Snow on the fields and woods

The weather forecast predicted heavy snow that materialised as light snow. But it was enough for us to put our boots on and venture out quite early to see if there were photographs to be found. Quite a few people had the same idea. This photograph shows the narrow section of woodland that connects Penyard Park and Chase Wood on the hills overlooking Ross on Wye. The man in the red coat gave the cold looking scene a single spot of colour. Ten or so minutes later the steep hill he is climbing was dotted with parents, children and sledges.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

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

People in landscapes

I'm a bit eighteenth century when it comes to landscapes. Many photographers like their landscapes to be unsullied by the human presence. I can appreciate that, and sometimes like it myself if the content of the view has great interest. But, as with many (most?) eighteenth century landscape painters, I do like a person or two, or an animal, to provide a focal point or to give scale to the composition. The photograph above would be considerably the poorer for the absence of the dog walker.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Autumn beech trees

2018's cold spring and hot summer has produced a wonderfully colourful autumn, with beautiful displays of leaves in woods, hedgerows and gardens. I've often found that the last days of October and the first week or so of November to be the best times to photograph autumn leaves and that has proved to be the case once again. The beech trees have been showing varying shades of orange and yellow, eclipsing, but only just a similar palette in the oak trees.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Sweet chestnuts

The sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa) was probably brought to Britain by the Romans, much earlier than the similar looking (but not closely related) horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) that was not grown in Western Europe until after 1600. Its seeds are edible by man and foraging animals and its wood was much used for fencing for which it was coppiced. In Herefordshire it is a commonly found woodland tree. This year's particularly hot and dry summer has more closely reflected the climate of Southern Europe where sweet chestnuts produce nuts of commercial size in great quantities annually, and consequently the British crop features plenty of larger nuts that are being collected for "roasting on an open fire".

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100