• An Old Drovers’ Road

Sunday, 13 May 2012 Leave a comment

An old drovers’ road passes close to my house.  Its lower and middle reaches, rising up sharply from the Lynher river at Berriowbridge and evening out at Kingbeare, are now metalled but still in places display the variable widths characteristic of such ancient ways.  The road rises up as it passes the track up to Bearah Tor and then splits when it levels out again, the metalled road leading to Henwood.  To the right, by a smallholding, a metal five-bar gate has been loosely slung across a muddy, scrubby and overhung track.  This is the continuation of the old drovers’ road and leads uphill to the shoulder between Langstone Downs and Stowe’s Hill, where it meets another gate and the lane to Wardbrook Farm.  After that, all trace disappears.

Today I scrambled through the scrub and fallen branches in the lower sections of the track, glimpsing Sharp Tor to the right and eventually reaching more open ground.  Here, the grey-green beards of usnea articulata were in plentiful supply on their favourite tree, the hawthorn.  Spring lambs showed curiosity and highland cattle idle disdain where once there were whole flocks and herds cramming the bulging pathway as shepherds and cattlemen drove them back and forth from Liskeard.

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• Lost sheep (who needs Damien Hirst?)

Friday, 4 May 2012 1 Comment

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• The Lichen Tree

Saturday, 31 March 2012 Leave a comment

On an exposed edge of the wood stands a twisted hawthorn.  It’s been shaped by the elements, yet also defies them. At this time of year, old Rothko-red berries survive next to new green buds.  It also plays host to a profusion of lichen, like no other tree in the vicinity. Here are a few shots taken yesterday with the Ixus.

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• Woodland in early Spring

Friday, 30 March 2012 Leave a comment

Here are three quick pics taken with my little Canon Ixus 105 this afternoon in the young woodland behind the house.  It’s the last day of sunshine for a while, so the forecasters say.  Some things are budding, some still dormant, others in full flower.  The  green leaves of next month’s bluebells are already several inches high, as can be seen in the background of the last photo.  Spring has sprung.

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• Tangled Limbs (don’t get too excited)

Sunday, 4 March 2012 5 Comments

Here’s a trio of point-and-shoot studies from yesterday’s walk for the paper.  Today, the moor was rain-swept and on the way back I was head-butting a NW wind.  Yesterday, though, was balmy and the early-morning sun created magic light and shadows among the trees.  The middle one reminds me of Mondrian’s early drawings (Red Tree, Tree II, The Grey Tree, Apple Tree in Blossom, 1912) which he soon translated into a more familiar geometric idiom.

(photo taken 07.35, Saturday 3 March 2012)

(photo taken 07.40, Saturday 3 March 2012)

(photo taken 08.30, Saturday 3 March 2012)

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• Who needs Jackson Pollock?

Saturday, 3 March 2012 Leave a comment

100th post
(photo taken 08.20, Saturday 3 March 2012)

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• Prince of Wales peekaboo

Saturday, 3 March 2012 Leave a comment

A familiar early-morning sight as I pass by the chimney stack of the engine house of the Prince of Wales mine near Minions.

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• Sunday Walk

Sunday, 19 February 2012 1 Comment

Photo shoot from this morning’s walk for the paper.  A bit of sun, a fresh wind, a brief rainbow and a hailstorm from the southwest, and a return by the granite quarry’s old railway track.  Time for second breakfast.

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• Saturday Walk

Saturday, 18 February 2012 Leave a comment

Even though it was still dark when I set out, and I had a dreadful night unable to sleep, my Saturday walk to collect the paper cleared the brain a bit.  I never tire of this walk.  It’s just under four miles and on a good day it takes me under 70′, even though it’s mostly uphill to the PO.  The route takes me through the village, where overnight a spring (the watery variety) had broken through the tarmac and where errant sheep were looking for new pastures.  Then it was out and up onto the moor.

The views are fantastic, even on a dreary morning like today.  By the time I got up onto the top level, the sun was trying to poke his head round the clouds, but he didn’t have his hat on.  And the old mine engine house looked impressive in silhouette.

At this time of the morning I meet the occasional dog-owner, horse-rider, jogger and rock-climber.  Local farmers are out on their tractors, pronged silage bales trembling fore and aft, heading for their cattle and ponies up on the moor.

The way back offers a range of spectacular views, depending only on whether I retrace my steps on the road, or cut off along an old quarry railway track, or scramble up and over one of the more striking tors.  I took the easy option this morning and hurried home for breakfast and a good read of the Guardian.  Most importantly, and saved until the end, is the Berger&Wyse food cartoon in the magazine.  It was a gentle one today, but they never fail to make me smile, even if it is, for a while, out of perplexity.

On the lane near the house, the snowdrops have been out for several weeks, especially in a spot which catches the early-morning sun.

I was particularly happy to see that the snowdrops by the track to the house have at last started finding their way through the tangle of ivy and last year’s bracken.  They’re always the last to appear, maybe because they’re in the shade.  At the moment, they’re minute: the tallest is not even 2″ high, and none has yet opened up.  My little Ixus is not great for close-up detail, but here are two shots of one clump taken very close to.

These delicate white miracles lighten the spirit in an extraordinary way.

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• Fuzzy buzzard

Thursday, 2 February 2012 Leave a comment

Back last September, I spent an extraordinary half-an-hour in the close company of a buzzard in the wood (Another Close Encounter).  Unfortunately, on that occasion, I had no camera on me, and the moment was too special to waste on going back to the house for one.

This afternoon, at about 16.00, in the late afternoon sun on a very cold day, I espied a buzzard on a perch where I’d not seen one before – a cherry tree about 20m from the house.  I watched it for over a minute before it ambled off. Excuse the quality of the photos taken with my little Canon Ixus – it was on maximum zoom (x16) from behind a window.

They’re much bigger birds when perched than they look when riding the thermals.  That said, look at the wingspan on this buzzard as it took flight away from the camera, tail feathers spread and talons down!

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