Showing willing

Two successive trips, both to the same location and both with a forecast of broken cloud and sunshine.

1st trip
The clouds indeed were breaking up, there just wasn't enough cloud and the sky was probably 95% cloud free, which offers the prospect of distinctly uninspiring cool blue shadows and cyan sky.

The cloud breaking up

It's fair to say my inspiration level dimmed a bit and I abandoned the big view for what was on offer on the ground, amongst the boulder lobes.

Lichen community

2nd trip
Was a sky of unbroken cloud, but with blue skies to the West, there was a tantalising prospect of the cloud breaking up or clearing,  towards sunset.  The diffuse light was more suited to studies of the ecology of the upland environ and the Ffridd wall provided some inspiration.

Ophioparma ventosa

Parmelia saxatilis with lichenous fungi

Moss and lichen community

Moving on up onto the open hillside, above the bracken line and into grassland, heavily grazed by hill ponies and sheep, but crucially never improved with fertiliser or ploughed, the ancient nutrient poor soils are a haven for fungi. Surveys of Welsh uplands reveal its international importance for many species of grassland fungi and it's known by ecologists as 'Waxcap grassland'.

Scarlet Waxcaps

Orange Waxcaps

A wander around some impressive landslide debris and then it was time to commence the vigil for sunset and a view across the hillside, over landslide debris (paraglacial), soliflucted boulder lobes and till (periglacial) to the southern outliers of the Black Mountains. By the time the cloud cleared, the sun had already set ... IF the cloud had cleared 20 mins earlier, the foreground would have been awash with the last light of sunset, the retreating cloud sheet would have turned magenta ... on such small margins, sigh.

Blue Hour

The cloud at least presented an opportunity for a 'blue hour' image and then it was on with the head torch and a journey down to the car. A landscape photographer certainly needs a philosophical outlook on weather and observing/photographing the ecology helps to make a trip worthwhile when the weather doesn't play ball.