Mandarin ducks and camouflage

As is typical with the majority of ducks, the male mandarin duck is brightly coloured and the female is relatively drab. In terms of camouflage the male stands out boldly against most backgrounds, and the female tends to blend in. Bright male colouring is thought to be connected to attracting a mate and drabness in the female an aid to camouflage when nesting. I knew this theoretically but it took this photograph, particularly the female surrounded by branches, bank and water, to bring home to me the extent to which this is so.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P900

Little Egret

Though by tradition February 14th (Valentine's Day) is the date birds pair up for the breeding season the following month is when many species start to show mating behaviours. As the bird in this photograph shows, the little egrets on the River Wye at Ross on Wye have developed the long plumes characteristic of their breeding season. These slender, decorative feathers were much prized, along with those of other species, by nineteenth century hat makers who topped off their fashionable creations with groups of trailing plumes. It took hard work by early twentieth century activists such as Etta Lemon (yes, really!), one of the founder members of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, before this fashion was abandoned.


photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P900

Wild boar, Forest of Dean

If I was a photographer who specialised in wildlife this photograph would end up on the discard pile. But, I don't specialise, and usually take photographs of wildlife on a walk where the goal is exercise and photographing absolutely anything that takes my fancy. Consequently I was quite thrilled to be able to photograph this female wild boar with three youngsters, the first time I have seen the animals since we moved to the area. If the shot has any virtue it is that it replicates how people typically see wild boars - at a distance and among trees where they are momentarily glimpsed rather than clearly seen.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P900

Grange Court, Leominster

The ornately decorated house known as Grange Court was, unusually and remarkably, created from Leominster's old market house of 1633-4. It was bought and moved to the present location in the 1850s. The open arches of the ground floor were filled in and rooms created in the space. Today it has a modern community building - cafe, meeting rooms, exhibition space, interpretation rooms etc - attached to the structure and much of it is open to the public.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Kyrle Street, Ross on Wye

I've photographed this street before, attracted by the colourful paintwork that draws the eye to this otherwise undistinguished row of nineteenth century workers' housing. On the day I took this shot the sun breaking through a dark sky that promised rain accentuated the brightness. Interestingly the number of houses that are adopting the deeply coloured facade is increasing, as a glance at Google Street view confirms.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

A First World War memorial window

Often memorial windows to those who fought and were injured or died in the two major wars of the twentieth century contain calm, reflective, sombre images. But a minority seek to show something of the fury and horror of mechanized warfare depicting combatants, machine guns, armoured vehicles, aircraft etc. The photograph above is a detail of a stained glass window in Worcester Cathedral and it clearly falls into the latter category. It dates from about 1921 and is by the Scottish artist, James Eadie Reid (1868-1928) who, as well as working in stained glass, designed wall murals for churches.

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

Castle Terrace, Chepstow

Castle Terrace, on Bridge Street, Chepstow, gets its name from the fact that the medieval castle is immediately behind the row. It is a late Georgian development, dating from the early nineteenth century. Its principal interest lies in the 24-pane Georgian bow windows on the ground floor. Remarkably, nearly all of them remain. To the casual passer-by, as opposed to those interested in architectural history, the fact that no two adjacent houses are painted the same colour is what catches the eye.

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

Old Wye Bridge, Chepstow

The River Wye, at 134 miles, is Britain's fifth longest river. Between its source on Plynlimon in mid-Wales, to its confluence with the River Severn near Chepstow, it is bridged at 55 points. Three of these bridges are Grade 1 Listed, including the Old Wye Bridge near Chepstow Castle. This elegant work in cast iron on stone piers dates from 1814-16 and is the work of John Rastrick of Bridgnorth who modified original designs by John Rennie. It forms one of the road links between England and Wales bridging the Wye where the tidal range is one of the highest in the world.


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

Hoarwithy's loggia

The visitor to St Catherine, Hoarwithy, usually remembers one of two features of the exterior - the Italianate campanile or the loggia (a rarity in Britain that Pevsner calls a cloister walk). The Mediterranean-inspired architecture is the work of the architect J. P. Seddon, who enlarged and transformed a church of 1842-3 with the present one of the 1870s and 1880s.

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

Hoarwithy church

The sight of Hoarwithy village church among Herefordshire's rolling green pastures, hedges and woodlands, strikes the passer by with an interest in historic architecture, as very incongruous. Were to be seen among the dry, stony, sun-baked countryside of Tuscany its tall, narrow tower, rounded arches, apsidal chancel, loggia and roof of Roman tiles would arouse much less interest. The fact is English church architecture of the countryside is invariably Gothic or Romanesque, is rarely Byzantine (or Italianate), and when it is, usually signals the Roman catholic religion. Here it is a nineteenth century building of the Church of England.

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