in blossom it is a real eye-catcher. The magnolia flowered early this year: my photograph was taken on 14th March. When passed it again on 22nd most of its blossom had fallen.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Crypt entrance, Hereford Cathedral

At Hereford Cathedral the C13 Lady Chapel was built over a crypt. Both of these spaces are characterised by lancet arches in the Early English style, and they are two of the most interesting features of the cathedral. Entry to the crypt is by quite steep stairs and a door (see lower left of second photograph).

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: iPhone

Litter bin robin

Robins actively seek out human company it seems. But, like most animals it only does so in the hope that it will result in some food coming its way. This robin was flitting to and fro, in and out of the slots of a litter bin, but wasn't looking for food. It had its eye on us and it let us approach quite closely before concluding that we had nothing to offer and it might have better luck elsewhere.

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

Kitchen garden path

English country houses generally have three types of garden. The best known is the landscape garden, the remodelling and improvement of the middle distance and far distance landscape by, for example, creating lakes, planting trees in clumps and as individuals, and adding "eye catchers" such as classical temples, Romantic ruins and interesting follies. Then there is the formal garden that can be seen from the house windows and when walked through. It will have plants, shrubs and small trees, all arranged in beds that frequently organised geometrically. Then, usually hidden behind a tall wall all around, there is the the kitchen garden where vegetables and fruit are grown for the table of the owners. This may have small workshops and glass houses to enable tender and non-native foods to be grown. Today's photograph shows part of the kitchen garden at Croft Castle, Herefordshire. The rustic path is made of bricks, pebbles and tiles, and on either side, with name tags dangling from them, are different kinds of apple trees.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Fog at Croft Castle

There was a familiar tale recently - the weather forecaster said unbroken sun but we, the weather observers, saw nothing but fog (until the afternoon). Consequently our day out at Croft Castle produced photographs that I hadn't imagined. For much of the time the details of the building's facade were lost and it became a monochromatic, looming pile.

Only when we walked round to the terrace on the south side did we see something of the structure we recognised.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Camellia bloom

People with little interest in gardening frequently mistake the Camellia for a rose. There are some similarities: the flower is like the red/pink roses and its petals are somewhat similar. The strong, shiny leaves can remind one of roses that have foliage of that sort. However, the Camellia flowers early in spring when most self-respecting roses are dormant. In fact, the Camellia's flowers are often damaged by early frost. That has happened this year when many have flowered a full four weeks earlier than usual.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Exodus

It is quite common to find a Bible on a lectern in a church - chapters and verses are often read weekly as part of a sermon. And even where that frequency doesn't prevail a lectern looks empty without a Bible on it and so one is frequently placed there simply to make the place look "right". The chosen version of the Bible is often one of the C20 editions. Where that isn't the case, the King James version is often to be found, and this can be Bible of great age, commonly dating from the C19. The photograph above is just such a version. We came upon it open at the book of Exodus, its great weight comfortably held on a solid wooden support.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Dockside crane and tracks

Gloucester Docks and the adjacent shopping attraction, Gloucester Quays, are an interesting mixture of the old and the new. The warehouses and the water of the docks attract people who want to know more about the area's past. To help kindle the atmosphere a few old cranes are parked where once they would have busily shifted goods from dockside to ship and vice versa. The tracks set in the tough granite setts make a good foreground for one of the most interesting cranes.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Quince

The first time I saw quince in flower and subsequently in fruit was when visiting our oldest son at Oxford University. It was growing against the sunny wall below a window. I knew of the quince because it was the fruit eaten, sliced, with a runcible spoon, by the owl and the pussycat in Edward Lear's poem of the same name. As we have moved, over the years, from the north of England to the south west of the country, we have seen more quince, in flower and in fruit, due to the more equable climate. The quince above, a flowering variety (Chaenomeles japonica), was in full flower in Herefordshire in the last week of February, the blooms appearing before the leaves, a mass of red growing on a fence.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

Trailing euphorbia

The euphorbia, with a genus of over 2000 members, is one of the largest genera of flowering plants. From tiny annuals to a tree-like plant of 30m (98 feet) or more, one euphorbia can look quite different from another. The subject of my photograph is Euphorbia myersinites,  a trailing plant often found on rockeries in Britain. Like all its brethren this plant has a poisonous, milky sap that can cause a rash on the hands of a careless gardener. I have featured a Euphorbia on the blog before. It shares little in appearance with the example above.

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

Wet weather semi-abstract

It was a wetter than usual January and February and photography was somewhat curtailed. However, the rain itself added to the appeal of some subjects and today's photograph exemplifies this. It shows the blue painted slats of a bench in a public garden. No good for sitting on after a recent shower, but the water droplets offered the opportunity for a semi-abstract composition.

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

Crumpled aluminium foil

Sitting on a fallen branch in the Forest of Dean, eating a sandwich, I stopped thinking about yellow brain fungus and started noticing the way the light reflected from the crumpled aluminium foil that had been my food's wrapping. I was carrying the wrong camera for a closeup so I made a mental note to photograph the foil at home. My first effort was taken during indoor daylight and the result was underwhelming. So I tried again under the warm bulb of my desk lamp and I was much happier with it.

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

Yellow brain fungus

Walking in a nature reserve in the Forest of Dean we came upon, for the first time ever, yellow brain fungus (Tremella mesenterica). This fungus is parasitic and feeds on other fungi that feed on dead wood. The example we came across was on a dead oak tree. It was a soft gelatinous mass, slimy and wet with colours in the yellow/orange spectrum. I spotted its bright colours at a distance and thought it was a hat or glove, perhaps dropped by a child, and placed on a branch so as to be visible to anyone searching for it. The reality proved to be quite different.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P900

Primulas and colours

There are many colours that take their name from flowers, and those flowers are the reference point for the particular tint of that colour. Violet, lilac, mustard and saffron spring to mind. So too does primrose, the wild example being Primula vulgaris, a pale yellow flower that appears in the spring. Plant breeders have bred from the wild primrose to produce primulas of a vast range of colours. We were in a garden centre recently and I photographed theses examples on sale. As I took in the range of colours I noticed there was none exhibiting the colour of the wild variety and I reflected that, to my mind, its subtle yellow outshines all its derivatives.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: iPhone

Chewie the cockerpoo

As fans of the "Star Wars" films will know, Chewie is an abbreviation of Chewbacca, the name of Han Solo's hairy co-pilot, a member of the Wookiee race. In our family, however, it is also the name of a black, white and grey cockerpoo belonging to one of my grandaughters. She obligingly posed for me as she claimed her position on our sofa.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

The greylag

The greylag goose (Anser anser) is the species from which most farmyard geese species have been bred. Alongside the Canada goose it is the most familiar wild (semi-wild?) goose, often being found on town and city park ponds as well as on more remote stretches of water. The British population of this goose is augmented by a winter influx of many tens of thousands more. The "lag" part of the bird's name is of great antiquity and means "goose". Hence that word is technically superfluous when referring to the bird.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P900

Scots pine bark

The patterns in the bark of trees have often prompted me to take a photograph of their attractive qualities. I have several of plane tree bark, a couple of silver birch bark and sundry others. Today's image shows a section of scots pine bark, a species that I have also photographed previously. Tree bark varies in appearance with the age of the tree. Both the examples of scots pine bark belong to mature specimens.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Rook

One of the local rookeries, in trees on a roundabout of the A40 road, has sprung back to life this month and birds are preparing for the forthcoming nesting season. The rook (Corvus frugilegus) is a member of the crow family, a social bird and a colonial nester that doesn't mind if the trees it chooses are in close vicinity to people. The bird above probably came from this rookery and, like its fellow nest builders, was scavenging around the nearby fields and houses, searching for food. Its distinctive bill and the purple sheen of its broadly black plumage were well displayed.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

Winter flowering cherry

One of the most attractive of the winter flowering cherry trees comes into bloom around the second week of February in my part of England. I've photographed the particular specimen shown above before, but haven't produced a photograph that I've liked. So, in the hope of getting something that pleased me I took a macro lens on a walk that took in the tree. The shallow depth of field areas set off the sharpness of the main bloom to much better effect I think. The lingering raindrops added a further dimension.

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

Worcester Guildhall and Queen Anne

Pevsner describes the Guildhall at Worcester (1721-4) as "splendid as any of the C18 in England". It is a large, imposing building of brick with stone details and may be by the architect Thomas White. Much of the fine detailing is on the upper part of the main facade. Here we see statues of Peace, Justice and Plenty above the large segmental pediment. This is filled with trophies of war that are painted and gilded. Below, framed by giant Corinthian pilasters is a niche with a statue of Queen Anne (formerly free standing). below is a broken-backed triangular pediment, above the main entrance, that features the city's coat of arms. The windows have segmental tops with keystone heads and aprons below. Statues of Queen Anne are not too common in Britain despite a style of architecture being named after her.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Spires and vertical accents

Is there a better vertical accent than a church spire? A case can be made for skyscrapers or mill chimneys but, without wishing to sound like the Victorian architect, designer and writer, A.W.N. Pugin, I have to say that a church spire (or two, or more) always improves the appearance of a village, town or city. This view of distant Ross on Wye seen from Wilton Bridge would be much less distinctive and distinguished without the early C14 spire and C18 pinnacles of the church of St Mary.

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

Preening drake goosander

I've mentioned before the obliging nature of some goosanders on the River Wye at Ross that now swim with the semi-tame mallards that people feed. Recently I've noted males and females preening as they drift about with the other waterbirds, a behaviour that seems to suggest they are comfortable near people. Preening allows the birds to put their feathers neatly together so they can fly, swim and dive most efficiently. It is also cleans the plumage and keeps parasites at bay. They can also spread preen oil from a gland near the tail that helps the waterproofing of the feathers. This male took little notice of me as I took my shot.

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

Earth in the abbey

A quick trip to Tewkesbury found us in the abbey confronted by a surprise - a massive model of the earth as seen from space filled the nave. It was part of the touring artwork called "Gaia", a multimedia installation by the U.K. artist Luke Jerram. The seating of the nave had been removed to allow the public to walk underneath and around the slowly rotating model.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Mill Avon fish belly sluice, Tewkesbury

The River Avon joins the River Severn in the town of Tewkesbury. A branch of the Avon, known as the Mill Avon, is a stretch of water that formerly turned the mill wheels of the Abbey Mill in Tewkesbury. Today it a haunt of small pleasure craft.

 In the 1990s the two old sluices at this location on the Mill Avon at Tewkesbury were replaced by a single "fish belly sluice". When in the "up" position this forms a weir: when "down", during a flood, water can flow freely. The control room for the new sluice was mounted on legs above the footpath that crosses the Mill Avon at this point.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Winter aconite

Two days before the end of January isn't especially early to find a winter aconite (Eranthis hyemalis) in bloom. But, apart from the earliest of blooming daffodils, it is early for a yellow-flowered plant. Consequently it is a useful source of nectar for any insects that are out and about braving the cold weather. The winter aconite isn't a native here but is found in mainland European countries to the south and east of us. In Britain it is a naturalized species, is more common in southern Britain, and is a favourite of many gardeners for that early colour.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Old rendered wall

Sometimes it's difficult to articulate why you take a photograph. This shot of layers of old render with moss or lichen on the side of a house in Ross on Wye is a case in point. If pushed I'd say the appeal was in the combination of colours and the textures. Such images sometimes have a face or or some other vaguely figurative element. That isn't the case here.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: iPhone