Wild Flower - Herb Robert

This week I am featuring a wild flower that I believe to be Herb Robert - Geranium robertianum. This is a plant that was growing in my previous smallholding in Wales. If my identification is correct, it is an annual or biennial plant with, as you can see, small, pink flowers with 5 petals. It grows from spring through to the autumn.

The first photograph shown above is a close-up showing the whole of the flower head. The background is the foliage of the plant. Like many of my close-up photographs, this was taken in a home-made studio made from a cardboard box and some black card.

This second photo shows the whole plant. I like this image due to the lighting on the foliage. I feel there is jut the right balance of light and shadow on the leaves.



This third image is a different view from that normally seen, it is taken side-on to the flower. I love the way the lighting in this highlights the hairs on the flower heads and stems.



More photographs of this plant can be seen in the Environment Gallery.

Details:
Camera: Canon EOS 350D
Lens: An older Canon 100mm f2.8 macro
Exposure: 1/200 @ f16 - Canon flashgun
Settings: ISO200 AWB

Laburnum in blossom

This week I am showing some photographs of Laburnum - a small tree - in blossom. Although the tree in itself is not particularly impressive, it does have a rich yellow blossom that is quite spectacular seen closer up - as I hope you will agree.

The first photo, shown above, is a landscape view of several clumps of blossom hanging from the tree. I find that this shade of yellow contrasts quite well with the green leaves and blue sky forming the background.

The second shot is a similar view of one cluster of blossom, but this time taken in portrait format, allowing me to concentrate on just the one stem.




I have moved back for this third photograph. This is to show more of the tree and its blossom. All the yellow does brighten up what would otherwise be quite a dull tree. These images were all taken of 1 tree at my previous smallholding in Wales.



More photos like these can be seen in the environment gallery.

Technical details:
Camera: Canon EOS350D
Lens: Canon 17-85mm IS
Exposure: 1/250 @ f10
Settings: 200ISO, AWB

Trees in the hedgerows

This week I have opened a new section in my Environment/Natural History Gallery for trees. The first album that I have created in this section is for trees that are in the hedgerows and fields. Currently, these photos are all taken at our previous smallholding in Wales.

The first photo, shown above, is a single tree growing in the hedge line at the eastern boundary of the smallholding. This tree is growing amongst a lot of gorse bushes which is quite common on the smallholding and in the locality. The local village (or rather hamlet) is Tynreithin which translates from the Welsh to Gorse Cottage. This view is roughly to the east towards the Cambrian Mountains which are just discernible in the distance (about 2 miles away).

The second photograph shows a small hawthorn amongst the gorse again. I like this photo because of the solitary nature of the tree and absence of a landscape for the background - just blue sky and a few clouds lower down.





This third photograph was taken early in the year before the leaves came on the tree. It shows a single tree in a field boundary with a few sheep grazing nearby. This was taken in a northerly direction. Again, I like this one for the lack of a landscape background, although in this image there is a lot more grey cloud.




More photographs can be seen in the environment gallery.

Technical details:
Camera: Canon EOS350D
Lens: Canon EFS 17-85mm IS
Exposure: typically 1/400 to 1/500, F11 to f9
Settings: ISO200 AWB

Gorse in the hedgerow

This week I am featuring some photographs taken a few months ago of gorse growing in the hedgerow. These photos were taken quite early in the morning when there was a light frost, but on a bright day with a clear blue sky.

The first picture shown is a close-up of some gorse flowers against the blue sky. In this photo you can just see the frost on the flowers. The sun was starting to warm up and the frost did not last long.

In the second image below, the photo was taken looking down on the flower stems into the bush. In this you can see the frost on the flowers, buds and the spiny leaves.




One thing that was noticeable was the gorse was a different shade of yellow to the previous year. In that year the gorse flowers where a lovely lemon-yellow colour. This year they have a more orangey hue. For comparison, below I show a photo of some gorse flowers from last year so that you can see the difference. Although they are not the exact same plants, these photographs are all taken in the same hedgerows of my previous smallholding in Wales.




More photos of gorse can be seen in the environment gallery.

Technical details:
Camera: Canon EOS 350D
Lens: Canon EFS 17-85mm IS
Exposure: Typically 1/200 @ f8
Settings: ISO200 AWB

A technical aside:
I am a day late this week. When I was preparing the photographs for the website gallery, I found that the photographs were a lot more orange when they were saved compared to what they were showing in the Photoshop (Elements 3) editing screen. This I had never noticed before, so I assumed it must be some difference caused by the new quality monitor that I now have. It took some time to fix the problem - I ended up turning off the colour management option. I need to research this in more detail so that I can see what is going on...

Tufted Vetch in the fenceline

Tufted Vetch (Vicia cracca) was a common plant in the fields and hedgerows of our previous smallholding in Wales. It is an important plant as, being a member of the pea family, it fixes nitrogen into the ground which helps the fertility of the soil.

The first photo, shown above, is of some flower heads and leaves of a plant that was growing along a wire fence. The fence was quite overgrown with different grasses and wild flowers and herbs. This plant was hanging away from most of the growth. You can see the pea-like tendrils that it uses to support itself.

The second photograph shown below shows one of the seed pods. If it wasn't for the size (it is quite small), you could easily believe it was a pea pod.



The third image shows an old flower head. The top has the remains of the old flowers as they die away. Lower down is the new seed pods that are just forming. In fact you can see the outline of the young seeds as they are developing in some of the pods. The remains of the flower are still clinging to the end of the pod.



Like many of the close-up photos that I tike, I find great interest in the detail. It is not all pretty, some of it is quote messy looking, but that is nature in the wild!

More of these images can be seen in the Environment Gallery.

Technical details:
Camera: Canon EOS350D
Lens: An older Canon 100mm Macro
Exposure: Typically 1/250 @ f8
Settings: ISO200, AWB

Lesser Butterfly Orchid

This week I have chosen to show some photos of the Lesser Butterfly Orchid, Platanthera bifolia. Identification of this is quite difficult as it is very similar to the Greater Butterfly Orchid. However, by using some of the excellent resources available on the web, I am reasonably confident of the identification.

The first photo is an enlargement of a single orchid in a meadow of our smallholding in Wales. In the background you can see the purple of a spotted orchid. The butterfly orchid was quite rare in our meadows - we only had a few specimens. The spotted orchid was quite common, there were hundreds in just this one meadow.

The second photo shown below is of a single plant in the meadow. This was taken on a late summer evening with the sun low down in the sky. As you can see, it is surrounded by quite dense, tall grass.



This third image shows the setting for these photographs. This image looks roughly south with a view to the Cambrian Mountains a couple of miles in the distance. You can see from the long shadows that they were taken late one evening when the sun was low.



More photographs can be seen in the Environment Gallery.

Technical details:
Camera: Canon EOS350D
Lens: Canon 17-85mm IS Zoom
Exposure: Typically 1/320@f13 to 1/60@f11
Settings ISO200, AWB

Self Heal - a common garden weed

Self Heal, Prunella vulgaris, is a common garden weed that is usually overlooked - except for those wishing to remove it from their gardens and lawns. However, up close the flower heads are quite amazing. I think there is incredible beauty in the shape and colour of the flower heads - as can be seen above.

These photos are from one specimen that grew tall - previously I had photographed some in the lawn that was regularly mowed so grew very short. I took these photos, and others (shown in the gallery) to show aspects of the plant other than the flowers. This could be of interest those wishing to use the photographs for identification or instructional purposes.

The second image, shown below, is from a branching stem and shows the way the leaves grow out from the stem as well as an immature flower head.



This third photograph, is similar to the one above but the flower head is younger still - it is green. You can also see the texture of the surface on the leaves - quite fascinating close up.



These photographs are shown with others in the Environment Gallery.

Technical details:
Camera: Canon EOS350D
Lens: An older Canon 100mm macro
Lighting : Off camera flashgun with a diffuser
Studio: A cardboard box with a black background.

Ribwort Plantain in close-up

This week I am featuring the same plant as last week, the Ribwort Plantain, but this time showing some close up photos of the plant taken in my 'studio' (a carboard box). Although the ribwort plantain (Plantago lanceolata) is a plain looking common weed in the meadows, it is quite fascinating in close up - especially the flower head.

The first photograph is of the flower head showing detail of the stamens. From this I have done a sectional enlargement showing the anthers on the stamens - this is shown below. They all seem to have this elongated heart shape.



This third image is of the whole flower head, which is about an inch or so in length. Very plain and boring as a flower, but it contains a wealth of fine detail.



More photos of the ribwort plantain can be seen in the environment gallery.

Technical Details:
Camera: Canon EOS350D
Lens: An old Canon 100mm Macro Lens
Exposure: 1/200 @f16
Settings: ISO200 AWB
Off-camera flash with reflectors.

Ribwort Plantain - Plantago lanceolata

This week I am featuring what is to many a common, unattractive weed - the Ribwort Plantain. However, when you get close up it (or at least the 'flowers'), it can look very attractive as you can see in a couple of these photos.

The first two photos were both taken of the same plant on the same day. It was one of a small cluster growing in a small field overrun with buttercups. This made an attractive background for the photographs. I was fascinated by the way the flower head had its stamens arranged in a ring around it.



This third photograph is an attempt to show how common they were in one of our fields - there were just so many of them amongst the grass.



More can be seen in the natural history and environment gallery.

Technical details:
Camera: Canon EOS 350D
Lens: Canon 17-85mm IS
Exposure: Typically 1/250 @f16
Settings: AWB, ISO200

A light fall of snow

Last month, just a couple of days before we moved away, we had second light fall of snow on our smallholding in Wales. It was less than an inch, but there was enough snow to transform the landscape. Luckily, it did not last nor was it deep enough to upset our moving plans.

The first photograph, shown above, shows the whiteness of the snow amongst the deep, brown grass. The two trees also have some snow sticking to their sides. I like this photo for both the composition and detail of the snow.

The second image below shows the snow covering the branches of a tree. I like the composition of this photo with the branches making diagonal lines from the corner. In the background you can see all the small branches in the distance are similarly covered in snow.




I am not so sure about this third image. It is a landscape showing the patchwork of fields across the hills - what do you think?



More photographs can be seen in the Miscellaneous Images Gallery.

Technical Details:
Camera: Canon EOS350D
Lens: Canon IS 17-85mm IS
Settings: ISO200 Auto White balance
Exposure: Typically 1/200 @ f10 to 1/320 @F13

Meadow Flower - Tufted Vetch (Vicia cracca)

Last year, when I had my smallholding in Wales, I was almost overwhelmed by the different wild plants that I was able to photograph on the smallholding. So many that I am still trying to catch up - and we are well into a new season in a new location, so I don't know if I will ever catch up!

The photos I am featuring this week are of a wild flower in the meadows: the Tufted Vetch (Vicia cracca). This plant is a member of the pea family which means that it puts nitrogen back into the soil so is an important plant to help maintain the fertility of the soil.

This first photograph is an extreme close up of the flower head of this plant. From a distance it looks small and insignificant. Closer up it has beautiful shades of pink, lilac and blue.

The second image below shows the whole plant, again in the 'studio' (a cardboard box with a black card background). You can see that it had tendrils for gripping on other plants as it climbs - just like a pea plant.



This third photograph shows the plant in the meadow. Close up it really stands out against the green background of the grasses and other plants. I find a lot of beauty in the plants that are often overlooked in favour of showier garden flowers, but are stunning in their own right.



More can be seen in the environment/natural history gallery.

Camera: Canon EOS 350D
Lens: an older Canon EOS 100mm macro.

Lake at Talley Abbey

I have visited Talley Abbey a couple of times now. It is one of the three that I have visited in Wales - the others were Strata Florida and Tintern. Of the three, Talley is my favourite.

Next to the ruins of the abbey is an old church and graveyard - I think this has a wonderful setting, as I have tried to show here. Adjacent to the church and abbey is a quite picturesque lake. This first photo shows the lake in a tranquil setting, surrounded by hills with sheep grazing peacefully by its edges.

This second photograph was taken from the churchyard showing the view across some of the gravestones to the lake. What a magnificent final resting place this makes.




This third image shows more of the graves with the lake forming a backdrop. This is a lovely, quiet rural location. The monks that built the original Abbey chose a good location!



More photos can be seen in the 'Images from Wales' Gallery.

A second visit to St. David's Cathedral.

A few weeks ago we visited St. David's Cathedral for the second time. The weather was a lot brighter for this visit, with bright sun and blue sky. This gave far better outdoor photographs than for my previous visit last year.

The first photograph was taken from near the main entrance and shows the cathedral in its entirety. I hope this conveys some impression of the size and majesty of the building. Impressive when you consider the building was started in 1181.

In the second image, below, I show the decorative ceiling of the tower above the choir in the centre of the church. I like this shot due to the unusual angle that I took the photograph. I was worried about the sunlight streaming through the window arches in the tower spoiling the photo, but I must have been lucky as there are no obvious streams of light.



In the third image, I show some of the decorative stonework on one of the arches. Without modern tools, the stonemasons have incorporated rich designs into the structure.



Outside, there were also old gravestones lined up against a wall, some dating back to the early 1700s. These had a lot of lichens slowly covering the surface. Below I show one example with more in the gallery.



I have added about half of the photos I took into the 'Images from Wales Gallery' - I hope to add the rest next week.

Technical Details:
Camera: Canon EOS 350D
Lens: Canon 17-85 IS
Outside Exposure: Typically 1/25o @f13
Outside Settings: Auto WB, 200ISO
Indoor Exposure: Typically 1/30 F5.6
Indoor settings: Auto WB 800ISO

2 Dawn Photographs

One of the advantages of living where I do is the fantastic view from the house across the Teifi valley to the Cambrian Mountains. This advantage will soon disappear for me as we are moving house this week, but I still have loads of photos taken here to catalogue.

We are moving across the width of the UK to a property with less land, and less spectacular views (but still rural). We will be in Norfolk near the east coast of the UK. Depending on the state of the Internet connection there may not be a blog or 'Picture of the Week' next week.

Although it does not look like it, these two photographs were taken on the same day just 7 minutes apart. The first photograph is a view, taken on a frosty morning, across the front garden looking south or southeast to the Cambrian Mountains. I love the way the lilac colour fades onto the blue and gold of the sky.

The second image below was taken near the end of the garden, looking past the trees and shrubs towards the Cambrian Mountains. This time the colours are more red and pink. As these were taken in mid winter, I did not need to get up too early to photograph this dawn.



More photos of the dawn can be seen in the gallery.

Technical Details:
Camera: Canon EOS 350D
Lens: Canon EF-S 17-85mm IS
Exposure: 1/8@ F4 and 1/30@F5
Settings: ISO200 +1/3 stop exposure compensation.

Light snow

Unusually, we have had no snow to speak of this past winter, just a light powdering on a couple of occasions. From a distance it looks like a heavy hoar frost. However, it is still quite picturesque which (I hope) you can see from this selection of photographs. They were all taken at the same time, fairly early in the morning - an hour later the sun had melted most of it.

The first photo above is a view from my smallholding in Wales looking northwards over neighbouring farmland. The snow is just enough to lighten the green grass without becoming completely white.



In the second image below, this was taken from the same viewpoint but looking further to the east. In the distance, you can see that the higher hills (the Cambrian Mountains) are more white where they got a slightly deep covering of snow. This too soon melted.

The third photo below is looking south across our garden in a southerly direction. From the shadows you can see that the sun is still low in the sky, but here there is still only a light covering of snow on the higher hills.




I have often mentioned, and shown images of, the Cambrian Mountains. For those who are used to more impressive mountain ranges, these are little more than hills. The reason they are so small for mountains is their age and they have been word down over the aeons by the weather and the ice ages. The Cambrian period in geology, and the Cambrian explosion (of different life forms) take their name from these hills. Many early geologists either came from Wales or studied the land of Wales.

More photos can be seen in this gallery.

Technical details:
Camera: Canon EOS350D
Lens: Canon EF-S 17-85mm IS
Exposure: Typically 1/250@f11 to 1/340 @f14
Settings: ISO200, Auto White Balance

A visit to Tintern Abbey

This week I made a visit to Tintern Abbey. This, like many monastic establishments in the UK, is in ruins due to the "Dissolution of the Monasteries" instituted by Henry VIII in the 1530s. This one is in better condition than many others. Tintern is situated in the southern part of the Wye Valley (itself an extremely attractive part of the country) on the Wales-England border.

As the weather has been rather poor lately, I chose a day when the forecast looked quite bright for that part of the country. As it is some 2½ hours drive away, I relied on the forecast. However, it was a very dull, cold blustery day.

I must admit that, for some reason, I did not feel very inspired on the day. But when I got home and started reviewing the photos, they turned out better than I expected, although I would not call them impressive. The picture shown above is my favourite from the day. Both when I took it and when I look at it, I can almost feel the monks walking by.

The second photograph shown below is to show the arches through the arches through the arched window. This works surprisingly well although if the lighting conditions were brighter, I think the image would look better.




In this third photograph, you can see the clouds of the dull day. The picture gives some idea of the scale and structure of the abbey complex. I am awed when you think of the effort that went into building it all in the days when everything was manual labour and the roads where just mud tracks.



More photos can be seen in the "Wales Gallery"

Technical details:
Camera: Canon EOS 350D
Lens: Canon EFS 17-85 IS
Exposure: Typically 1/10 to 1/15 @ F11
Sensitivity: ISO400
Support: Most were taken using a monopod for support.

A red sunrise from the smallholding

This week I feature another set of photographs showing the dawn from our smallholding showing the view over the Cambrian Mountains. It is not often we get a dawn like this with a rich red sun underlighting the light cloud cover. But when we do, the show is fantastic.

The first photo above shows the reds and yellows of the clouds with a small reflection in the ornamental pond in the garden (the white thing on the right is the dovecot). The second image below is a wide format shot concentrating more on the wonderful colours in the clouds - they really were that stunning!



This third photograph concentrates just on the clouds, showing the intricate patterns reflecting the red sunlight. I could look at these for hours...




These photographs were all hand-held, supporting the camera on a window frame.
Camera: EOS350D
Lens: EFS 17-85mm IS
ISO: 200
White Balance: Daylight
Exposure: f5.6. Shutter varied from 1/13 to 1/50sec

Sunrise over the Cambrian Mountains

I am fortunate that I live in a beautiful part of the country. The front of our house overlooks a shallow valley (carved by glaciers in the last ice age) and onto the Cambrian Mountains. These mountains are not high (they have been worn away by countless ice ages), nor rugged, but are gentle, rounded, accessible hills.

On a fine day with the right cloud they give spectacular sunrises. This week I am showing some images that I have just loaded into the gallery. They were all taken within minutes of each other from our front garden one November morning. I like the way the yellow turns to gold that turns to red. This is then complemented by the sky and clouds that have soft blue-grey tones.

This second image was taken in a different part of the garden. The cloud pattern is different although there is only minutes separating the photographs.





The third photograph concentrates on a smaller area of the view. This looks more reddish but still has a wonderful set of tones in the picture.



More photographs can be seen in the gallery.

Technical details:
Camera: Canon EOS350D
Lens: EF 17-85mm IS lens
Exposure typically: 1/60 @ f5.6

More sunsets

I am having a 'thing' about sunrises and sunsets at the moment. This week I am showing some more images that have been loaded into the gallery. The first photo is a similar shot as one I showed in the previous post, but without the birds but with more foreground and dark clouds. For this shot, I was standing on a hedge bank, leaning on a telephone pole, overlooking a neighbours property. This was taken in May.


The second photograph was taken from just a few yards away on a different evening, but pointing to the right in a north-easterly direction. The colour of the sky was totally different - pale pinks and lilacs.





This third image was taken from the same point as the first but a few months later in August. This has the same yellow and golds, but different cloud patterns give a different feel - there is no heavy cloud overhead.


More photographs can be seen in the gallery.

Technical details:
Camera: Canon EOS350D
Lens: EF 17-85mm IS lens

Strata Florida Abbey

This week I am featuring the ruins of Strata Florida Abbey in Mid-Wales. It is thought that the Abbey was founded around 1164 A.D. and was due to the patronage of the Lord Rhys (many of his descendants were buried there). This monastery increased in power and authority across Wales with farms belonging to it being spread out across the Welsh countryside. Its influence was felt throughout Wales and it sought influence over other monasteries such as that at Talley (which I have featured before).

The first photograph above shows the entrance doorway. It must have been quite impressive when the abbey was complete. The second image below shows the entrance door from inside the abbey. You can get an idea of the thickness of the walls from the window to the left.




This third photo shows what remains of the pillars along the knave that supported the roof. You still get a feeling for the strength and power of the stonework. It is amazing to think that these structures were built by hand without any powered machinery or tools that we would think of as being essential these days.



More photos can be seen in the 'Images from Wales' gallery.

Technical details:
Camera: Canon EOS350D
Lens: EF 17-85mm IS lens
Sensitivity: ISO400
Exposure: varies but typically at 1/250 @F16.
Lighting: Natural light. Light to medium cloud sometimes with the sun shining though.