Scowles First Light

Two consecutive dawns in late April delivered heavy overnight frosts, negligible wind, cloud free eastern horizons at sunrise and low angled warm light to illuminate scowles woodland. The latitude of the Forest of Dean, modest elevation above sea level and post spring equinox, ensures the duration of first light at sunrise lasts only a few minutes.

First light provided illumination of the interior woodland and mineral workings, although the ground flora is sparse, limited to flora able to cope with deep shade cast from beech and yew trees. Given the environment and nature of light, I was reasonably happy with the images made, although another trip in a fortnight might produce more pleasing results as the sunrise azimuth will provide a better angle of first light at another scowles location.

I do enjoy the photography challenges presented by ephemeral light in a woodland environment, although with negligible wind, there are opportunities with twilight and post first light to fall back on.

A dawn trip and wind issues

An oh, so, cunning plan incorporating the brief warm light of sunrise and ancient woodland ground flora, unravelled when it became apparent the strength of the wind would induce motion blur of subject matter, sigh. I have little enthusiasm for motion blurred woodland ground flora in images and whilst in theory combating motion blur can be alleviated by a higher Iso and wider apertures, in practice it is simpler to wait for optimal conditions. The not all that well thought out back up plan was reverted to: the static subject matter of nearby mineral workings and veteran trees, bathed in the warm light of sunrise.

Given the prevailing weather and skeletal tree canopy, the trees were still early in leaf flush, it might have been better to admit defeat on the wider view and concentrate instead on an intimate view, instead the wider view was persisted with. The root system of a beech held some potential, a tripod leg length of 3m would have coped with a steep slope, given a more elevated point of view and better separated a background yew tree from the beech roots.

Being truthful I failed to get the compositions I wanted without including skeletal branches against powder blue clear sky, which presented some interesting decisions on what to expose for; the sky or shadows? Another week would have seen the flushing of leaves and establishment of a tree canopy that would have masked out the sky, simplifying compositions considerably.

I harboured a hope that the wind might drop in intensity, it didn't and instead seemed to intensify in strength, so, the back up plan to the back up plan, was implemented: a retreat to a more sheltered area of the woodland. The sheltered area was also a shaded area, no bad thing with clear skies and bluebells.

This area of woodland has a history of coppicing with outsize stools of hazel, alder and ash and the ground flora reflects the underlying bedrock and superficial deposits. Well used animal trails courtesy of badger and deer were used to explore the woodland and mitigate against trampling. The densest area of bluebells carpeted a valley spur exposed to the increasing wind and photography was concentrated on the woodland management and flora highlighting the underlying geology.

An hour after sunrise, I called it a day for photography and enjoyed a wander around the woodland, reflecting on just how many outings for landscape photography coincide with ideal conditions for the subject matter.

Irresponsible behaviour

A benefit of social media is visually highlighting the actions of feckless landscape photographers, in this instance at Dockey woodland on the National Trust Ashridge Estate.

Getting photographers a bad name. On the closed paths @AshridgeNT pic.twitter.com/FBXdvRsqXx

— UKwildlifephotograph (@ukwildlifephoto) April 18, 2016

The common agricultural policy - a brighter future for Habitat?

In a previous post I highlighted the surprising number of animals registered for common land in Commons Commissioners Decisions in the late 1980's. There was a great enthusiasm by those with commoning rights for registering sheep and on one common of 2,136 acres partly designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) 18,643 sheep were registered by commoners! The Commons Commissioner noted that

"It is I suppose obvious that those numbers of sheep could not sensibly all be grazed at the same time."

It seems that the Common Agricultural Policy at one point made payments per head of livestock grazed and sensible numbers of sheep were not grazed as UK and Wales government official historical sheep numbers appear to trend with the European Union Common Agricultural Policies of payments per head of livestock.

Parliament Research Briefing paper Number 03339, 21 January 2016 Agriculture: historical statistics - researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN03339/SN03339.pdf

The effect of European Union Common Agricultural Policy payments can be demonstrated by considering the Sheep population of the UK. The dramatic fall in 2001, was a result of culling in the Foot and Mouth outbreak and the policy of payment per head of livestock was phased out in 2005 and a single farm payment introduced. Demand from overseas markets (China) has kept overall numbers high and there seems no apparent appetite by UK livestock farmers to return to previous historic levels for sheep numbers.

http://gov.wales/docs/statistics/2015/151119-survey-agriculture-horticulture-june-2015-en.pdf

In 2013 a collaboration between 25 UK conservation and research organisations produced a report titled the State of Nature 2013, which highlighted the decline of UK habitat and species under the European Union Common Agricultural Policies.

Illustration from the 2013 State of Nature Report

• We have quantitative assessments of the population or distribution trends of 3,148 species. Of these, 60% of species have declined over the last 50 years and 31% have declined strongly. 
• Half of the species assessed have shown strong changes in abundance or distribution, indicating that recent environmental changes are having a dramatic impact on the nature of the UK’s land and seas. There is also evidence to suggest that species with specific habitat requirements are faring worse than generalist species that are better able to adapt to a changing environment. 
• A new Watchlist Indicator has been developed to measure how conservation priority species are faring, based on 155 species for which we have suitable data. This group contains many of our most threatened and vulnerable species, and the indicator shows that their overall numbers have declined by 77% in the last 40 years, with little sign of recovery. 
•  Of more than 6,000 species that have been assessed using modern Red List criteria, more than one in ten are thought to be under threat of extinction in the UK. A further 885 species are listed as threatened using older Red List criteria or alternative methods to classify threat. 
•  Our assessment looks back over 50 years at most and over a considerably shorter period of time for many species groups. It is well accepted that there were considerable (albeit largely unquantified) declines in the UK’s wildlife prior to the last 50 years, linked to habitat loss.

The supplementary report for Wales stated  :

Due to a lack of suitable data, we were only able to present quantitative trends for about 5% of the UK’s species, and when we look at a smaller scale, the problem becomes even greater. As a result, although we report the best available data here for Wales, the picture is far from complete – we simply don’t have sufficient knowledge to make a robust, quantitative assessment of the state of nature in Wales. 

In 2015 The European Commission produced the State of Nature Europe, Reporting under the EU Habitats and Birds Directives 2007–2012 Across the EU a glance shows an unfavourable status for species.

screen grab from http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/pdf/state_of_nature_en.pdf

Screen grab from http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/pdf/state_of_nature_en.pdf

The growing concern and criticism from conservation organisations of the declining habitat in Europe has necessitated a revised Common Agricultural Policy and in the UK this has seen a change from from the Single Farm Payment into a Basic Farm Payment Scheme (BPS) that will aim encourage farmers to prioritise Habitat Nature Value.

Greening Under BPS, farmers have to meet the ‘greening’ rules to receive a greening payment as part of their total BPS payment. The greening payment will be worth about 30% of a farmer’s total payment.

The Common Agricultural Policy new payment structure in the UK do appear to place an onus on habitat conservation and enhancement, it will be interesting to read how the new policy plays out.

Toxic brands

After graduating I worked in the Chemical Industry for 10 years and gained an insight into the hazardous nature of man made chemicals. That knowledge has consciously shaped my consumer habits and I avoid some products/brands, preferring instead the less fashionable brands that value the environment. In recent years environmental campaigners have been raising concern on hazardous chemicals associated with textiles and naming those brands who take a responsible approach to the environment and highlighting the brands that need to adopt a responsible approach to the environment.

I suspect that many outdoors enthusiasts, including landscape photographers, may be unaware that their purchasing decisions on outdoor clothing can have profound impacts on the environment and a recent grough article provides some background info on Waterproofing . It is worth noting that other clothing and footwear may also contain man made chemicals that contaminate the environment.

Greenpeace have two reports that are worth reading for identifying the brands that could improve their enthusiasm for the environment by using safer chemicals Leaving TracesThe hidden hazardous chemicals in outdoor gear Greenpeace product test 2016 and a Technical Report

There is a campaign website and petition at http://detox-outdoor.org/en/ that you can register your support for eliminating toxic chemicals from the environment.

Ye olde wild yew trees

I reacquainted myself with the Ancient Yew Group website when looking up info about the King yew from a recent walk and am conscious that there are a couple of local woodlands with yews that are worthy of recording. So I contacted the Ancient Yew Group (AYG) to enquire if someone experienced in recording yews could assist in recording a number of yews in the Forest of Dean and in early April I met up with Peter Norton of the AYG to guide and assist him in measuring the yews.

A rejuvenating yew with aerial roots growing inside the decaying wood and new wood being laid down. Compass for scale.

The first location has a long history of woodland management, with an association to a 12th Century Cistercian Abbey and the ground flora is indicative of ancient woodland. Within this woodland there are a number of yews growing on a steep escarpment, woodland boundary and on/along earthworks, some of the earthworks could be associated with the Cistercian monks management of the wood. Some yews on the escarpment are hollowed and fragmented, elsewhere the yews mostly appeared whole. Measurements were made of the largest yews and some exceeded the criteria of girth measurement for exceptionally significant trees in a woodland environment, as defined by Toby Hindson of the AYG. A good start to the visit.

Scowles environment 

The second woodland visited was one of the scowles and is postulated as a source of iron ore for a major iron working industry at Ariconium. The iron working activities at Ariconium have been dated to the late Iron Age with a major increase in activity in the Roman age and represent a major site of the iron industry in Britain.

Scowles bedrock outcrops

The bedrock at this scowles location is of Lower Carboniferous age with gently dipping beds of limestone and shale. The exposed outcrops appear to be intimately associated with mineral working activities and there is no sign of modern quarrying techniques i.e drill holes. Some of the bedrock outcrops also display carious weathering, that might indicate prolonged exposure to the elements. Aside from opencast and subterranean iron ore mining, limestone has historically been used as a flux for iron working, tanning, mortar, building stone, lime wash etc. although some of the limestone has dolomitised. There is a high probability for a long history of intermittent mineral working at this location, although no archaeological excavation has taken place.

Yew rooted to a quarried outcrop

The yews are mostly sited on bedrock outcrops and their morphology is varied with trees in varying states of rejuvenation; some are clearly fragments of once larger trees; others are laying down new wood to cover dead wood or close gaps in the trunk; some are sending forth new branches from what otherwise appears to be a dead tree and others are sending down aerial roots. The scowles yews at this location present a stark contrast to the yews in the woodland of the 1st visit and this was where Peter Norton's experience was needed in determining where to measure and how to categorise the trees.

The association of yews and bedrock outcrops

The tale of the tape determined slightly lower measured girth than the first location. Sadly time pressure dictated that only the largest and easily accessible yews were visited and recorded, a pity as some otherwise innocuous looking yews have interesting morphologies. Peter Norton has yet to publish his findings and it will be interesting to read his opinions.

The previsioned atmospheric daffodil woodland photograph - theory and practice

The forecast was for clear skies, a windless dawn and an overnight frost. An unusual combination for late March in recent years and the warming rays of an early spring sun could potentially raise ethereal wisps of vapour or even better a blanket of vapour. With low angled sunlight shining through mist and tree trunks onto a carpet of wild daffodils, it would be the atmosphere that would do justice to a daffodil wood. The alarm was set.

Frost free wild daffodil carpet

On the drive to the wood the roadside foliage was covered with frost and the walk along the woodland ride was over frosted foliage. The woodland daffodil carpets were frost free, c'est la vie.

A wild daffodil wood sans frost

Suffice to write, the desired atmospherics didn't materialise, a slight haze would be the best description, sigh.

The sun rose quickly into a clear blue sky, which gives a small window for photography before harsh lighting and cool blue shadows dominate the scenery. With no prospect of overhead cloud, the camera gear is packed away and time to go walkabout, enjoy the sights and sounds of a spring woodland, with the warming rays of the sunshine.