June 9th 2015 - Project month 6

I can't believe that I am 6 months into this year long photographic project. Yet as I type this at 10pm on June 9th I know it is a long way from January the 3rd and 4th when I started this. Then it was wet, cold and blustery. This weekend I took the June images - well to be strictly true I took 14 of the images on Friday June 5th and the remaining 3 images on Monday the 8th. In between this period I drove to and from the north east.

So as I watch a superb summers dusk developing, starling eggshell blue merging with salmon pink, merging with deep yellow and then the blue grey of the Welsh hills as a backdrop, I shall do a retrospective. In this posting I shall cover the first 6 images, one from January and one from June. After all this is meant to be a project illustrating the passing seasons and therefore unless I scroll back and forth its hard to get an idea of how much everything has changed in 6 months. So here goes.......

Image 1 - the Village and church of Wick St Lawrence : In a way not much has changed, other than the vegetation has increased. But in a way that is a village scene. The wheelie bins and post van were in situ when I arrived and as its a rule to photograph what I see on arrival, they remain in the shot.

 

 

Image 2 : The field in Wick St Lawrence : Well I can safely say the field is a lot drier now than it was in January, the grass has grown and there is a sheep water tank in the field now. Quite a bit of work has gone on in this field this year, so I'm hoping next time I come here there will be sheep.

 

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Image 3 : The River at the bridge. Big changes here as one would expect. I love seeing this view develop over time. In January I stood on the bridge freezing, yet on Friday it was hot, sunny, two chiffchaff sang in the tree and various insects buzzed me - summer in North Somerset.

 

 



 

Image 4 : Puxton Church. As I'd expect really the church doesn't change, but it looks different. Hot sun backing its ancient stones. The sodden grass of the winter now form to walk on (and dug up by badgers) and of course, shadows.

 

 

 

Image 5 : The road to Banwell : Again I'm not expecting great changes here but they are there. In winter this area felt remote and free of population. Visiting on Friday many cars and cyclists passed by. We think an are remains timeless, when in fact its on a roller coaster of change. Each day different.

 

 

 

 

Image 6 : The orchard : I should call this Paul's orchard now I know its owners name. Huge changes here. In January this felt neglected, lost in a dark forbidding landscape. In June the sheep have arrived as he said they would and lay contentedly under an apple tree as I arrived. I had to approach carefully otherwise they were in a mood to scamper off - maybe a good thing it was a hot June day, they just wanted to remain in the shade.

 

 

 

That's the first six posted. I'll post another six in a week or so.

May 4th 2015 - Project month 5

One of the joys of this project, aside from observing the changes in the landscape around where I live is meeting people I'd never have met otherwise. During our headlong race through life we swoon and gasp at many a landscape through the windscreen of an automobile. Stopping, observing and repeating that process over a year is making me see my erstwhile fast track landscape in another dimension. Subtle changes are noticed, sometimes abrupt changes, but ones that without the photographic record would not be seen to the passing traveller.

 

And so it was that month 5 (really already?) has been photographed. Spring is in its full majesty now, warblers, chiffchaff, whitethroat and even sedge warbler accompanied me on my travels over the weekend. Flies buzzed, butterflies fluttered and all around expectancy, bounty and blossom prevailed. I love April for that sense of anticipation, up on the blocks but the starting gun awaits firing. May? Well May is when the gun is fired and the first 10 metres are underway. Not every tree has broken winter dormancy, the ash being an obvious candidate here, but umbellifers litter the roadsides, speedwell push through verdant grasses. Whereas in April, everything was yellow, in May, everything is green. A soft lime green, the green of the first flush of youth. Chlorophyll at its nymphet stage, not quite darkened yet, a colour that will power the plant through its seasons. Light can still travel through foliage, but already shady spots where once celandine flowered are obvious under tree and shrub. It is a wondrous time and the first month on this project when a leap has happened in the imagery. Will June feel the same? Only time will tell.

 

 

Image 1 : daffodils now died and replaced by bluebells in the village

 

Image 2 : The field - well I'm not sure exactly what's happening but a fire and a digger are removing dead wood. I hope this is management and not clearing.

Image 3 : River Banwell at Hewish looking glorious.

Image 4 : Puxton Church starting to settle into its green nest of shrubs, tree shadows begin to hide the lower plants.

Image 5 : Swaying umbellifers line the road to Banwell, dramatic clouds (a day of sunshine and showers) add to the scene.

Image 6 River Banwell almost obscured by the roadside foliage - such a different view to January. We forget quickly what it was like as a season advances.

Image 7 - As I took this photo of the orchard, apple blossom in near perfect form,  a gentleman came up beside me and said "Beautiful isn't it". I had met Paul the middle aged owner of this lovely little oasis. Looking like an ageing rock musician, head to toe in black and, having walked here, carrying a large rucksack, he kindly let me walk around the plot. The field was bought off 'old Jack' just over a year ago and Paul is managing it for both the apples and wildlife. Next week sheep are being brought over by 'old Jack' to graze under the trees, trees which he will name the varieties of to Paul. As old trees die Paul is replacing them. I loved talking Paul who was just loving the ducks and wildlife he shared in his little bit of England. And the caravan? Well Paul bought it for £10 and although it has no interior, will be fitted out with kitchen and shower so he can stay there and maybe enjoy the bees which are in hives down at the end. Paul has life sussed in my book.

Image 8 - The Strawberry Line greening up well.

Image 9  - Thatcher's cider apples were absolutely stunning, my image can never hope to replicate the dazzling brilliance of hundreds of trees in blossom, not to mention capture the buzzing of a million insects. Breath-taking.

Image 10 - heading to the coast the bridleway and field are drying out well.

Image 11 - the old barn is now disappearing behind the foliage.... as is...

Image 12 - ....Woodspring Priory in the strong sunshine

Image 13 - Sand Bay isn't changing much but on closer inspection the sand dunes are awash with wild flowers. Not where I have chosen to photograph sadly.

Image 14 - Ebdon Bow T junction greening up well

Image 15 - no sign of Farmer Green today, and all his cattle are now outdoors enjoying lush grass.

Image 16 - in fact some can be seen in the field.

Image 17 - and more cows, calves actually, can be seen at the old forge in the final photo for this month - such a beautiful pastoral scene. I'm lucky to live here.



April 5th 2015 - Project month 4

I can't believe it is the fourth time I've been out to record the year in the local area. Easter Sunday seems to have come very soon after Christmas. How did that happen? But April the 5th also coincided with a very pleasant day of warm temperatures. In deed by mid afternoon it had reached 15 degrees, warm enough to make me throw caution to the wind and expel the vest. 

Interestingly although the countryside is now really changing, daffodils, magnolia and camellia all in full bloom, hedges greening up, still my images fail to show much in the way of changes. What changes are noted are subtle, but that is the way of the Wheel of the Year, it takes a long time to turn. In mid summer it is hard to imagine what it is like in mid winter, and vice versa. Yet each is only 180 or so days apart. That said I am enjoying this photo project more than many over the years, and so to April images then...........

I arrived in the middle of the Easter Sunday service at the village, annoyingly there was a car right in my view, but as this project is what I see at my chosen point upon arrival, it is in vision.

The rooks are still doing well in the field

Three horsewomen can just be seen on the right hand bank. It was a glorious day and seemed to bring everyone out.

Except at the church which was as ever, silent save for birdsong and bees

Possibly with hindsight I should have chosen a different view here, not sure it will change at all in 2015

Interestingly the river has almost become weed free. Presumably the water coming off the Mendip Springs is now quite cold and so weed growth is stagnant.

Still no blossom on the orchard

As I set up to take this image a lot of cyclists passed by - ahhahh I thought this is an opportunity for some movement. Sadly once ready the place was deserted. Blackthorn blossom the only sign of change then...

Impossible to see but Thatchers cider orchard trees were just coming into bud, blossom a long way off - next month maybe?

I had to stop photographing in the morning then pop out in the evening to finish off. The bridleway was once again the wrong direction for the sun, but one thing that's obvious is the field is beginning to grow.

The barn looking moody (almost impossible to get the light levels right facing the sun)

Woodspring Priory in late sunshine

Sand Bay in late sunshine

Back to morning images, blue skies and warm at the post box

Farmer Green can be seen going into his barn here. I had a chat with him after taking this. Sadly he's coming out of dairy farming this year. there used to be 12 dairy farms around here 10 years ago, today just 2. And when he stops at Christmas, and turn over to beef, that'll leave just one left. Sadly too his pedigree dairy herd is being mated with a Limousin bull, so the pedigree line ends this year.

My record of this farm then is really a record of an end of an era. He'll retire soon and said his son will build a farm further away from the road, new bigger buildings and sell these traditional buildings for housing. Small farms just can't make a living now.

A bit of ditch clearance has happened since my last visit.

Sunshine and shadows on the Ebdon Bow bridge

March 20th 2015 at 09.28 hours.....the partial eclipse and the martins

 

It wasn't until I'd been standing there for nearly an hour that I realised it was dark. And it had turned cold. March 20th 2015 as everyone knows, was a day of a solar eclipse. The first since the full solar eclipse in 1999. I remember that event well and having a day off  I ventured out early to the Somerset Levels in anticipation. I took with me a sound recording kit as astronomical events like this are often accompanied by odd behaviour in animals.

 

Today was no exception. I got into position about 8.45am and after firing up the recorder, I walked some little way off to watch the event from a distance. At 08.45 although the eclipse had begun the Somerset Levels were as one would expect. Weak sunshine lifting the overnight mist, foraging wigeon whistling like asthmatic sheep on the wet reserve. Nothing unusual, but then I noticed. As if an unseen switch had been pulled just before 9am I noticed the light levels drop dramatically. I realised the wigeon, pintail, shoveler and other birds on the reserve had stopped foraging, stopped calling and returned to roost positions, heads tucked under wings. The reserve had fallen silent and what activity there was mostly involved small flotilla of wigeon drifting slowly across the water,  asleep.

 



It had gone silent save for a lone male reed bunting which took up position by the microphone to sing. And sing he did all through the time of the eclipse. The only real birdsong for nearly 20 minutes.  By 9.15am it was noticeably darker. A strange yellow light crossed the landscape. Oblique light but not as one would see say at dusk, when it had a reddish hue. This light was more Naples Yellow, strong but not overly so. I'd not seen that before and it fascinated me. Reeds and a passing great white egret were bathed in an aura of deep yellow, set against a dull darkened landscape.

 

The light wasn't the only thing I'd noticed. I say noticed but it suddenly hit me how cold I was. I'd arrived to a glorious spring morning, early mist was rapidly lifting, strong sunshine in a blue sky greeted me as I drove across the Levels to my destination.  So engrossed in the event, I hadn't noticed that around 9.15 am, close to the eclipse maxima time, I started to feel cold and uncomfortable; that cold feeling at dusk when the chill of a frosty night to come eats into your bones. The light had dropped but the temperature had dropped considerably too, my guess is 4 or 5 degrees back to pre dawn levels. The mist was rolling back across the Levels too, the landscape was returning to evening. Such a spiritual experience and it fascinated me. Something I have never witnessed before. And then the dogs barked.

 

Half a mile or so away was a farmhouse. Not long before the eclipse maxima two dogs began barking continuously. I became angry at first. My attempts to record the changing soundscape during an eclipse were being hampered by barking dogs. Inwardly I barked back - SHUT UP!!! Then it struck me. They were possibly barking because of the eclipse. I can only guess this was the reason, but they barked continuously for 5 minutes, until that is, the sun began to re-emerge and then they stopped as suddenly as they'd started. I'd read that domestic animals can act strangely when an eclipse is in full swing. Had I witnessed this today? I think so, as in the whole 90 minutes on the Levels those two dogs only barked for 5 minutes around the 9.30am maxima.

 

It was coming to an end, seemingly quicker than it arrived. The sun returned, sunlight streaked across the landscape, mist rolled back, blue skies returned and all in less than 15 minutes. As I stood watching this change I could hear cracks, cracks from the wood of the bird hide beside me expanding. It really had become a lot colder for a few minutes then. Then the wigeon woke up, began moving around more purposefully and calling. Soon the reserve was alive with birdsong, not just the wigeon, wren, dunnock, geese, mallard and numerous tits. It had been quiet after all.... a silent spring day!

 

By 10am when I'd switched off the sound recording equipment a warm spring day filled the landscape. Hard to believe less than half an hour earlier I'd been engrossed by a deeply moving, spiritual and fascinating event. I'm not that interested in the science behind an eclipse, but I am fascinated in the effect it has on every living thing that witnesses it. Including me. No wonder Ancient cultures worshiped these celestial events, they are truly breath-taking.

 

As a postscript to this as I packed up the local farmer, Colin drove into the carpark to check the water levels over his land. Leaning against his pick up truck, two portly gentleman in checked shirts and green coats chatted in the warm sunshine for an hour on all things wildlife and farming. Mid conversation about the Dexta tractor and a pied wagtail nest, I heard a chittering high up.

 

"Colin house martins!".

 

We peered into the sky. There, 6 black dots, white underbellies, way up high buzzing like flies against the blue sky. The first I've seen this spring. 

 

"Bugger oi theys early and no mistake" exclaimed Colin "ahh blooming lovely,  my swallows will be back afore long, I has 17 nests you know in they stables, knows them all by name, I loves them swooping in and out ".

 

 

Lone voice in the landscape - the reed bunting

 

By 9am the eclipse was visible

 

 

Great white egret fishing in a Naples yellow dusk

 

9.10 am and the eclipse gathered pace

 

Catcott Levels at 9.30am around the time of the full eclipse.

 

 

Reeds bathed in strange light

 

The eclipse reaching its Maxima in Somerset

 

An artistic view of the eclipse.... followed by the obligatory selfie...... I was there!