The Lock Up

A lock up is a small prison in which people were locked up pending an appearance before a magistrate. It is less grand than a prison, holds few people, and was used in small towns and villages in England and Wales. Most were built in the C18 and C19, and they were often quite decorative structures. The lockup in Ross on Wye was built in 1838 and was used for holding prisoners before they were sent to Hereford courts. It had two cells and fell out of use in 1844. Today it has adjoining buildings and is a house.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Winter sun on The Prospect

The name given to the public park next to the church in Ross on Wye is The Prospect. This neatly defines its main purpose i.e. a viewpoint above the sandstone cliffs from which to look out over the loop of the River Wye, the riverside fields, the village of Wilton, the distant farmland and hills, and the even more distant mountains. It was was created by John Kyrle, who rented the land from the Marquess of Bath in 1696 and turned it into a garden and walkway.  The Prospect is also the home of the town's war memorial and is a place to sit in relative quiet. Today's photograph shows the boundary fence of the location, with a low sun streaming its light through a tree.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: iPhone

Winter wagtail

In winter the pied wagtail has, to an extent, adapted to the disappearance of the rocky, often stream-side environment they like. During my lifetime I have seen these attractive black and white birds repeatedly using locations that must provide the food that they require, places such as school playgrounds, tennis courts, car parks and roofs of all descriptions. In recent winters I have found pied wagtails searching the crannies of wood shingles on the roof of the Forestry England visitor centre at Beechenhurst in the Forest of Dean. The photograph shows one of two birds that were carefully scrutinising the roof during a recent visit.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P950

Robin close-up

I've never done a survey but I imagine that 95% of the birds represented on Christmas cards in the UK  are robins. I have the impression that it used to be 100%, but in recent years a few others (owls, blue tits, wrens etc) have begun to make an appearance. Today's robin came very close to me allowing this photograph and being rewarded with a few seeds we were carrying.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P950

Santa, Rudolph and sleigh - Merry Christmas

As I cast about the house looking for a subject for a Christmas post I came upon this little model of Santa, Rudolph and his present-laden sleigh. We couldn't recall when or why we had bought it though there must have been a reason. The best we could do was assume it was to decorate the Christmas cake in a manner that would please the grandchildren. As I put it on a black background and pointed ny macro lens at it I couldn't help but feel sorry for Rudolph. He had clearly been deserted by all the other reindeers and the reponsibility for pulling the sleigh fell solely on him.

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

Old Smith Premier typewriter

Today's photographs show a Smith Premier Typewriter No.10 made in Syracuse, N.Y., U.S.A. It was in production from 1908 to 1921. Apparently it was the last typewriter model to have a full-size keyboard with both key registers available full time. This particular manufacturer was taken over by Remington in the 1920s, and the Smith name disappeared from that time.

 Something I found particularly interesting was the fact that the Qwerty layout was in use as early as the 1920s. Also of interest are the keys dedicated to fractions - 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, 1/8, 3/8, 5/8, and 7/8 - an indication of how much more they were used compared with today. I came upon the typrwriter in a small museum in Gloucester that housed a very eclectic mix of objects.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Heraldic hedgehog

It is a tradition in the design of medieval and later tomb chests that the person depicted has his (or her) feet resting on an animal. Typically they are animals that feature on a coat of arms (lion, hind, dog, tiger, bear etc). On the tomb chest of Sir John Kyrle (d.1660) and Lady Sybil (d.1637) at the church of Much Marcle, Herefordshire, a hedgehog is favoured for him and a bear's paw for his wife.

 Both refer to the heraldry of the families of the departed. In addition, the hedgehog's old name was "urchin" and this is used in the old name for the locality - Archenfield.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Winter wheat and blackcurrants

My photograph, I think, shows lines of winter wheat in the foreground behind the out of focus hedge and blackcurrants beyond, on the hill slope in wider lines. Both of these crops are grown locally and I'm told the blackcurrants go to the bottling plant of Britain's favourite blackcurrant cordial a few miles away in Coleford.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P950

Transformative fog

On a recent foggy morning we walked past a pond that had increased greatly in size following an extended spell of rain. Quite a few of the pond-side bushes and trees now had their roots in water and were making good reflections. However, it wasn't the increased size of the pond that caught my eye as much as the way the fog was giving a different emphasis to the trees.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P950

Stancheon reflection

Walking along Wye Street, past the seventeenth century pub, the "Man of Ross", I noticed our reflections in the steel posts holding up ropes that delimited the area of outdoor seating. So, never liking to miss a good reflection, I took a snap of our reflections. When I came to add it to my collection of photographs I realised I didn't know the name for such a post. Research came up with "stanchion", a word that means any kind of fixed vertical post that holds something up. Perhaps there is a better word, but if there is it has eluded me all these years.

The cormorant tree

A year or so ago the River Wye was in spate and the force of its flow knocked down a tree that cormorants liked to roost in. There was no obvious nearby tree that they fancied and so the sight of these birds perched above the river was no longer a regular occurence. However, as the months have passed one tree looks like it might become a substitute perch as birds seem to be favouring it. Cormorant trees are known for their dead branches caused by the birds' droppings. This tree is not yet marked in this way, but regular use will undoubtedly produce these characteristic features.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P950

Frosted teasels

This group of teasels caught my eye when we went out for an early morning walk. The darkess of the large seed heads was turned brighter by the frosting that the cold night had added. The sharp shapes against the out of focus background was very appealing.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P950

Foggy, flooded bandstand, Ross on Wye

A few times each year heavy rain causes the River Wye at Ross on Wye to spill out of its channel. This doesn't usually do much damage because it's done this for decades and buildings have, for the most part, not been erected where it floods. Or the structures that are flooded aren't damaged - like this bandstand that was recently subject to not only floodwater but fog, and made for an interesting photograph.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P950

Decorative glass bowls

We bought this pair of decorative glass bowls from a gallery about fifteen years ago. They are pieces that display well in natural and artificial light and every now and then I try to squeeze a photograph out of them.

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

Roosting little egret

The little egret is a member of the heron family that has quickly established itself as a relatively common bird in the UK. It is found in the same sort of locations as grey herons but also favours, in my experience, field drains and salt marshes to a greater extent than its more numerous cousin. It is frequently found roosting in trees and in groups. I've seen as many as ten together in a tight cluster in a pasture near a river. The roosting bird in today's photograph drew my attention for the way it was surrounded and overlaid by  branches. Usually when photographing birds it is customary to seek a completely clear view; here I was attracted to the pattern in which the bird remains the visual focus.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P950

Grey Heron

The grey heron (Ardea cinerea) is one of the UK's taller birds (90-98cm) with a wing span double its height. It is relatively common with an estimated 13,000 nests being found in heronries annually. The population of herons increases in winter with a large influx of birds from the continent. Its diet is mainly fish so it is usually found by rivers, streams and lakes. The heron's plumage is an attractive and subtle mixture of grey, black and white against which the orange bill and yellow eye stand out. All these factors make it one of the easier birds to photograph.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P950