Time-worn steps

The time-worn steps in the photograph above tell the story of the repeated passage of Wells Cathedral's Bishop and Chapter up and down, to and from, the chapter house for their regular, formal meetings. The wear on the stone must have been considerably increased by the tourists who visit the cathedral to experience the architecture of this beautiful building.

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

Looking down...

The heavy rainfall of the past month or so has left the ground in my part of the world sodden such that pools of water have formed that are reluctant to go. This is especially so in parts of the Forest of dean. Quite a few of our recent walks have involved negotiating sloppy mud and making detours around extensive puddles and pools. We came upon an elongated pool recently that gave a good refection of the trees above while also showing something of the leaf covered ground beneath the water's surface.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Looking up...

A walk through the Forest of Dean means encounters with a quite wide range and age of trees. The landscape combines what is known as "ancient woodland" with areas that are more recently planted, and the whole is managed by the Forestry Commission. Some of the newer trees are stands of larch, a deciduous pine that turns orange in autumn when it sheds its needles. My photograph shows the view above my head in a group of these trees.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Autumn becomes winter

The photograph above was taken in Penyard Park woods near Ross on Wye, Herefordshire, on the morning of the first of December, the first day of "meteorological winter". Yellow tinged winter sunlight was penetrating the woods through trees almost stripped of leaves, and still illuminating the conifers, the dying bracken and the leaves of the undergrowth. The orange remnants of autumn together with the sunlight are what elevates the picture. As winter progresses it will be interesting to see if such a photograph is possible before the spring growth appears.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Black-headed gull

When the dark chocolate brown (not black) cap of the black-headed gull disappears and is replaced by a couple of dark, scuff-like makings I know that summer is past and the colder months lie ahead. Similarly, when those disappear and the hood makes its re-appearance in stages until the striking hood is complete, by the end of March, I am reminded that sun and warmth are on their way. This young example of the species caught my eye when it was lit by the low winter sun against a dark watery background on Newent Lake in Gloucestershire.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P900

Extinction Rebellion

On a recent visit to the Shropshire town of Ludlow we came upon an Extinction Rebellion demonstration. It seethed with people, demonstrators, shoppers, sight-seers, market stall-holders and more. So, I only got two shots of the three red and three green women with mime-like white faces and red or green, diaphanous robes. They looked like otherworldly echoes of the Three Graces of antiquity. I'm sure they weren't, but what they represented I don't know.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Bracken in morning light

Morning light has the power to make even the most prosaic of subjects something special. When the vigorous plant, bracken, starts to die off in autumn its green fronds go limp and turn brown, orange and black. It looks past it, dishevelled and slowly slumps to the ground, the strong green and symmetrical jaggedness of its maturity gone. But, when seen with a low, late autumn sun behind it the dank vegetation comes alive and it exhibits a dark, marmalade glow.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Cormorant wing drying

One of the characteristics of the cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) is to perch on a tree, rock, buoy or some other place above water with its wings outspread. The purpose of this is to dry the bird's feathers which become very wet when it dives to catch its principal food, fish. Why, you may wonder do tufted ducks, dabchicks, gannet, terns and other diving birds not adopt this posture too? Apparently the cormorant's feathers are more "wettable" because they have less air trapped in them. This allows them to dive deeper and swim underwater for longer. This young cormorant was enjoying the late November sun that bathed Cannop Ponds in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P900

Nave, Wells Cathedral

The nave of Wells cathedral in Somerset dates from the late 1100s and is an example of the Early English style of architecture. For anyone who has visited other English cathedrals of this period the main piers of the nave arcades, each with its twenty four columns and lively stiff-leaf capitals further enlivened by birds and other creatures, offer visual delight but hold few architectural surprises. What does immediately catch the eye, and instill awe as well as surprise, are the enormous scissor (or strainer) arches that brace both the tower arch facing us and the arches facing the transepts (not visible above). These were inserted shortly after the construction of the tower in 1315-22. The builders could have chosen other methods of bracing but decided on this elegant, uncompromising solution that must have impressed when it was built, and continues to do so today.

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

Chain mail in stone

This tomb effigy of a recumbent knight in chain mail can be found in Worcester Cathedral. A brass nameplate identifies it as Guillaume de Harcourt (d.1223 Lord of Stanton Harcourt), first son of Robert (d.1202 Sheriff of Warwick and Leicester) and Isabel Harcourt. From what I can find out, some or all of this may be wrong. Pevsner describes him as a member of the Harcourt family in the fourteenth century, and many other dates are ascribed. Multiple members of the family called Robert or William don't help. His missing nose was probably the result of a zealous puritan. The tomb seems to have been repainted in 1805, probably following the traces of original paint that survived.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100