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

Hebe

Hebe was the Ancient Greek goddess of youth, a daughter of Zeus and the cup-bearer for the gods and goddesses on Mount Olympus to whom she brought nectar and ambrosia. Hebe is also the name of a genus of plants native to New Zealand and a particular favourite of mine. The approximately one hundred species come in varying sizes, varying leaf shapes and colours, and varying flower colours. In their native land large leaved varieties favour coastal areas and small leaved species are usually found in mountainous areas. In the UK, therefore, leaf size has come to determine hardiness - small are hardy, large less so. This photograph shows a new arrival in our garden seen through a macro lens.

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

Industrial lighting

Industrial lighting? Well, not quite. Christmas lights  on an industrial estate in Ross on Wye courtesy of one of the businesses located there. Mercifully traditional green and red was chosen and we were spared the very unseasonal dark blue that has proliferated in recent years. My first sighting of these lights made me wonder whether a competition between companies for the "best" Christmas lights will spring up to match the rivalry between householders that can be seen at this time of year.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

River Nidd rowing boats

Ten years ago I photographed part of a row of green and red rowing boats tied up at the side of the River Nidd in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire. I recently took another photograph of them - the row in the same location, the boats the same red and green. On the earlier occasion I made something of the numbers painted on them. But,there's only so much you can do with a subject like this so compositionally, this time, I went for repetition as the main theme, emphasising the elegant lines of the craft.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100