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

Rolling Herefordshire

This view of the fertile, rolling Herefordshire countryside was taken on the Malvern Hills from near the Iron Age hill fort known as British Camp. It shows the scenery to the west of the summit, an agricultural mixture of arable, pasture, orchards and managed woodland. The western border of the county, in the region of the Black Mountains, can be seen on the distant horizon, along with some of the easternmost peaks of Wales. The Malvern Hills form the eastern border of Herefordshire and, generally speaking, the edges of the county are marked by higher ground.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Interloper barley

Nature is tenacious. The drive to grow, thrive and multiply is central to all living things. In an area of intensive agriculture such as the Fens it is harder than elsewhere for plants and animals to achieve this biological imperative.Where farmers grow wheat a regime of pesticides and herbicides aims to ensure that only the wanted crop grows. Consequently the much-liked poppies that traditionally accompany wheat are few and far between. However, the other day I came across three ears of barley in a green field of wheat. How did they get there? Were they a survival from a previous crop? Is it wild barley? Would they continue to grow and be harvested with the surrounding crop? I'll probably never know, but it was good to see these three stems marring the perfection of the pampered wheat.

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

Frosty Fenland landscape

Winter trees make good photographic subjects. They give landscapes detail and their skeletal silhouettes offer a stark beauty. On a frosty winter day the contrast between black branches and the overcast sky and whitened ground is stronger still. In the photograph the mist is enhancing this effect further. The trees visible above are managing to hang on in an intensively farmed area because they have grown either on the side of a drainage ditch or next to a farm building and so are are no impediment to the vehicles that cultivate the land and harvest the crops.

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