Westcountry wanderings » Winter

Dawn and an easterly wind

nigel — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:22:26 +0000

Given the fact that Summer time will start soon making dawn earlier I thought I’d try and catch one before having to get out of bed very early. The forecast was for clear skies (right this time) but I’d missed the forecasted temperatures.

It was pretty close to zero with a strong easterly wind blowing into the bay (it is sheltered from all other directions). the tripod was not quite heavy enough to keep the sharpness on some shots. Equally the gloves & rather numb hands made the camera work less than easy.

I did get one or two shots and then went home to thaw out.

Having seen the seas that were running I decided to go back later to get some further shots of the surf. Easterlies are not that common in the area and, as said above, the bay is sheltered from other directions. If there is a reasonable swell when they do blow then the surf can get quite interesting.

I’ve certainly seen it far higher than this but this is the first such surf I’ve been able to catch recently.

The beaches in the bay are good for surfing but only when there is a good sea running. I saw no surfers but was not the only one taking advantage of the conditions.

A walk frustrated

nigel — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 17:16:04 +0000

Another of those days when I set out in hope of a walk. This time I had not driven far before I realised I was unlikely to get much of a walk in and I planned to be back for the afternoon to watch the rugby so my time was a bit limited.

The original idea had been to look around the old tin mine workings near the Warren House Inn including those around Birch Tor. The weather when I got there did not look good nor likely to change much. The above image looks west and the weather was coming from this direction.

I did walk up to one of the old shafts on Water Hill (appropriate) and the above was my view from there. You can even see the spots of rain that were on my lens at the time.

At times the visibility and the light were far better as can be seen here but these moments were rare. Kes Tor rock is on the right with Cosdon Beacon in the distance in the centre. The water on the ground shows just how wet the moors are at present. I guess it will be a few days before this has drained never mind dried out.

The advantage was that there were some times of drama in the view from the light, clouds and skies.

I did get this view of the Headland Warren and Challacombe down area. There was a brief moment of sunshine which allowed me to get the three images that make up this one. The trees in the centre foreground are where the warren house is. To the right the deep grooves of the old (open) tin workings can be seen. On Challacombe the remains of an old strip field system can been seen however this is best seen when the light is low in the early morning or at dusk.

For some people the weather was a positive advantage though. Plenty of people were out canoeing on the River Dart – here at New Bridge.

Reflections on reflections

nigel — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 12:04:15 +0000

This post does not relate to any specific photo shoot but to the fact that, from time to time, I realise I am paying as much attention to the reflections I see as the conventional view. The one above brings a little summer to the winter weather. As with some of the others it is on the River Dart – tidal here and at high tide.

Some settings seem to “demand” an image of reflections to me. This one is again on the Dart but above the tidal stretch and in early light. The winter starkness of the trees and the slightly misty light add to this one.

Others creep up on you rather more subtly. In this one I realised the reflections were more interesting than the subject maybe. Equally the colours in the water are brighter than the colours above (untreated too).

I caught this one yesterday. Reflections around the sea are maybe less usual however the tidal pool here coupled with the sky, clouds and the family (I guess) intent on the activity in the water caught my eye and insisted on me taking the image.

It was a cold day on Dartmoor…

nigel — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:00:41 +0000

I had not been out on the moors for far too long and the forecast was for some sun (how often have I worked on the basis of the weather forecast…). I headed for Two Bridges planning to walk up the east bank of the West Dart walking on the ridge above Wistman’s Wood (which can be seen in the above image of the valley). I was going to cross the Dart below Crow Tor and come back over the Beardown Tors on the west side.

The outside temperature in the car indicated around 0 to 1 degree. The wind was strong. By the time I got on to the ridge I was glad of the thermals and put on an extra pair of gloves (which did not help the photography!). Holding the camera steady exposed to the wind was quite challenging – I was pleasantly surprised about the number of images that were not blurred.

The walk along the ridge, steadily rising with views opening up, was good even in the conditions. Patches of sunlight passed over tors and rocks and I caught a few of them. However at times the sky looked quite bleak and threatening.

The ground was quite hard to walk on and the patches of ice that I found were not easily broken.

The view back down the ridge from Higher White Tor was good however the light was intermittent. Early on in the walk there was little and then there was a steady increase in the patches of light for a while. However by the time I reached Lower White Tor it was obvious that I would not see anything of the sun for a while so I headed back down the ridge.

I did get the opportunity for a couple of reasonable panoramas while I was out. This one, looking south west, was taken from Higher White Tor and the Beardown Tors are the closest with Gret Mis Tor in the distance.

Winter watersports

nigel — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 13:03:34 +0000

Following up on the beachcombing from a few days ago we wandered the seafront in Preston and Paignton yesterday in some good winter light. The tide was a little high for any further rock pool work but there were things happening as we walked along the beach.

The jetski activity was definitely eye catching. A number of riders were running jetskis around the bay and jumping waves.

They also came back down again too.

Given that there was not much surf the low number of surfers was not surprising. However those that were out seemed to be doing well.

Beachcombing

nigel — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:52:21 +0000

One of those days when the weather was better than we had expected it would be so we decided to get out in the winter sun. We had not walked along the coast in Torbay for a while so we headed to Broadsands and parked there and walked around the coast to Elberry Cove.

This holds many memories from my childhood. It was a place I walked to and swam from many times. The “beach” itself is really one of quite large pebbles but with the tide out some of the sands were exposed. As importantly there were also rock pools to look into. The colours on the anemone in the rock pool were stunning.

Few people were out despite the fact that it was a good day so we were able to explore uninterrupted. Some of the rocks and the colours could be seen as abstract art and were very attractive.

A final bonus returning to the car was a buzzard sat on one of the posts on the road side when we first saw him. By the time I had the camera out he had flown to the ground and this shot is zoomed quite a bit.

Two minds with one thought

nigel — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 08:00:45 +0000

Rose coloured sky 1

I had a text message from my daughter who lives out of my area the other evening saying there was a lovely rose coloured sky. I replied that there was here also and I’d just taken some photos.

Rose coloured sky 2

Kingsbridge and Torcross

nigel — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 10:00:09 +0000

The weather forecast was for sun… Never trust weather forecasts in the Westcountry! Heading for Kingsbridge last week and planning to head down towards Hope Cove for some coastal images it became obvious that the day was not going to be as forecast. Looking at the head of the estuary at Kingsbridge the winter light is clearly in evidence.

Moving on with the change of plan I passed Frogmore Creek which leads into the main estuary and found a family of swans. The three young ones, while large now, show the juvenile plumage clearly and for a while there was some sun.

By the time I got to Torcross there were odd glimpses of the sun but they were brief. The light on the waves was lovely and the blue of the rock there was very attractive (I have many more shots to prove that!).

Looking back towards Start Point there is that real “winter feel” to the view, cold and a little misty with what sun there is failing to really light the scene or warm the day.

From a trip heading north in the frost and snow

nigel — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 16:46:43 +0000

This posting pre-dates the previous two in practice but I had not had a chance to work on the images I took until now. Just after the new year (but before the big snow) I drove up through the country (M5/M6). The previous night had seen some of the lowest temperatures. Close to Worcester we stopped at the service station and while the others were having some food and drink I was out with the camera catching the extreme frost on the trees. Sadly some of the best views across the countryside were while I was driving!

Arriving close to Burnley the snow was far thicker and continued to fall most of the time I was there. There was little opportunity to get out to take photographs sadly but I did manage to get a few.

I liked the looming wind turbines here looking quite ghostly in the snow. Equally the next image is of Pendle Hill. The summit is the lightest part of the white that is not actually sky!

The light was going when I got this but it was a lovely scene.

I hope to go that way again later in the year for some images in better visibility but without the snow. While it makes for interesting images the driving was not good at times. The run back – without any images – was not bad as most people seemed to have heeded advice the stay off the roads.

More Dartmoor snow

nigel — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 20:13:06 +0000

Today with very low temperatures in the UK and in the Westcountry (-14 deg C locally on the news and -7 deg C at my house overnight) I was not sure how far on to the moors I would be able to get. I had planned to go out with a friend however the uncertainty meant the plans had to change sadly and I walked on my own.

Given the fact that I imagined many people would head to Hey Tor I went that way and found the roads clear generally. However I prefer the tranquillity of the moors so I went past there towards Widecombe and parked at the top of the hill leading there.

I headed north on foot towards Bonehill rocks and then went on to Bell tor and Chinkwell.

From there I turned and headed east towards the Hey tor areas again and took a wide circle back to the car. In one or two places I was up to my knees in snow that had drifted, in many places I was the first being – human or otherwise – to have walked across the snow. It was very cold indeed, the temperature when I left the car was -1 deg C and the wind chill was noticeable but the walk in those conditions was reward enough.

Some 100+ images later including a number of panoramas I was back at the car having enjoyed it thoroughly (& with an eye to getting out again tomorrow!). Hopefully some of the panoramas will make it to Commons soon.