We walked in to the south east moors from Reddacleave Kiln area and headed north to go around the back of the Avon dam reservoir.  It was cold but sunny and the moors had that wintry feel which I love.  everything seems somewhat muted and we didn’t see another person all the time we were out.

We headed up the Western Wella brook towards Huntingdon Warren.  This smallholding provided food for the local tin mine and the warrens would have provided a good supply of meat in the form of rabbits.  The enclosed ground seen above is the main part of the farm – the remains of the buildings are just out of sight to the right of the tree.  Some remain of the workings can be seen down the valley with the tip of the reservoir in the distance on the right.

We headed up to the top of the hill behind Huntingdon Warren to the wonderfully named “Heap of sinners” which is a fairly large cairn and decided to stop for an early lunch break.  The above image was our view.  It captures the winter bleakness of the moors quite well for me.  As I am enjoying a little more image manipulation these days I’ve taken quite a bit of the colour out of this really only leaving reduced levels of blue and orange/yellow.  To me that has enhanced that wintry feel a little.

Getting to our feet after eating it must have been just about midday…  This was the view in the direction we were heading.  A brief conversation suggested a change of plan was wise but by the time we had put on a layer or two more the rain was with us, it became very cold and we got quite wet in the following half hour.

Hitting the main track running down the ridge in the direction of the car we looked back.  Rainbows are seen quite frequently however this one was nicely placed on the top of Pupers and all too often the weather is not the best for using the camera.  The weather bot north and west of us suggested that heading on back to the car would be wise.

A few minutes later there was a full rainbow the right hand end of which can be seen here.  Despite the wide angled nature of my lens I couldn’t get the whole rainbow in sadly.  This was the last shot of the day as the next batch of weather hit us immediately after this.  We agreed that the hail that came then was a little painful when it hit!  Overall a good winter walk however also a reminder that even the nice looking days can change quite quickly on Dartmoor.

The image above – taken on Paignton beach – is one of my recent favourites.  When I took it I was aware of how the colour of the kite in the distance stood out and it was an obvious candidate for desaturation.  I realised that leaving some of the colour other than just the red of the kite enhanced the mistiness of the images too.

The fact that the tide was very low (although not quite a maximum spring tide) made for quite large expanses of beach which were useful to me from a photographic perspective.  The one above of Goodrington  combining crespuscular rays from the sun with great reflections of the clouds and shy in the sand is one of the better images I’ve taken in this part of the Bay.

It wasn’t only me who was making good use of the sands.  Running across both Paignton and Preston beaches a guy was kitesurfing on the sand.  The wind was fairly strong and he was getting some good runs.  His largely red kite could been seen easily and he stood out whether looking into the sun or away.

Out at sea a number of people were making the most of the wind and the waves.  The wind was slightly easterly which is the only direction which brings waves into the Bay.  Not enough surf for surfing itself but it appeared good for both kitesurfers and windsurfers and quite a few were out.

Finally heading back to the car and walking the rather wet sands the light, reflections and colours were exceptional.  This burst of sunlight over the promontory between Paignton and Preston beaches seemed to catch the feeling quite well.

A final look back got what was for me another good shot that caught something of the day well.  Far fewer people around now and the tide was turning however that just enhanced the feeling of space on the beach in the late afternoon winter light.  I’ve enjoyed making the most of the coast at very low tides in the past and blogged that a time or two before but that has been largely looking at what can be found in rockpools and the like.  This sense of exploration of the space created made for another dimension for me and a pleasant walk.

Looking back quite a few posts recently have related to the coast so I thought it was time to return to the moors.  These are from a walk a week or so back.  While we have walked the moors at night for many years we are less keen these days and so we try and get out in the daytime when we can.  It rained hard the day before and we set off knowing it was likely to be very wet under foot and we were proved correct!  Much of the time the tracks were more like streams.

We walked from Nun’s Cross area south along the track to Eylesbarrow and then headed east over the Plym and then towards Erme Pits which is a very old tin mine working near the centre of the southern moor.  The mine workings there are both extensive and in places quite deep.  What was achieved by men working solely with their hands and basic tools in a very remote part of Dartmoor never ceases to amaze me.

From here we walked along one of the old workings towards Ducks Pool stream and stopped to look back down the valley of the Erme.  This part of Dartmoor sees very few people particularly in the winter and it always feels fairly remote here which is something I love about the area.  Equally, in winter, the low and often “watery” light, adds to the beauty of the moors for me.

Heading north through a peat cut – any ancient trans moor track through (very) bad ground brought us out at Fox Tor and it seemed a good time to stop for a late lunch.  The view across the centre of the moors looking northwards from there was great.

We were not the only ones at Fox Tor!  It was quite a windy day with the temperature down towards zero with the wind chill and even the sheep were staying in the lee of Fox Tor (which is really quite a small tor).

Dropping down from the tor brought us into Fox Tor mire which is quite well known for being the setting for the Hound of the Baskerville’s story by Conan Doyle (as Grimpen Mire).  The area has a lot of historical interest.  Tin mining was prevalent in the area and there are a number of ancient (& more modern) crosses.  While the area is a peat bog it is quite possible to walk across it in reasonable conditions if you know the area well (& I would stress that – one of those “do not try this for yourself” ones).  The image above is of Childe’s Tomb – the legend is an interesting one and the Wikipedia article is quite good in this case (rather less interesting on Fox Tor though).

Heading west again now along the edge of the peat bog, we started the walk back to the car.  The relatively short walk was actually over some of the worst ground conditions we had encountered all day despite being on a “path” for most of the time.  We seemed to be wading as much as we were walking.  The conditions are not unique to the winter either – I have crossed the bog in winter when it has been dry and failed to do so in a wet summer.  The above shot looks back towards Fox Tor and again catches a feel of the remoteness.  Hopefully there will be a few more winter walks over the next few weeks.

 
Start Point itself is quite an iconic setting for this part of the South West Coast Path and nearby Slapton Sands with its fresh water pool and pebble bank is also quite well known.  The whole area was used in the Second World War as a training ground for the D Day landings.  Walking towards Start Point recently the day was mostly rather grey.  However, as in the shot above, when grey becomes silver it is a little more interesting.

From time to time the cloud base would come down and then it would rise again.  The above image looks towards Start Point from just above Beesands village.

Passing the old village of Hallsands, much of which was swept into the sea in the first half of last century, we cut off to the south west just before we got to Start Point.  We headed back towards Start going around Peartree Point to approach Start from the south.  The above show the contrast in weather either side of the Start Point that day.  To the south it is a fairly clear and quite pleasant day.  To the north there was quite thick mist.

As we walked back along the coast the mist became thicker and we could hear the sound of the fog horn from the lighthouse.  Stopping for a break at Beesands I caught an image of the lighthouse at Start Point lit due to the bad weather.  I have seen that before but not managed to get a shot of it.

Although that day was not the best weather wise (though the walk was great) we did see some good weather and there was some great light on the sea at times as can be seen above.

Firstly I spent the middle part of the day in Brixham.  The tide was out and there was building work going on around the harbour with scaffold and sheeting covering a building which seemed to intrude on any shot.  However walking the breakwater I liked the feeling of isolation around these fishing rods.  The fisherman was nowhere to be seen which added to the effect.

In the evening I drove up to Dartmoor for a walk.  A little unusually for us we headed into the valley of the West Dart at one stage rather than walking the open moors.  These granite stepping stones across the Dart caught my eye and I took a few shots here.  The water was low so walking across them was very easy but I have seen the river when you cannot see the stones at all.  We stayed there for a drink and watched deer on the edge of the hillside however they were too far away for any meaningful photos .  A green woodpecker flew by but too quickly to get a shot of.

Almost back at the car we passed this gate.  I like the strangeness of a gate with no fence or wall around.  On the far hillside are the lines of old leats as the area has been extensively worked by tin miners in the past.  The late light on the moorland was lovely.

I’ve not been out much with the camera for a while now.  The dry weather I referred to here broke straight after that blog and there has been quite a bit of rain since.  Good for the gardens and farmers but it made for less predictable photography.  However other issues in life have settled a bit too so I wandered out last night as the late sunlight looked good.  I didn’t have time to go far so I headed to one of my more usual spots to see if there was anything interesting to point the camera at.  The advantage with such an approach is that you never quite know what might catch the eye.

From the first image’s colours you might think that the barley was nearly ripe given the yellow colour.  However from the close up you can see that the plants are still fairly green and it is mostly the effect of the sunlight.  I loved the delicacy of the individual plants and the way that they combine to make the overall effect of both golden and moving (there was quite a strong breeze).

Depending on the angle of the shot and the sun, the yellow effect was even more pronounced.  However the green can be clearly seen still.  I guess a trip back in a few weeks time should give much some truly ripe golden shots.

The tranquillity of the farming landscape in this area is lovely and, fortunately for a photographer, there is usually something different to look at throughout the agricultural year.

Another day when the weather dictated my walk recently is the subject of this blog.  I’d originally planned to head to the moors but the forecast suggested that might not be worthwhile so I was heading to the South Hams coast.  Fairly close to home I realised that the forecast of less good weather in the west of Devon looked corrected so decided to head east.  It was a while since I had walked the Exeter Ship Canal which runs from the docks at Exeter down to join the River Exe just above Powderham.  The canal was originally built in the 16th century to allow traffic to Exeter that was not so dependent on the tide.  It ceased commercial use in the 1970s but is well used as a leisure resource now.  The above image is taken looking up the canal towards Exeter at Turf lock.

The canal flows into the river Exe at Turf lock.  Both the above images are taken on the Exe looking downstream from around this point.  The remains of the old vessel is just one of many that are along the banks of the river.  The small dinghy is on the jetty at Turf which serves the small passenger ferry across the river here.

I walked on down the path along the edge of the river towards Powderham a small village mostly known for its castle.  As can be seen from the images of this walk the weather was variable.  Looking west here into the woods at Powderham the weather looked threatening.  The bluebells were out but not in such numbers as I saw on the moors recently.   Equally the image of Powderham church is so striking because of the dark clouds and the recent ploughed field.

I decided to head back up to the canal rather than walk further downstream as the path is on the road at this point and for a while longer.  The image above looks over the stretch of water where the canal emerges to join the river Exe at Turf.  The jetty that can be seen is the one shown with the dinghy on earlier in this post.  The cyclists are waiting for the ferry to arrive to cross the river Exe which is quite wide at this point.

Walking back up the canal now there were a number of cyclists, walkers and canoeists among others making the most of the day and the track along the canal.  There were swans nesting along the canal too and, from time to time, flag iris as can be seen above – they added some real colour to a day which was not the brightest.

I walked on up the canal past the point where the ferry runs across to Topsham.  By this point the river, while still quite wide, has narrowed significantly.  However the weather was not that good over this stretch and although not raining the light was poor.  I turned back and headed for the car via the Exeter marshes which are an RSPB bird reserve.  Back briefly on the canal there was a little more light for the above shot of the canal and then I headed home.

These images were taken in late March however there have always been other things to blog somehow.  I was walking the beaches at Paignton and Preston and looking at those things far closer to me than I usually do.  In part this was due to reading an article in a photography magazine which suggested photographing items in a garden for a change – I decided doing this project on a beach might be interesting.  I love the intensity of colour in the seaweed above.

Above are a collection of some of the images I caught while walking the beach.  It is so easy to forget to look in our rush to get places these days and we miss out on some remarkable sights.  The colours and both simplicity and complexity of these small inhabitants and sea plants on our beaches are striking.  This is an approach I’ll return to sometime as I found it interesting and rewarding but I’ll leave this blog with another seaweed.

Looking back the way we had just walked Greator Rocks was lit by the late sunlight.  The bluebells here are a little thinner on the ground so the impact is a little less.

This shot looks over towards Haytor.  While they are bluebells, in this shadowy light, they really did look purple (& the colour has not been adjusted in any of these shots).

Last year I caught the bluebells on Holwell Tor lawn on the Haytor side of the valley (blogged here) and they are not quite at their best yet but I think they probably should be soon.  Both this year and last year I was not the only photographer in the area – they really do make a stunning sight for anyone who is in the area.

The walk had been quite a short one so we headed over to Bonehill Rocks to catch the last light of the day.  Over the years I’ve seen some great effects around sunset on the moors and this is one of them.  I did return for an early morning shoot of the bluebells a couple of days later.  I got some good shots but decided to leave this blog to be about the one outing, some of the early shots can be seen on facebook here though.

These are images taken on two different occasions (and with different cameras) however as they both concern rather indirect sunlight and are both recent I thought they might go together.  The one above (taken on my “point and shoot”) was on the morning of the recent election here.  I was heading off to the polling station I was working at and, fortunately, it was early enough for there to be little traffic around so stopping suddenly when I saw this was not a problem.  The early misty light looked lovely.

The rest of these images were all taken on the same evening as I was heading back to Totnes after a meeting in Paignton.  I’ve looked over this valley before and felt it had something to offer a photographer but, as always, catching the light is the issue.  The very threatening clouds combined with the bright sunlight (yes – it is a little overexposed) with the feel of the valley below was interesting – a place I will return to.

The above photo comes from a favourite spot – the copse on the ridge looks good at various times of the day if the light is good but here it is almost a silhouette with the attraction being that burst of sunlight from behind the cloud.

Almost back in Totnes on a road where there really is nowhere to stop I just had to for this one.  Not all meetings have such beneficial results but hopefully this one will lead to another opportunity to exhibit as well as giving me some good images.