Spring in the woods

click photo to enlarge
We recently walked from Woodhall Spa to the tiny hamlet of Martin (see church in previous post) and back, a distance of about 9 miles. Quite a lot of our footpaths took us through trees. Lincolnshire isn't a county known for its woodland but it has more than the popular image suggests, and in places trees are really quite plentiful.

At this time of year the leaf canopy isn't fully developed. Consequently quite a bit of light still makes its way to the woodland floor. Bluebells and ramsons use this brief period as an opportunity to grow and flower. On our walk it was wood anemones that were taking advantage of the brightness: in places it looked like a light fall of large snowflakes had descended in the night. We heard chiff chaffs and a cuckoo, their distinctive calls further emphasising that spring is the season and winter is past.

Towards the start of our walk I photographed a subject that I'd photographed (and posted before). The track that goes through the woods that form part of the National Golf Centre, with its three courses, is a public footpath. This landscape is what is usually known as lowland heath. Silver birches and oaks are common in the woods and flashes of yellow gorse can be seen all year round. Here, however, the folly of the Victorians is also very evident because in several places the woodland is choked by rhododendrons. These will be spectacular when they are in full flower in a couple of weeks time but for the rest of the year they will be a dense mass of glossy greenery. But in the area of my photograph it is the slender silver birches that predominate making the woodland light, bright and almost cheery.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Camera: Nikon D5300
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 18mm (27mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/125 sec
ISO:100
Exposure Compensation: -0.33 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Photographic drought

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Most of the photographs I post on this blog are reasonably current; they appear rarely more than ten days to a fortnight since I took the shot. Sometimes, however, I break this self-imposed rule and post a photograph that may have been taken a month or two earlier, or sometimes six months to a year earlier. The circumstances that lead to this departure from usual practice are two-fold. Firstly, I sometimes decide that a photograph I overlooked is one I should have used. And secondly there are times when my life is so busy that I run out of new photographs - or rather, new photographs that I think suitable fro posting. Today's shot is one of the latter group.

It's a photograph I like, and had I not posted one quite similar last year, I'd have posted it around 27th October when I secured it. So, today it's here because I have little else to offer. My previous effort was posted later in the year so the silver birches have fewer leaves than those above and there is no green bracken to be seen (there are few such fronds in the shot above). So, to appease anyone who craves novelty above an attempt to produce a better shot of the same subject, today's image is bigger (1000 pixels across) rather than my usual 700 pixels. The size we view images is really important in our appreciation of them. Landscapes, in particular, benefit from bigger sizes. I'd love to post all my images on a larger scale but they just get used and mis-used without acknowledgement or permission when I do, so today's will be one of the few that get this treatment.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Camera: Nikon D5300
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 45mm (67mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f8
Shutter Speed: 1/180 sec
ISO:200
Exposure Compensation: -0.33 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Hazel trees and nuts

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In the "wildwood", the entirely natural woodland of c.4,500 B.C. that was unaffected by Neolithic or later peoples, hazel (Corylus avellana) was a prominent tree. It had been one of the first trees to colonise Britain's warming land as the Ice Age came to an end. In time, along with the oak it became the dominant species of much of upland England, southern Scotland, Wales and Dartmoor. It was found elsewhere, but not in the same numbers. But, the steadily rising temperatures encouraged the growth of pine, elm, oak and lime, and these trees overwhelmed the smaller hazel. It did continue to find a place along the edge of forests and in clearings, its nuts distributed by jays, red squirrels, wild boars and other birds and mammals, but it lost its former dominance.

The hazel is the only native British tree that produces nuts (the chestnut and walnut are introduced species). As such it has always been a food source for people, and cultivated varieties such as the Kentish Cob have been bred. In early and medieval times its supple wood was harvested from coppiced trees for use as wattle, hurdles, thatching sticks, hedging poles, fish traps and much else. The thicker branches were used for shepherds' crooks and walking sticks. However, changes in woodland management and farming led to there being only 114,000 acres of hazel coppice by 1945, and today very little of that survives. A further cause of the decline of hazel was the introduction of the grey squirrel in the nineteenth century. These animals can clear trees of all their nuts in September, only some of which they eat. Those that they bury don't usually germinate because at that time of year they are insufficiently ripe. The result is that today, after the elm, the hazel is the most seriously threatened native tree in Britain.

Contrary to popular belief trees do feature in the Lincolnshire Fens. Where I live there is a variety of species, some native such as the lime, others, like the horse chestnut, introduced. Moreover, there are hazel trees. The other day, whilst collecting sloes from the blackthorn bushes we gathered a few ripening hazel nuts to store, further ripen and sample in a few months time. Grey squirrels are common in the villages and small woods of the Fens, but the relatively isolated place where we found these hazel trees is one where I've never seen these destructive mammals (though we did see a jay). In fact, some of the hazel nuts were fully ripe and beginning to fall so perhaps there's a good chance that they'll further propagate the species in this locality. Never one to miss the opportunity of a photograph I picked a small nut cluster with leaves attached and took this rather botanical looking shot in natural light at home.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Camera: Canon
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 100mm macro
F No: f13
Shutter Speed: 0.3 sec
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation:  +0.67 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Viewing distance, size and landscapes

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There are many factors that affect our appreciation of a photograph, but today's image made me think again about two that are linked, and that are crucially important: viewing distance and size.

The increasing use of notebook and tablet computers has slowed the rise in the average dimension of computer displays. Desktop systems still, generally, have the biggest displays, and often they are the best quality. As far as the appreciation of photographs on screens is concerned the increasing resolution of the newer devices' smaller displays has only partly compensated for the trend to smaller screens, but as with photographic prints, viewing at the closer distance that tablets require shows the image to better effect than the same display seen from further away. It is widely held that, in general terms, the best viewing distance for a picture (including a photograph) equates to the length of its diagonal, and people naturally gravitate to this kind of point. That being so, we scrutinize small images from nearer viewpoints than larger ones.

But what is it that determines the size we make that image? Often it's to do with where it will be displayed, sometimes impact is the governing factor, and other times the subject is crucial. As far as subject matter goes I've always found that the force of certain photographic subjects depends very much on the size at which they are displayed on a screen or seen in the form of a print. Portraits, subjects with bold contrast, and quite a lot of reportage are often fine in relatively small sizes. However, landscapes, particularly those where the mid-ground and background take up a significant area of the whole lose crucial detail when small and frequently benefit from being displayed as a big print or screen image.

I thought this when I reduced the size of today's photograph to make the 700 pixels wide web image for the blog: a lot of what I liked about it disappeared. So, rather than say any more on this subject, decide for yourself by comparing it with the 1250 pixels wide version, itself a significant reduction from the original 5616 pixels width.

photograph and text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Canon
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 24mm
F No: f7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/60 sec
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation:  -0.33 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Morning habits and blog visitors

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I'm a creature of habit. Eating breakfast reading The Guardian newspaper is my start to the day, every day except one. On Sunday I don't get a newspaper because none of the offerings appeal to me. I used to buy The Observer (the world's oldest Sunday newspaper), but it became a bit too "lifestyle" for my tastes, so now on Sundays I dip into the bits of the more extensive Saturday edition of the Guardian that I didn't read the previous day. But, as well as newspapers and breakfast I often have a quick look at the blog. I've done this a little more recently now that I'm using a mixture of Blogger's "Stats" and Google Analytics. It's interesting to see where people come from, what they look at, what search phrases they use, etc.

The other day I used the combined data from the two packages to look at which countries visitors are coming from. The results are, I think, interesting, and pose a few questions. Here's a summary after a couple of months use of this pair of hit counters. So far I've had people from 92 countries/territories. The top ten countries for visitors are: UK (55%), USA (29%), Australia (5%), Canada (4%), India (2%), Germany (2%) - these six countries account for 97% of hits - then comes the Netherlands, Brazil, Italy and France Those four countries plus the other 82 account for a total of 3%. Clearly, as a UK-based blog, you'd expect the largest percentage of visitors to be from the UK. And the USA, a big, affluent country with a large anglophone population might be expected to provide the second highest total of hits. But the remaining eight of the "top ten" seem to be a mixture of countries that have a high proportion of first or second language English-speakers, or have a high population, or are near European neighbours to the UK. This is largely true also of the three countries that sometimes nudge their way into the top ten - Ireland, Belgium and Poland. Unsurprisingly there are no visitors from most central and west African countries, and some of the Gulf States are absent too. The most surprising (or perhaps not) statistic - thus far there hasn't been a single visit from the People's Republic of China, the world's most populous nation.

Today's photograph was taken on a morning when I was away from home, so I had no newspaper over breakfast, and no computer distractions. However, I did have a post-repast stroll in Fineshade Wood and managed to get this contre jour shot of horse riders and a dog as they disappeared up the forest track ahead of us.

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 150mm (300mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/640
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Ramsons

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In a post the other day I mentioned that I find it harder to get to a bluebell wood in Lincolnshire than I did when I lived in both Yorkshire and Lancashire. I recently spent a few days in the Yorkshire Dales, and came across a number of woods with good displays of these flowers. During my stay I managed to grab a couple of photographs, and anticipated including one in the blog. But that was before I came upon the subject of today's photograph.

Ramsons (Allium ursinum), also known to me as stinking onions and wild garlic, is a plant I've blogged about before. The star-like white flowers and broad green leaves, together with their distinctive onion-like aroma often accompany bluebells in damp woodland in May. However, this particular wood by the River Ribble near Stackhouse, North Yorkshire, was carpeted with ramsons to the almost total exclusion of bluebells, and was a quite wonderful sight. The wood itself was predominantly beech, with a few sycamore intruders, and looked to be managed. High above the leafy floor the light green leaf canopy was thickening up. But ramsons, like their bluebell brethren, are plants that take advantage of the period before the trees' leaves block the light that they need for growth and flowering, and they were at their peak as I passed by with my camera.

The leaves and bulbs of ramsons have long been used for culinary purposes. Moreover, as their name suggests, they are also a delicacy appreciated by brown bears, a species that hasn't been found in the wild in Britain for several centuries. Floral displays of massed wild flowers are not uncommon in the British Isles: on the same trip I came across rhododendrons that were beginning to fill their woods with banks of purple blossom. But it was the ramsons that really caught my eye on this trip, and I used the 16:9 aspect ratio of the camera to capture something of their extent across the wooded slope.

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Lumix LX3
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 5.1mm (24mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f2
Shutter Speed: 1/40
ISO: 80
Exposure Compensation: -1.0 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

British, Americans and the problem of names

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People get confused about the name of the group of small islands off the western edge of mainland Europe. Geographically speaking they are known as the British Isles, though people in Eire (The Republic of Ireland) might wish for a name that doesn't emphasise Britain quite so much. The political name for the majority of the area of the islands is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK), a term that embraces the constituent countries of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Great Britain is a name that covers the first three of these but excludes Northern Ireland. The Republic of Ireland (Eire) is an independent country in its own right. This isn't properly understood by many in the UK, so it's not surprising that people from other countries struggle with it.

There is further confusion about how to term a native of the UK. "British" (not the hideous modern term, "Brit") is used to describe anyone from the four countries. However, people who should know better - journalists especially - often use England and English instead, much to the annoyance of the Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish. Is there any wonder that the other day the Argentine foreign minister made the same mistake when some of the natives of these islands aren't sufficiently precise in their usage.

But it's not only in the UK where these kind of problems are found. Take the United States of America. The people of that country refer to themselves as Americans; and so they are. But they use the name in such a way that suggests it applies only to natives of the U.S.A., something that doesn't go down well in Canada, Mexico and the myriad countries of Central and South America who also see themselves (quite rightly) as Americans because that is the continent on which they reside. Perhaps the people of the United States need a second name in the way that the people of Canada, Chile and all the other countries on the American continent do. I have heard Usanian put forward as a possible answer! How does that sound, or would it be as unwelcome as Brit is to me?

What has this got to do with a small water-course among the trees at Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire? Not a great deal. In fact nothing at all.

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Lumix LX3
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 5.1mm (24mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f2
Shutter Speed: 1/30
ISO: 160
Exposure Compensation: 0 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Sunset woods

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When I lived in the north west of England woodland was not hard to find. Deciduous woodland was common on the slopes of the Pennines, most of it the result of planting, and today managed for timber or shooting to a greater or lesser extent. However, there was some vestigial woodland, a natural continuation of that which grew there thousands of years ago. On the uplands conifer plantations were fairly common on thin, acidic soil, dense green swathes of woodland with brown scars where felling or new planting was taking place. Where I live now, in Lincolnshire, there is significantly less woodland, and what there is is largely the result of deliberate planting. On the Fens trees are most common around villages, and around farms as wind-breaks, with the odd plantation and copse to be found among the vegetable and cereal fields. However, if one goes on to the low hills or the higher Wolds of the county you find that woodland established for timber or sporting reasons is fairly common.

Todays' photograph shows a view at the edge of a small wood near Aswarby, Lincolnshire. On the particular estate where these trees grow there is a sawmill, and timber is cropped for the wood it produces. But, pheasant are a lucrative crop in this area too, and the woods are dotted with the pens and feeders that support the rearing of this "game bird". I took this shot towards sunset, and deliberately chose these three trees to be in the image. It would have been perfectly easy to have included a lot of trees, but I felt the composition and the imapct of the shot would be better served by a small number. Incidentally, this is another photograph taken with the 16:9 aspect ratio of the LX3, a format that I particularly like for landscapes.

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Lumix LX3
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 10.2mm (48mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f6.3
Shutter Speed: 1/1000
ISO: 80
Exposure Compensation: -1.0 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Woodland

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It's good that the area of the UK covered in trees is increasing year on year, and has now climbed to 12% of the total land area. Woodland is important as a wildlife habitat, landscape element, recreational resource, carbon sink, and source of fuel and raw materials.

But, whilst the UK has a slightly greater amount of woodland cover than the Netherlands (11%) it has a long way to go to reach the level of our continental neighbours such as France (28.3%) and Germany (31.7%). Moreover it trails the European Union average (37.8%) by a big margin. It's also unfortunate that more than half of the UK's present woods are coniferous plantations whose biodiversity, landscape and recreational potential is substantially less than that of broadleaved woodland.

A while ago I read, "The History of the Countryside", Oliver Rackham's important work on Britain's landscape, flora and fauna. It gave me a more informed insight into the decline of our woodlands and scotched a few myths that still infect debate about this subject - neither the contruction of Britain's navy nor the early iron industry were, it seems, major contributors to the loss of woodland. It also helped me to understand the key difference between traditional, sustainable forms of forestry and the current practice. Modern methods of wood production are likened by Rackham to the growing of vegetables: you plant a sapling, nurture it until it is a size to crop, then cut it down, removing all trace of it from the ground. The older method usually involved a cycle of coppicing, where limbs were harvested from the tree in such a way that it encouraged more growth. Wood was harvested every several years, and the tree continued in production for hundreds of years. More enlightened woodland management is re-discovering the value of coppicing not only in economic terms, but also for biodiversity.

The place where I now live, Lincolnshire, isn't the first English county that one thinks of in terms of woodland. However, it does have a few spots where trees grow in relative plenty. One such, as the name suggests, is Woodhall Spa, where I took this photograph of my wife walking through the sylvan, early autumn landscape.

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 79mm (158mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f6.3
Shutter Speed: 1/160
ISO: 200
Exposure Compensation: -1.0 EV
Image Stabilisation: On