Picturesque vs photogenic views - Lower Wye Valley, Autumn 2015

In the 18th C the Wye Tour was a popular tourist attraction, essentially a boat trip downriver with stopping off points on the journey, to stretch the legs and take in the views. The picturesque status of the Lower Wye Valley scenery was sealed with the publication in 1782 of William Gilpin's "Observations on the River Wye, and Several Parts of South Wales, Relative Chiefly to Picturesque Beauty; Made in the Summer of the Year 1770". In more recent times the Lower Wye Valley has been designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and much of the native woodland designated a Special Area of Conservation. So, in theory, the Lower Wye valley should present no shortage of photography opportunities. In practice the Lower Wye Valley presents some challenges in photographing the scenery. The challenges to photography manifest themselves in the absence of the Lower Wye Valley as a destination on the landscape photography workshop circuit and neither do many landscape photographers portfolios or galleries feature images of the Lower Wye Valley. If they do, they tend to be from one of the signposted viewpoints that are regularly cleared of trees and foliage to provide unobstructed views.

Picturesque the Lower Wye Valley is without doubt, however its photogenic qualities are compromised by the very same trees and foliage that add so much to the scenery and sadly obstruct many views. Then there are; access restrictions; intensively cultivated fields; power lines; topography and conservation activities. Whilst the clear felling and restoration of planted ancient woodland sites (PAWS) and the return of coppicing, are positive conservation activities, their initial visual impact is not the best. It really does pay to scout the location shortly before photographing it, as it is surprising how quickly modern forestry operations are executed, the only time of stability is in the bird nesting season when cessation of forestry activities occurs.

From my own perspective, the novelty of making derivative images from the viewpoints soon wore off and venturing away from the viewpoints has been a long learning curve and more than once I've questioned if there's an inverse relationship between picturesque and photogenic scenery.

A primary aesthetic of the views overlooking the Wye valley is the perspective on the woodland. Ancient semi natural woodland with a diverse canopy and patchwork of colour. The colours are there in spring, but shades of green are no match for autumn, where the trees express their individuality through a colour palette that varies from vermilion, amber, russet and yellows.

Two dawn trips and one was rewarded with a magenta sky over a mist filled valley, long neglected hedegrows provided a lead in, to be honest I was hoping for a lot less mist in the valley and a different view.

The weather then deteriorated with days of fog and then the jet stream notable by its absence, returned with a vengeance, streaming low pressure systems over the UK for days on end, effectively ending autumnal interest until next year, when the challenge can again be resumed.

Assart and back again

An evening walk through a less visited wood in the Wye Valley and towards the furthest extremity of this wood, the forestry track cut through a stone wall. A derelict, moss covered stone wall,  surrounded by high oak and beech woodland. My initial thoughts were a simple event chronology of  building of the stone wall, planting of woodland and construction of a forestry track cutting through wall. As that stone walls are rarely constructed through an existing wood and the area of woodland on one side of the wall was carpeted in bluebells and on the other side of the wall, bluebells were colonising through a relict gateway or where the wall had collapsed, which suggested the area enclosed by the wall was once farmland, before reforestation. The light was fading and with exposure duration in seconds and mindful of the return walk to car, only a few images were made.

Derelict stone wall in woodland

Intrigued by the wall in the wood, I consulted a couple of authoritative texts and maps of the area. The general area has some history dating back to Anglo Saxon times,  a Domesday Book entry, Norman manor and the creation of a sizeable family estate in the 16th/17th C, but concentrating on the events pertinent to the stone wall and wood, it is probably best to start in first decade of the 19th C.  In 1803, Admiral Lord Nelson, following a visit to the area, produced a report on the naval timber in the nearby Forest of Dean.  The report included the following statements "These shameful abuses are probably known to those high in power ..." and  "If the Forest of Dean is to be preserved as a useful Forest for the country, strong measures must be pursued. First, the guardian of the support of our Navy must be an intelligent honest man ...". He also wrote that some oak woodlands and fields outwith the statutory Forest of Dean could be purchased to ensure a short and medium term supply of mature timber and planting of oak saplings raised in nurseries for the long term. Following an act of Parliament, replanting of the Forest of Dean commenced between 1808-1818, the events of which didn't go entirely to plan and coincidentally in 1817 the Highmeadow estate of woodland and farmland adjoining the Dean, was purchased by the Crown Commissioners.

Primary and secondary woodland either side of the stone wall

I made a return visit in better light, to make a photographic record of the derelict stone wall, bluebells colonising the secondary woodland and confirm that the wall is the one shown on the modern OS maps against known boundaries and features.

View along the stone wall

A search online produced an illustration of a village map of 1608, that also details the wall enclosing a field and adjacent woodland, the 6":1 Mile late 19th C OS map also show the stone wall traced out in woodland and the modern OS explorer map shows the stone wall, woodland and forestry track. It seems likely that the derelict stone wall was once an estate and/or field boundary on the Highmeadow estate. So what was once woodland, was then assarted for farmland, then reforested in the 1820's and has remained woodland ever since under the management of the then Commissioners of Woods and now by the Forestry Commission.

Former gateway and now entranceway for colonising bluebells

The derelict boundary wall has clearly been an effective barrier to bluebell colonisation, but where breaks occur in the wall there is still a discernible difference in spread and density of flowers, between secondary woodland and the original wood after nearly two centuries.  Another observation would be that lateral colonisation across a slope seems particularly slow, especially against the prevailing wind. I was surprised at how slow the colonisation of former farmland was, especially as bluebells are considered as one of the more 'vigorous' colonisers amongst ancient woodland indicator flora.