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.

A trip to a daffodil wood

The county flower of Gloucestershire is the wild daffodil and its stronghold is in the north-west of the county where it borders Herefordshire, in an area called the Golden Triangle.  There are fields, meadows, churchyards, orchards and woodland that are carpeted in wild daffodils, some of the best displays are in Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust nature reserves,. The video is courtesy of the GWT.



It was a fine spring day to visit the wood, with a chorus of birdsong as a backdrop and large bumble bees visiting the flowers. The woodland hinted at its ancient credentials with coppice stools of small leaved lime and emerging foliage of other flora indicative of ancient woodland. Probably at least a week early for the peak of daffodil flowering, but nonetheless a good day for a spring walk. One day the weather will align to produce a dawn that would do justice to the atmosphere of a daffodil wood, until then it is a matter of waiting patiently.

A daffodil wood.

Spring woodland flowers and ancient woodland

I am fortunate to live in an area where there is above average, for the UK, coverage of woodland in the the Forest of Dean and Wye Valley and the arrival of spring signals the end to winters dormancy and the emergence of wildflowers. Spring always arrives late in the Forest of Dean woodland due to a colder microclimate, so the woods in the Lower Wye Valley are always the first visited.

Primrose

Many of the local woods have been identified as ancient and woodland historians have employed a number of strategies to identify the lineage of ancient woods i.e tracing their history through medieval records of charters, perambulations, surveys and pipe rolls; maps and place names; estate and tithe accounts; with field archaeology and the presence of outsize coppice stools and veteran pollarded trees also pointing to a woods age and use. Another strategy employed are ecological surveys of ancient woods and secondary woodland, a comparison of species suggests there is a stark difference in flora and fauna found in ancient woodland and that found in secondary woodland. The flora in particular has been classified as indicator species for ancient or semi natural ancient woodland, there are some regional differences, but there are a number of species which are common to all ancient woodland.

Wood anemones

The more indicator species inhabiting a wood, then the more likely that wood is ancient in origin and as some woods have remained under the radar of historical records, then indicator species are important in establishing a convincing case for a woods designation.  The importance of ancient woodland is their high biodiversity and it is apparent from ecological surveys of secondary woodland adjoining an ancient wood, that it takes centuries to create the habitat of an ancient woodland. It is also suspected that some secondary woods isolated from ancient woods, will never naturally evolve into ancient woodland, which emphasises that ancient woodland is an irreplaceable habitat and why ecologists have concentrated their efforts in identifying this special habitat.

Wood Sorrel

Many woods in the Lower Wye Valley have been identified as ancient or semi natural ancient and are afforded legal protection, with responsible organisations managing the woodland for biodiversity and safeguarding the habitat with suitable management plans.

Beech coppice stool 

So, with much anticipation of photographing the ancient woodland and flora, the recent weather has seen; high to strong winds; powder blue skies and bright sunshine. Which translates into blurred flowers, cool blue shadows and harsh lighting, not an ideal scenario for woodland photography or for any landscape photography I can think of, other than picture postcards.

Toothwort

It is still early spring, so hopefully there is still time for the weather to change to more amenable conditions for wild flower and woodland photography.

Ancient woodland