The manicured countryside

click photo to enlarge

I frequently walk and cycle on a track across some fields near where I live. The crops at each side of the path vary: often it's wheat, sometimes it's beet and occasionally it's brassicas of one kind or another. Because this is the Lincolnshire Fens the land is intensively farmed and areas of uncultivated land are few. There is a nearby stream that has reeds growing alongside it, but apart from that, for much of the route, the track itself provides the only place where wild plants thrive. Each year I've delighted in the lesser bindweed, dog daisies, chamomile, cornflowers and many other species that grow at the edges of this route that is used not only by walkers but horse riders, cyclists and agricultural vehicles. In an area such as the Fens even a small patch of wild land is a magnet for mammals, birds, and insects. Along this track the wildlife I commonly at various times of year includes see partridges, skylarks, reed buntings, yellowhammers, snipe, little egrets, wheatear, goldfinches, linnets, sedge warblers, yellow wagtails, hares, stoats, and various butterflies and insects. The other day I stood on it and watched a hobby circling above me: buzzards, sparrowhawks and kestrels are not uncommon and I've even seen a passing red kite.

So, you can imagine my disappointment and anger when, a couple of months ago, I went along the track and found that a tractor with a grass cutter had mown everything on and alongside it, almost up to the edge of the crops in the adjacent fields. It seemed a completely pointless thing to do. The crops are sprayed with herbicide and pesticide on a predetermined regime, so any seeds or insects going into them from the track have little if any chance of thriving. But, of course, all the wild plants were cut down and the number that completed their life cycle was drastically reduced, limiting not only their viability ut also the seeds available for local birds. Moreover, the beauty of the route was destroyed. I suppose to a certain kind of farmer it looked "neater". However, it's hard to keep nature down and the plants started to grow again. But recently it was all cut down again in the same way! Utter madness!

It occurs to me that acts of this sort are often quite mindless, and are frequently a result of either boredom (there are times when even farmers are at a loose end) or a desire for tidiness that borders on the obsessive. Not all farmers are this way inclined: many now farm with a keen regard for wildlife as well as their profit margin, and don't manicure every acre. In my part of the world many take advantage of agricultural subsidies intended to promote biodiversity, and leave strips uncultivated. But, there are still farmers who see nature as a competitor rather than a necessary and valuable part of the landscape and are determined to either obliterate it or keep it under very tight control.

Today's photograph, that prompted today's "reflection", shows "weeds" i.e. wild flowers, growing along the edge of a wheat field in Norfolk.

photograph and text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Canon
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 45mm
F No: f7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/80
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation:  -0.33 EV
Image Stabilisation: On 

New old, old new or just new

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When it comes to erecting a new structure alongside old buildings, whether in a village, a town or a city, the architect has to make a decision about style. This is particularly so if the new building is to be in a conservation area where clear guidance exists about what may and what may not be done to the whole fabric, and particularly the building facades, of the designated locality.

There are those who favour building to emulate the old ones nearby to the point that they are almost copies. Such buildings, unless deliberately designed to conceal their novelty, invariably give themselves away through the details and the freshness of the building materials. To my mind this is rarely the right approach, though it can be the best way when repairing, renovating or extending a structure. A step removed from this are those buildings that plunder the details and forms of past styles in an effort to re-create an imagined arcadian past. They are often sufficiently "historic" that they fool the lay person. Poundbury is a notable example of this deluded approach. I think of this as constructing "new old" buildings. Others, however, feel that "fitting in" with older buildings doesn't require slavish copying, but can be achieved by building in a contemporary style that acknowledges and respects what is nearby - perhaps through materials, roof, window, and string course heights, or by the application of forms and details that echo but don't ape those on the more venerable neighbours. It's an approach that I like to see because it can work very well without the sterility that is involved in copying old styles. Moreover, it's a nice intellectual exercise to try and work out the references that the architect has employed. To my mind this is making "old new" buildings. And then there are those who will brook no compromise, and aim to build entirely in the contemporary manner. It's hard to do this in conservation areas in Britain today but occasionally the architect succeeds in getting his or her way, and sometimes in proving they were right. Just as often they show why legislation is necessary!

I came upon this trio of buildings in London on the edge of the City. On the right is the Grade II listed building known as St Botolph's Hall. On the left is a glass curtain-walled office block by Norman Foster whose name I don't know. In the centre is the most recent building, apartments at 20 Bishop's Square by Matthew Lloyd Architects. I was taken by the terracotta-ish horizontal bands of the cladding, the determined rectilinearity, and the way the architect had aimed to accommodate the uncompromising modernity of the towering block on one side without overpowering the older building on the other.

photograph and text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Canon
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 92mm
F No: f8
Shutter Speed: 1/80
ISO: 1000
Exposure Compensation:  0 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Conserving the past

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The Church of England has about 16,000 parish church buildings, and 43 cathedrals. Over 12,000 of these are "listed", that is to say, recognised and protected by legislation for their historic and/or architectural importance. The highest level of "listing" is Grade 1, and about 45% of all Grade 1 buildings in England are churches.

Many churches are the most ancient building in their locality. The oldest, St Martin's, Canterbury, was in use when St Augustine came to these islands in AD597. Clearly such buildings are worth looking after, not only for their religious purpose, but for the historical record that they carry for their communities. But, here is the problem. Each parish church is maintained largely with funds raised by its congregation. Some money is available from the government for building work, but rarely as much as is needed. And, Church of England congregations throughout the country are in decline, so money is increasingly hard to find. It may be that in the future the state will take over these buildings (as I believe is the case in France). But until that happens, or unless congregations flock back to the church, then maintaining these wonderful old structures is going to be a problem.

Some churches, usually the less architecturally and historically significant find other uses, perhaps as arts or community centres. Occasionally they find tenants for part of their space and become dual use buildings. But others, particularly in rural areas fall out of use and become redundant. The Churches Conservation Trust is a charity that cares for 340 of these buildings, including the one shown in my photograph, St Margaret at Haceby, Lincolnshire. This lovely, unspoiled old building, dating from about 1100AD, is next to a farmyard in the small settlement of a few houses. To step into it is to cast off the twenty first century completely. I took this shot from inside the church looking into the south porch. The aged walls, the shadows of the porch gate, and the collection of leaves blown in by the wind all suggested an evocative photograph. I found it hard to decide how to present the shot - black and white and sepia both work well, but here it is in colour.

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 13mm (26mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/60
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -1.7EV
Image Stabilisation: On