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

Tŷ Canol Woods

Coed Tŷ Canol is an important ecological site with the twin designation of Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and a National Nature Reserve (NNR).  I could wax lyrical about the trees and rocks cloaked with lichen and moss or the folklore associating the wood with the 'little people', but simple words do not adequately convey the shapes, layers of textures and colour that contribute to the atmosphere of this woodland.

Coed Tŷ Canol

The woodland is predominantly sessile oak with a relatively open canopy allowing sufficient light through for lichens to flourish. More importantly, lichens species appear to grow in specific niche habitats and are slow colonisers, so continuity of that niche habitat is important. The UK has 1,800+ species of lichens and Tŷ Canol has 400+ species, some nationally rare, which is why this relatively small area is a protected landscape. I'm also aware that a lichenologist requires more commitment and dedication, than merely buying a Field Guide and hoping to match a photo with one in the guide, which is why; 1) I struggle miserably to identify and name lichens that I have photographed and 2) I am informed on the habitat niches that lichens occupy.

Lichenscape

In addition to the rich numbers of lichens, the wood has a vibrant moss, liverwort and fern communities, that seemingly carpet every rock, tree and woody debris. The vibrant greenery is a welcome salve for the eyes after the 'dead' winter months of February/March, with straw coloured vegetation on the hills and in my local woods.  As with lichens, these communities also occupy habitat niches too and also indicates that the woodland cover has been continuous for a long time

Coed Tŷ Canol

Moss carpets

Sessile oaks, Polypody ferns, Mosses and Lichens

Coed Tŷ Canol is designated as ancient woodland and many of its flora are indicator species of ancient woodland, it is well worth a visit.

Mynydd Preseli 'Bluestones'

A trip to Pembrokeshire presented the opportunity to revisit the Preseli hills and given the weather forecast a trip to Ty Canol wood would also feature.  Surprisingly the Preseli Hills are poorly represented in UK landscape photography imagery, their remoteness from major population centres and lack of car park views may be contributory factors.  There's a lot that can typred about the Preseli's; The geology and geomorphology are represented in landforms that illustrate a landscape evolving in geological time, plentiful archaeology and folklore, photographically the proximity to the Atlantic usually guarantees some photographic interest in the sky too. Failing all else the Preseli's are a Special Area of Conservation with some rare flora and that flora suggests a macro lens should be taken along.

Mynydd Preseli - April 2010

The Preseli hills have long been associated with the bluestones at Stonehenge, which is at least 135 miles as the crow flies distant and inevitably raises the questions Who, What, Where, When, How and Why, for the presence of bluestones at Stonehenge.  I'd lost touch with recent developments at Stonehenge and the bluestones, so a look at the English Heritage website, recent research papers and blogs brought me up to date with the current consensus on all things Stonehenge. What follows is an overview of recent developments for the bluestones at Stonehenge.

Who decided to use bluestones at Stonehenge is still unknown.

What the bluestones are, is a collective name for any orthostat or debitage at Stonehenge that isn't local to the Salisbury Plain i.e not a Sarsen stone or chalk.  The bluestones are not known to outcrop on or anywhere near to Salisbury Plain and are an assemblage of igneous, volcanic and sedimentary stones.  Geologists have categorised the bluestones (orthostats and debitage) into the following types

Devonian sandstone
Lower Paleozoic sandstone
Volcanic Tuff
Rhyolite
Dolerite

Some of the bluestone types have been further defined into sub groups based on their petrology, which for brevity I've omitted.

There are currently 43 known bluestone orthostats and a considerable spread of bluestone debitage at Stonehenge. The debitage is primarily attributed to human activities in working and destruction of the stones. The actual number of bluestones that once stood at Stonehenge remains unknown, but the consensus is that in the past there were more than 43.

Where the bluestones originated from, is currently the subject of an ongoing investigation by geologists, using petrographic and chemical analysis to correlate bluestone orthostats and debitage at Stonehenge with sampled outcrops in west Wales. This line of investigation has had some success and proved the provenance of some bluestones with a reported high degree of certainty to named outcrops on the Preseli hills and on the northern slope of the Preseli hills in the Afon Neyfer valley. Geologists pinpointed one specific location to an outcrop at Craig Rhos-y-felin and archaeological excavation revealed evidence for quarrying activity of an actual Stonehenge sized bluestone orthostat. However, there are a number of other bluestones that remain unsampled, so their provenance currently remains unknown, if not suspected.  Surprisingly no bluestones are currently provenanced to two of the more prominent landscape features on Mynydd Preseli - Carn Menyn and Foel Drygran. There are also a small number of stones which have no known provenance in the Preseli area viz the largest bluestone at ~6 Tonnes (Altar stone) and its attribution to Lower Devonian sandstone of the Senni formation, places it well outside the Preseli area.

Northern slopes of Mynydd Preseli - October 2011

When the bluestones were first used at Stonehenge is not definitively known, as archaeologists  suspect on the basis of excavation evidence, that some or all of the bluestones have been used in earlier phases of Stonehenge viz Q, R and the Aubrey Holes and in at least one other monument elsewhere in the wider landscape around Stonehenge, viz, the bluestone henge beside the River Avon. The latest date for bluestones incorporation into the present stone arrangement is ~ 2,200 BC.  Archaeologists have good reasons to suspect that bluestones were sited in the Aubrey holes, which have been dated to around 3,000 BC.

How the bluestones arrived at Stonehenge is a cause célèbre and tends to polarise opinions. There's a steady stream of alternative theories involving extra terrestrial aliens, UFO's, magic etc and more conventional theories. The theories tend to reflect modern perceptions and prejudices of Neolithic peoples; inventiveness; skills; technology; intellectual capacity; society; beliefs etc etc. Two of the more conventional theories promoted by Geologists and Archaeologists are; human agency and/or glacial ice.

Glacier terminus and debris

The random assemblage of diverse rock types at Stonehenge would be representative of material quarried over a wide region by glacial ice and subsequently transported. The geology of West Wales has suitably diverse bedrock with igneous, volcanic and sedimentary rocks, spanning from the late Precambrian to the Carboniferous, many of those rock types would be expected to be entrained in glacial ice, flowing across West Wales before finally melting out at the glacier terminus.  Glacial erratics deposited on Salisbury Plain would also conveniently explain their use at Stonehenge, i.e an exotic material and minimal effort needed to move. The theory for glacial ice transport to elsewhere in SW England, would mirror the aforementioned theory, albeit with a nod to increased effort and logistics needed in transporting the glacial bluestone erratics over a greater distance. Disapointingly there is zero geomorphological evidence on Salisbury Plain or elsewhere in the SW England for any other bluestone erratics and no known ingress of Irish Sea Ice across Salisbury plain or indeed large areas of the SW England. Geologists have surveyed and analysed fluvial gravels draining Salisbury Plain and have reported an absence of bluestone erratics, which is a tad worrying as glacial ice can carry a lot of material, from huge boulders to the smallest rock grains. The only known presence of bluestones is in the landscape proximal to Stonehenge.

A seeming absence of evidence for bluestone erratics, even pebble sized erratics in SW England might dampen speculation, alas no, and Brian John, www.brian-mountainman.blogspot.co.uk/ author and prolific blogger on the bluestones and a resident of Pembrokeshire, draws on his own insights and knowledge of glaciers and the Pembrokeshire landscape to promote the transportation of bluestones by glacial ice. A few years ago in Pembrokeshire, I picked up an almost mint condition used copy (never a good sign) in a second hand bookshop of John's vanity publication "The Bluestone Enigma" it made for enteraining reading, for all the wrong reasons. A critical review of John's work and the words; hyperbole; flawed logic, fallacious argument and speculative conjecture would be some of the kinder adjectives used.  I do suspect that the prospect of John's having to 'eat crow' on the glacier transport, will raise the stakes with more snarky comments on disparaging a human agency for bluestone transport and increasingly desperate blog posts on fantastical glacial ice streams.

Why bluestones were preferred by Neolithic people for use in various monument phases at Stonehenge and the surrounding landscape remains unknown. The logistics and effort expended to transport stone from the Preseli area, might imply there was a special significance of the Preseli area in Neolithic peoples psyche.

Mynydd Preseli tors - December 2006

My visit to Mynydd Preseli coincided with a forecast vigorous jet stream and leaden skies, rain and upland gales, so ambitions for a walk and photography were lowered to a short walk around Carn Siân examining the outcrops and I made sure the macro lens was in the rucksack.

Heather and Purple moor grass moorland,  Carn Arthur and a distant Carn Menyn - March 2015

An investigation of the damper bits of moorland revealed a single flower head of Spring Sedge (Carex caryophyllea) Bog Cotton (Eriophorum vaginatum) that was the sum total of floral interest, the novelty of traversing purple moor grass soon wore off and it was time to concentrate on the shelter of rock outcrops.

Eriophorum vaginatum flower head

Some horizontal rock surfaces were relatively free of colonising lichens/moss, a legacy of a recent wildfire perhaps and the phaneritic texture of the dolerite (micro gabbro) was revealed, not quite on the same scale as the the texture of gabbro, but characteristic nonetheless.

Weathered dolerite

Detail phaneritic texture

An interesting moss and lichen community; the lichen Graewe (Stereocaulon evolutum) and Dusky Rock Moss (Andreaea rothii) was growing on one outcrop on Craig Talfynnyd and confirmed the presence of acid rock, possibly volcanic rhyolitic tuffs.

Lichen and Moss on acidic rock outcrop

The remainder of the walk in deteriorating weather provided less inspiring photography opportunities and thoughts turned to the following days excursion to Coed Tŷ Canol.

Making plans

A trip pencilled in to the Graian Alps in June, to coincide with the areas spectacular wild flower displays both meadows and alpines, has had to be shelved until next year, due to work and social commitments. So with the wander lust of photographing wild flowers and scenery seeded, a look at what the UK had to offer in May and specifically Scotland.

Maybe 2016?

The Breadablane hills and Ben Lawers immediately came to mind, as did the Cairngorms for its arctic flora and scenery.  Nic, then chipped in that she would like to see some wildlife and specifically marine wildlife, hmmm. Googling 'sea safari, whale watching, boat trips' and some candidates were unveiled. Knowing full well of Scotlands changeable weather, the contingency plans of  wildlife hide, geology, woodland, bryophytes etc were assessed.

Ariundle woodland, November 2010

A list of potential locations were then appraised, Skye and Mull ticked a lot of wildlife, flora and scenery boxes, but not all, as I do like the chance of a wander amongst Pine and Oak woods.  Having visited Ariundle woods in autumn, there was a certain appeal for a spring visit. The Ardgour region also ticked almost all the must and want boxes, some boxes even had multiple ticks, a draft itinerary with, oh so important weather contingency plans, was duly outlined to Nic's approval. A cottage booked in Strontian, the web scoured to see if any effective effective midge, tick and cleg repellants had been formulated and a couple of months to finalise an itinerary for all weather eventualities, with fingers crossed for an optimal weather spell of sunshine and showers.

Photography project integrity and complexity

The previous post was about using photography projects to provide the motivation to get out in less than optimal conditions and of one particular project in progress, recording the impact of modern forestry operations on woodland soil, illustrated with images of a wood presently (March 2015) being harvested by mechanised machinery.  There was nothing contentious with the images, simply an accurate reflection of the events.

I revisited the wood after several days of rainfall to photograph and record the impact of a fully laden forwarder on extraction routes over by now rain saturated ground. Walking around the woodland and there was some dilemma on what to photograph to represent a fair reflection of the harvester operators conduct and ground disturbance from mechanised harvesting plant.

Brash mat covering extraction route

 With saturated ground, soil load bearing capacity decreases and it was evident that the contractors undertaking the harvesting operation, had surfaced extraction routes in the wood, with brash wood to form brash mats.  Brash mats are laid to increase the ground load bearing capacity preventing wheel rutting and form a protection layer against tyre and track tread erosion of the soil surface.

Brashwood protection and ground disturbance

At this site, soil depth appears to vary markedly throughout the wood, in part reflecting the complexity of underlying geology, topography, superficial deposits and prehistoric mining spoil. Where a route was over a significant depth of soil, now saturated by rainfall, the brash mats effectiveness had decreased visibly. The contractors had reinforced existing brash mats covering extraction routes, with additional more substantial brash and/or with greater quantities of brash, nonetheless soil disturbance in the form of compaction and rutting was evident.

To illustrate the disturbance of unprotected ground by the forwarder, an unsurfaced ride on the wood margin had been used as an extraction/access route and wasn't protected with brash mats, it served to emphasise the effectiveness of brash mats for soil protection. The operator of the forwarder, aware of the potential for wheel rutting, had utilised the full width of the ride to mitigate wheel rutting from constant use of one lane only.

Unsurfaced woodland ride / access track

This visit raised a dilemma on what to photograph, to truthfully reflect the forestry operations impact on woodland soil. Some areas of the wood showed minimal disturbance, other areas a greater degree of disturbance. The contractors for their part had demonstrated a high level of compliance with current good practice in minimising disturbance of the woodland soil, whilst harvesting the wood with mechanised machinery.

Reinforced brash mat

As with all of my projects to date, the scope of this project has also increased, due to the unforeseen complexity in producing a fair and truthful photographic record of events.

Photography projects

The UK's changeable weather and seasons, means that many days will be far from optimal for 'classic' landscape photography, but as one door closes, another opens and there is an opportunity to photograph the parts that make up a landscape and take on a more documentary approach of photo essays, that tell a story.  These photography projects also provide the necessary inspiration, motivation and purpose to go forth and photograph in less than ideal conditions and I have a number of ongoing long term projects, some are progressing well, whilst others are a cause for concern in their scope and ambition.

Stacked harvested Beech

The projects that are progressing well, are the ones that are relatively local and especially those in the Forest of Dean.

May 2014

I haven't mentioned anything about the Forest of Dean in the blog so far, so I'll give a very succinct historical summary as an introduction.  The consensus of learned opinion is that the Forest of Dean has been continuously wooded since the start of the holocene, when tundra gave way to pioneer woodland and then a succession to high forest cover.  It also has a long and complex history of silviculture and exploitation; Romano British use of the woodland for timber and charcoal; a Royal forest for hunting and the supply of timber for construction, charcoal for the post medieval iron industry; Royal Navy strategic timber reserve; a strategic timber reserve for two World Wars; a resource of timber for the coal mining industry and has serviced a multitude of other demands from camouflaging WW2 ammunition dumps to providing pannage for pigs in mast years.

March 2015

In my humble opinion the nadir for woodland scenery is late winter, the colours have long gone and without snow, frost or fog, it is a challenging drab environ, viewed through eyes and the viewfinder.  Late winter, coincidentally, is also the peak time for hardwood timber extraction and one of my long term projects is photographing the impact of modern silviculture on ancient or semi natural ancient woodland of the Forest of Dean and specifically the effect of heavy machinery disturbing woodland soils and ground flora. It is also interesting to see what flora emerges from the dormant seed bank in the woodland soil, when the tree canopy is opened up.

Tyre chains

For millennia manual labour has cut down trees and then beasts of burden have hauled the timber from woods, with a relatively light impact on soil. Contrast the old forestry practices, with those of the 20th and 21st centuries, when increasing mechanisation changed the dynamic of timber felling and extraction.  The later part of the 20th century to the present, has witnessed rapid advances in technology notably in hydraulics, computerisation, power ...  the business adage 'time is money' equates to faster and more economic felling and extraction rates.

Harvester head

I was surprised to learn that one harvester alone could accomplish the work of 12 chainsaw operators, which explains why harvester machines sell for well over £100,000. The harvester head is a specialised item of machinery, with a chainsaw to cut the tree and then cut the trunk, feed rollers, blades to remove branches and a computer controlled measuring device that sets the feed/cutting length. A 'thinned' wood by a harvesting machine usually involves preferential removal of prime straight trunked trees, a sort of unnatural selection, as forked and non linear trunked trees are left to grow on.

Forwarder unloading and stacking harvested Scots Pine

 I would speculate that much of the Forest of Dean's woodland floor has never been exposed to the machinery used in modern forestry operations. Which does raise the question of how these operations affect the flora, many of which are indicator species of ancient woodland and the impact of machinery movements disturbing soil that has lain undisturbed for a considerable period of time, conceivably since the end of the last Ice age.

Band tracks on forwarder trailer

I have been photographing the woodland of the Dean for a number of years and have managed to unerringly miss the actual harvesting operation of an area of woodland, that I had already photographed in anticipation of harvesting operations. Plenty of before and after, but not the during, until now.

Forwarder tracks in woodland of Beech and Scots Pines.

I've made a point of specifically visiting this area of woodland, as sometime between summer and autumn of 2014 the trees were marked for  felling and it was then a matter of waiting for operations to commence, which they eventually did at the end of February. Finally I managed to photograph some activities of harvesting operations in early March and can concentrate on photographing the impact of this harvesting operation on the woodland over the coming years. It will also be interesting to see how many, if any, of the Beech/Oak stools successfully coppice.

Modern silviculture abstract

Apple Aperture

I received an email from Apple today titled 'Aperture News', it reads
Dear Aperture customer, 
Last June, we introduced the new Photos apps for iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite, along with iCloud Photo Library, which lets you safely store all your photos in iCloud and access them from anywhere. When Photos for OS X launches this spring, Aperture will no longer be available for purchase from the Mac App Store. You can continue to use Aperture on OS X Yosemite, but you will not be able to buy additional copies of the app. 
You can migrate your Aperture library to Photos for OS X, including your photos, adjustments, albums and keywords. After migrating, your Aperture library remains intact. However, Aperture and Photos do not share a unified library, so any changes made after the migration will not be shared between the apps. 
To learn more about Photos for OS X, click here. If you’re interested in trying the OS X 10.10.3 Public Beta, which includes Photos for OS X, click here. 
We thank you for using Aperture and hope you will enjoy the new Photos for OS X app. 
Sincerely, 
Apple

I've had a brief look at Photos for OS X and it seems more set up for IPhone users, which is not to be demeaning, but Photos for OS X's present editing ability is not comparable to Aperture's RAW editing capability. Unless there's some more features added or the possibility of apps that can be added,  I may need to start seriously evaluating other RAW conversion/file management options, deep sigh.

A RAW image opened in Apple Aperture

The fact that a hugely profitable enterprise such as Apple has ceased development of a RAW editing software, leaves an uncomfortable feeling about the health of the photography market.  I have an uncomfortable feeling, that in the future some photographers will be faced with some hard decisions about software and perhaps worryingly, what software can open legacy RAW image files and what is the long term support for that software which can open legacy RAW image files. Based on reported financial data and business statements, there is a genuine concern, that some camera manufacturers are shoring up their non or barely profitable camera divisions in the current market and in view of the forecast decline in sales/market /market share, will eventually be forced to cease manufacturing unprofitable products.