Early start

A simple question for a landscape photography exam.

Question : If sunrise is at 04.50 hrs and it takes 55 mins to travel by car, what time does the alarm clock need to be set for?

Answer :  Working back from sunrise, allow; 30 mins to find some inspiration; 30 mins walk in head torch; 5 mins to get suited and booted; 10 mins for wildlife encounters on the car journey; 25 mins for 2 cups of coffee, morning ablutions and regain full consciousness and 10 mins snooze = 02.05 hrs

Dawn

In actual fact the wildlife was far more arresting with headlights revealing the need to brake for Deer, Fox cubs and twice stops made for hedgehogs that curled up and needed to be carefully shoed out of the road to the safety of the verge. It did occur to me that if BBC broadcast Springwatch live at dawn there'd be a lot more interesting fauna seen.

It's been a few years since conditions presented the opportunity to revisit this location for dawn, the late flowering of Mossy Saxifrage with sunrise to the NE.  The last visit was met with rain, this visit revealed an extensive bank of low cloud/fog over the Herefordshire/Worcestershire border exactly where the sun would rise, sigh. A clear  sky overhead, meant a less than optimal twilight illumination. Also hill fog was ominously covering the visible hill summits to the north and depressingly a surprisingly brisk and chilly NW'ly wind was vortexing down from the hill above. The wind has been a notable feature of late spring/early summer 2015 on the western side of the UK and sadly it has impacted on trips and subject matter, a pity really as the air clarity has been excellent.

Warm light

The prospect of flowers illuminated by first light, bit the dust. A less than convincing image of another view was made, that tried to minimise any foreground elements that could be affected by the wind, whilst waiting for light levels to rise as the sun cleared the cloud. Sometimes there are just too many compromises made prior to a composition.

Sheltered Mossy Saxifrage

It is frustrating when events don't meet expectations, doubly so when the location has so much interest for the flora and geomorphology, but the wind strength meant that isolated cushions of flowers needed to be sought out in the lee of trees, boulder lobes or sheltered hollows in the block field debris. In hindsight,  maybe I should have gone with an image in a low light, long exposure, of a blurred flower carpet? Maybe next year?

Mossy Saxifrage

Why?

The southern slopes of the Black Mountains were visited, again.  Which raises the question - why?  The answer is complex.  This area of the Black Mountains has a suite of landforms which appear to relate to phenomena associated with a very cold climate.  Debris from rock slope failures - possibly paraglacial or seismic in origin - appears extensively modified by periglacial processes. More surprisingly, Table Mountain is also thought to be a landslide, resulting from the down wasting of a valley glacier. Both events are thought to have occurred towards end of the Devensian stadial, but there are also alternative theories, it's an interesting wander and the landform suites possibly relate to a number of climatic events.

There are also the insights along the route, from the impact of farming - Ffridd wall, hedge laying, woodland management and relating the the underlying geology with flora. There is also the intangible pleasure of observing the rich tapestry of nature, viz on this trip; a Red Kite shadowed by two Ravens; a Wren foraging in the block slopes; a Fox crossing a distant field; a field conspicuously littered with Mole hills; Fairy inkcaps in a decaying Oak, berry laden Hawthorns, hill ponies grazing, scat on a prominent boulder - the lichen community reflecting a nutrient rich environment and hinting strongly that this boulder has demarcated an animals territory for a while ...

There's also the benefit of stretching the legs and schlepping the photography kit helps puts some debit in the calorific bank, with the festive season calorific binge looming...

Fairy Inkcaps ~ Leica apo macro elmarit 100/2.8

Leica vario elmar R 21-35mm Asph

Then there's the creative itch to be scratched, making a photograph, especially with the quality of light around the winter solstice, when the sun is at its lowest zenith, with a backdrop of broken cloud, rain showers, sunset and with good fortune, there's real potential for atmosphere. The good fortune is light shining through a break in the cloud illuminating the scene. My fortune on this trip was mixed, well broken cloud on the ascent, the first image captures the last light before a hill spur shadow falls across the boulder lobe. The second image has warm but weak sunlight filtered through cloud, the main sunbeam was slightly higher up the hillside, the cloud was failing to breakup sufficiently over the Brecon Beacon massif to the WSW.

Leica vario elmarit R 28-90 Asph

I thought that was the light gone for this trip, the cloud seemed unbroken to the south west, obscuring the sunset and so made my way back across the block slope, as I wanted to look at possibilities for a dawn scenario. On the way some 'Dog Lichens' (Peltigera membranacea) caught my eye.

Dog Lichens ~ Leica vario elmarit R 28-90 Asph

Sunset was a non event, but the cloud was breaking up to the south and dusk provided a display of red/magenta lighting reflected from and diffused by the clouds, a welcome and unexpected bonus. The wind eased too, which was helpful as exposure times were in the order of 4 to 8 seconds duration in the gloaming light.

 Leica vario elmarit R 28-90 Asph 

 Leica vario elmarit R 28-90 Asph 

The opportunity doesn't arise that often, but it is interesting to make images in the colours of dusk, the human eye doesn't pick up the colours as well as the camera sensor and for this trip it was definitely worth waiting around for.

An Orange Blorenge

A later than planned start and driving down the A40 it was noted that the weather/air clarity was less than inspiring. So, Plan A - calf muscle testing ascent up Mynydd Troed was switched to Plan B - a leisurely wander around the Blorenge instead, the Foxhunter carpark is handily placed for minimal exertion.

It had been 6+ years since the last visit and things had changed out on the moorland. At some point in the intervening years an extensive (managed?) hill fire had burnt away the leggy heather and young heather plants were rejuvenating the moor.  The heavily eroded main path from carpark to summit had been resurfaced and there seemed to be a complete absence of litter, hopefully a positive sign that people are respecting the environment.  Two pairs and a trio, equalled a total of 7 Red Grouse sighted, apparently the Blorenge is the furthest location south in the UK for Red Grouse and another positive, always good to see the native wildlife.

The periglacial block fields on the northern slopes also have the potential for a composition with the Black Mountains as a back drop and fortuitously the sheet cloud started to break up in time for sunset.

I can think of numerous times when far more onerous trips have met with scant reward, but autumnal low angled sunlight, under low cloud is not bad at all.