Autumn Woodland Stroll

          The sun beckoned me out from where I had parked my car close by a Vauxhall Car Showroom; a handy spot from where to cross the busy main road, and enter a park. One of the beauties of sunlight when photographing leaves is that when leaves are backlit, the internal structures are revealed, adding interest to even the most mundane of leaves. So it was hardly surprising that seeing sunlight streaming in from the direction my camera was facing, rather than over my left shoulder, it would feature such an image so early in my walk. Nevertheless, strongly textured leaves soon became the focus of my attention in the seasonally natural hues of dark green and red.
          Against such a backdrop, I then sighted a Shield bug, making its lethargic way around the handily, rippled textures of the leaf. The combination of sunlight and the season’s varied and rich colours always appeal, as do the dark gold of dying leaves due to drop from their stem when the wind breaks their grip.
          It is interesting to note that when I am spotted aiming my camera’s lens close to something of interest to me, and almost right on top of my subject, passers-by are often sufficiently puzzled to enquire just what it might be that I am looking at? This breaks down any reticence they might feel normally, about asking me what has caught my interest? I cannot be sure in this instance whether this was the case, but one of the next shots I took was of a couple of well covered, happy people who engaged me in brief conversation. If they spot this image I hope they were pleased with the outcome.
          I continued walking close by the trees to spot further subjects for the camera and was alerted by the loud and obviously happy chirping of an immaculately groomed Robin generously providing me with differing backgrounds for the shots! Up till then, I had not taken much note of the sky and it’s few clouds, but I took a quick shot before going back to closer subjects of tree trunk textures and leaves, and leave you with an ivy-clad tree ‘giving me the bird’!

Autumn 2021-Forest Centre

 

          It is immediately apparent when you look through this latest gallery of images from a walk I took in the Marston Centre Park, which I am lucky to have, almost on my doorstep, the woods do have some greens. But, there is a vast preponderance of reds, russet and gold, and pale yellow. It is therefore no surprise that my eye and camera feature these colours predominantly; I was lucky in that the sky was a rich blue with only wispy, high level clouds. Although the sounds of birds was underwhelming, the insect life did not disappoint, and I was soon alerted to the short darting flight of a Dragonfly; it was very unsettled and would land, then leap into the air within seconds before returning to almost exactly the same spot it had just left! Bees were equally restless as they rarely alighted for long on the abundant orange and pink clusters of flowers in one garden close to the main building. 
          I suspect that this spell of clear skies is due to close as the mornings are beginning to take some time for the mist and overcast to dissipate, and reveal the wispy, high-level clouds. I was therefore making the most of the current colour palette before the golden tones and russet of Autumn take over, the abundant red berries are already beginning to show signs of dying back, so I did my best to capture them before the coming frosts took their toll.

          I was pleased to find the end of my walk passed a cluster of high pale gold reeds and some wonderful roses in good condition and lush red bloom.

Wondering Where to Wander

The sun was out, it was warm, and I needed the exercise; since there seemed to at least be some wind, I headed for the lake at Brogborough. The gate to the Windsurfers area was locked, so that ruled out any potential activity there, but I parked up and locking the car behind me, I crossed the road and entered the lakeside area favoured by anglers. The view that greeted me at the second swim was of a lake bereft of any aquatic birdlife, but the view off to the left was excluded from here, so I ventured further, but found the situation was just as unpromising.

Returning to the car, I drove on and took the road into Lidlington and uphill beyond and onto the A507, I had gone but a short distance before seeing that in the valley deer were there in large numbers, I pulled off the main road, and fortunately the road widened in the first few yards, affording me a handy and safe parking spot. I locked up and grabbed my camera and crossed the main road. Not only was there a clear view of the fields below and beyond, but there was a handy reinforced concrete block to prevent vehicle access to the field, but it offered a raised platform to give me added height should I need it!

This spot allowed me a wide uninterrupted view up the hill to the left, across and below to the front and off to the right to some farm buildings and further fields and woods. I spent a relaxing and rewarding time photographing abundant and ever-increasing numbers of deer entering from my left in the main and coming downhill, but every so often some chose to venture back higher. Almost all the deer present spent their time on the move, making the most of the warmth and occasionally feeding. My presence had no adverse effect on their behaviour, and some ventured closer to me by the hedge, for a spell.

The general flow was downhill and from left to right, and as time passed this did deplete their numbers and eventually brought an end to my time there, but I was very pleased by this unexpected happenstance, and came away grateful for the opportunity I had been afforded; I had shots of a red kite and interesting cloud structures and pleasing landscape images, altogether a very rewarding afternoon.

A Further Brighter Day

I was up early to pay my optician a visit at Luton, and after that, I took the opportunity to see what pictures I could take at the Stockwood Discovery Centre gardens. It turned out there was a problem — large areas of the gardens were on lock-down as preparations were being made to create a lighting extravaganza for Christmas.

The end result was that a major proportion of the gardens were unavailable, somewhat limiting the boundaries for my subject matter, but I rose to the challenge  as it would be a shame to waste all this clear sunshine. It just meant I would have to look harder in the search for suitable images. It would be a shame when the lighting was so pleasing, to fail to do my utmost to capture whatever came my way.

Another disappointment was I had no access to the Greenhouse due to a somewhat over zealous application of Health & Safety regulations, I hope that what I did manage to capture gives an indication of some of the beauty of late Autumn in the gardens.

Stockwood Discovery Centre, Garden Visit, and Exhibition

I have been searching for a photographer’s darkcloth, as a means of using the review screen on a dSLR in bright sunlight when trying to capture a movie of a windsurfer, since using the external monitor via HDMI does not react fast enough (perhaps I should rephrase that a bit – the monitor I have does not react fast enough!) For me to follow the action, I need a good handle on what I am looking at on the screen, so that I can pan accurately.

On this morning I visited the studios of Kevin Calvert where Steve White had kindly located a small piece of black cloth which would serve the purpose well, and he was happy to let me have it, hence as I was close enough to Luton, I detoured to Luton and the Stockwood Discovery gardens. Knowing this might be a possible chance to take a few end of season shots of autumn leaves and the odd few late flowers, I had the camera with me.

I was using the 5D MkIII and the 24-70mm with the macro facility and I took a few shots in the open garden areas, before spotting that the greenhouse was open, and checked it was not about to be locked, perhaps it was not the best idea, since while inside, the rain started. Undaunted, I tried to use the opportunity of capturing leaves and flowers with glistening droplets of water on them. In this at least, I was lucky that the rain dwindled to a light spotting rather than the downpour that had preceded; but I was still very wet and had to keep shielding the lens as I moved around.

I soon completed a meaningful number of shots and headed for the exit, where I learned that the Garden Photographers’ exhibition was on in the gallery,

so I took myself off in that direction, where with no visitors I grabbed a few shots of the display and then put the camera away to look at the images on show; my absolute favourite was the embracing poppies, followed by some wonderfully atmospheric landscapes, a beautifully lit man chopping pears, a humourous full-on portrait of a wild hamster. I may well visit again if time allows, but I can definitely recommend it, but as often before, was saddened that in the time I was there, there were no other visitors.

Autumn Morning Mist at Marston Moretaine

Click – A Monochrome Alternate View for a few shots in black-and-white

I am not an early bird, more a night-owl, which is my downfall when it comes to capturing the undoubted beauty of sunrises and the dew-laden webs of autumn spiders. Sunday morning I was up early – for me and by foregoing breakfast was able to be out with my camera before the sun had had a chance to burn off the heavy mist, so I walked along the road towards the Nature Reserve, trying to capture some of the charm of the glowing mist before the sun had claimed the day.

We have been lucky that this year the autumn colours have remained with us for longer, due to the absence of high winds alongside the rain, and so there was still colour to be seen in the hedgerows. I even learned of a plot of fenced-off land that will become a graveyard that explained something of the tarmacced walkways in the field opposite the Nature Reserve’s land – the wooden sign giving this information was festooned with the work of numerous spiders beaded with droplets bestowed by the dew.

I entered the Nature Reserve by way of the kissing gate and learned that I was definitely a late guest to the party, as there were cyclists and dog-walkers enjoying the warm morning mist; there was simply no chill to the air and all those I met were warm in their greetings too. I presume the lack of wind was allowing the low-lying mist to enclose the warmth from the previous day and the sun was definitely winning the challenge to clear the air and herald another pleasantly warm autumn day. I used the time to capture what I saw, even though there was nothing to make the heart beat faster, just serenity, and reminders of the year that was passing in the faded green and russet tones of the hedgerows.

Autumn Cycle Ride around Stewartby Lake

 I have been considering how I might reach the far side of Stewartby Lake straightforwardly by cycling, and after taking a good look using Google Earth spotted that there seemed to be a way from the old A421 through one of the newer estates, and the weather on the Sunday afternoon favoured my attempt.

I had hoped that the geese would be in abundance, but despite the large numbers I had seen on an earlier visit when I had taken shots of some water skiers, the most abundant were gulls; and yet they were not present in great numbers. The sun was out, it was pleasantly warm and the colours were autumnal; it had rained recently so the grass was still wet, and the steep banks leading to the water’s edge were slippery, and not all had been provided with wooden steps.

As I cycled clockwise from where I had entered the track via a bridge over the brook, I would stop at each clearance to take a look at the water’s edge and a few I would venture down with the bike, so it was safe as I explored further. I was trying to decide likely vantage points for future visits. Three-quarter way through my trip, I learned that I would have to consider carrying some kitchen towels and Swarfega, as my chain came off the cogs and I needed to get it back into play, leaving me with a very greasy right hand! Also there was little point in my considering bringing a second camera with an alternative lens as this simply added extra weight and the delay in swapping would not have been fast enough, so it never came into use.

I decided also that the prominent Wind Turbine was worth capturing from different angles, it has already proved to be a good marker when I am out as the land around is so flat,  it can be easily spotted.

Altogether the trip was thoroughly enjoyable but other than a nice shot of a powerboat and its wake, it was hardly full of enticing photographs, but it added to my knowledge of possible vantage points and I was impressed by some of the sleeper creations that formed hides overlooking the wetland habitat.

Discovered a Late Autumn Surprise at Stockwood

I rarely travel anywhere without a camera or even cameras! Such was the case when I returned from a meeting at the University of Bedfordshire, where I had been demonstrating the opportunities offered by Camranger. I decided to pay a visit to the Stockwood Discovery Centre to say thank you to Jan one of their Gardeners, for providing the earlier opportunity to photograph the Aston Martin Virage.

Rather than leave my camera bag in the car, I took it with me and found three gardeners working in the main greenhouse, amongst them Jan, so I was none to surprised to learn from Bridie that there was not much left to photograph. However, it was Jan who proved me wrong, by pointing out some berries which I had failed to spot, and having taken out the camera and the Tamron 90mm macro, I found there was yet more to be found if I troubled to look, so both Bridie and I were wrong!

After a brief chat with all three, Sam the trainee being the last of that number, I took my camera around and found enough material for some sixty shots that came into view illuminated by the low-angled sun, and the surprisingly bright, and clear blue sky. The contrasting hues on individual autumn leaves and the sharp edges of variegated holly leaves was simply hard to resist. The earlier rains had flattened the grass so individual golden leaves provided an interesting colour counterpoint as did the shades of brown with their strong veins against the blue of the sky, and the backlighting of green leaves against the deep shadows of beds beyond.

Jan had also pointed out the early catkins, which by being fooled by the recent mildness were likely to become victim to the frosts that would come long before the Spring that they would normally herald. This deviation to give thanks was rewarded handsomely by what I managed to capture in the short time I had spent.