Category: Tree

Arundel Castle’s tulips

By cpadmin

BBC Breakfast TV featured Arundel Castle’s tulips. Carol the BBC weather forecaster gave us a tour one morning and definitely showed the nation how nice it was. Last weekend we drove down there to look for ourselves. While some of the tulips had started to ‘go over’ and the daffodils were well past their best it was a truly magnificent display.

Arundel Castle's tulips
Pots and pots of brightly coloured blooms surround a gazebo

Pots and pots had been filled with bulbs in addition to those planted in the grass. One group of pots surrounded a tree that was just coming into leaf. Orange, different pinks and yellow tulips clustered around the otherwise uninteresting tree in a blaze of colour. Subsequently, we came across a gazebo around which were many more colourful pots.

By now Arundel Castle’s tulips will have ‘gone over’ however you can see more images of the time we spent there by using this link or visiting the website of Arundel Castle itself.

Arundel Castle’s website has the following text. “There are nearly 1,000 years of history at this great castle, situated in magnificent grounds overlooking the River Arun in West Sussex and built at the end of the 11th century by Roger de Montgomery, Earl of Arundel.

Frozen pond on a freezing day

By cpadmin
Frozen pond freezing day
Frozen pond on a freezing day

Frozen pond on a freezing day is the third image of the same pond I have published. Captured at 0900 on a very cold morning this image offers little comfort. Two previous images of the same pond have been published, however this one is darker and more foreboding. The sky is overcast and it is snowing. There is more snow on the ground in this image. Snow lies on the arms of the large tree.

There is a distinct wintery image to this picture of the pond. The tree does reflect in the ice, however they are much less striking and dull. Bare branches of the bushes frame this image as they reach out to the pond. Moving around the pond to capture the image was a treacherous venture. I have been asked where this photogenic pond is. It is at the rear of Blackwood Chine in South Woodham Ferrers in Essex CM3 5FZ. Top Barn Lane is what this stretch was called originally.

Snow is on the ground and the forecast leads us to expect more later. The plan is to make the most of the snow. We get it so rarely these days, however there is always the concern of safety. More snowy images will be published on the Compass Photography Website Latest Images – Compass Photography Group

Pond in the snow

By cpadmin
Pond in the snow
Snowy pond

Here we see the pond in the snow. This image captures the same pond from the same vantage point as the post of a few days ago. Snow, that local rarity, fell as the image is captured. It made the image less sharp and a little blurry in parts, however reflections of the tree are still visible in the water. Getting to the vantage point was a little more tricky though. Under foot the ground was muddy and slippery. Still you have to suffer for your art! This image was captured in the late morning yesterday, however the pond was frozen over this morning. The resulting image is much darker and not as attractive this one of the pond in the snow. The clouds are heavy and create a sense of foreboding.

There is a complete covering of snow on the ground today and it is so recent that there are no footprints in it. There is a covering of snow on the arms of the large tree today.

This image has a gentle sprinkling of snow on the bare bushes and snow in the air too. The falling snowflakes can best be picked off against the brown area on the trunk. Its such a rarity to have snow that I am going to go around and about to capture more images of snow later. Have a look for these over the next few days at Latest Images – Compass Photography Group

Reflections in the Pond

By cpadmin
Water in the pond
After all of the rain the pond is full of water

There are reflections in the pond! You may be scratching your head thinking why is this remarkable. Bear with me. This pond is very near to our house. Unsubstantiated legend has it that the pond was created in the dim and distant past when builders dug the Essex clay to make bricks. No one really knows if that is true. A neighbour who was present in the 1980s when the present houses were built said that the pond always used to be full. He said that “things” were dumped in the pond during the building process. When they were finishing off the builders pumped the pond dry and took the stuff away.

The pond is normally dry now days. When we get a lot of rain the water will accumulate. Recently, there has been enough rain to please Noah, so the level of water is high. There is more than two feet of water in the centre. One day last week the sun was out and I managed to capture an image of the water and the reflection of the tree in the water. There is just enough space to capture the spreading arms of the bare tree in the area of the water.

Last year a pair of ducks came quite regularly to take residence and its hoped that they will visit again this year.

This image is in the “latest images” section of the Compass Photography Website. Click here to take a look at them

Wimpole Estate in Autumn

By cpadmin

It’s great to visit Wimpole Estate in autumn, even though It may be wet and windy. A day in half term looking round the gardens provided some wonderful autumn colours. There was a one way system to the farm where the animals could be seen. See more about Wimpole Estate in Autumn by using this link.

  • Wimpole Estate in autumn
    Orange tree stands out
  • Wimpole Estate in autumn
    Green scene. Green lawns and a curve in the path towards the trees
  • Wimpole Estate in autumn
    Orange trees in the parkland

Many of the trees were losing their leaves. On occasion we were able to walk over a carpet of leaves. The leaves on some trees had fallen. In other cases they were changing colour. Two small trees had retained their bright orange leaves. In both cases these small trees made a really bright feature against the darker green trees in the background.

Green scene

One of the images I have called “green scene”. This shows a really green lawn, with a path sweeping across the image and round the corner into the trees. Golden leaves on some of the trees support this image by adding their colour.

These is a page on our website with more images from Wimpole Estate. Use this link to go to it

Use this link to view more of our garden galleries

Autumnal Rettendon

By cpadmin

To capture some images of autumnal Rettendon I paid a visit to the churchyard at All Saints. I had been tipped off by someone who knew, that the colours in Church Chase were nice. Before the rain came I nipped up yesterday with my camera. The churchyard and its bushes and trees offer a number of photogenic opportunities. I particularly like how the high branches of some of the bushes arch over the images to “frame” them. These images are on our website on the “Autumn in Rettendon” page. Click here to go there

This post shows three images. There are more images of Autumnal Rettendon on our website. https://www.compassphotography.co.uk/autumn-in-rettendon/

  • autumnal rettendon
    This older image has the lovely arch of the tree framing the image, looking down to the new A130. The corner of the fence and the gravestones add interest
  • autumnal rettendon
    The afternoon sun catches the warm colour of the brickwork on this house and the shade and sunlight make a dappled effect upon the ground where the leaves add colour
  • autumnal rettendon
    Leaves falling in Church Chase on bin day!

The views looking west from the churchyard are quite nice. Hedges on both sides of the A130 hide both the road and its traffic. The hedges are turning gold too. Most of the industrial buildings are hidden in the trees.

Autumn colours

By cpadmin

Autumn colours

The leaves turn from green to yellow or going straight to an orangy brown. As the song has it, “The Autumn leaves are turning to the colour of her hair!” From Windmills of your mind sung by Noel Harrison. You have to be old to remember this song!

This post has three images attached

  • Autumnal colours
    Captured from Bolsover Castle, this row of terraced houses is surrounded by autumnal colours
  • Autumn colours
    Yellow, green and brown as the leaves change colour on this oak tree at Hylands Park, Essex
  • Autumnal images
    Calm waters in the lake at Danbury reflect the trees as the leaves turn golden

The image from Bolsover in Derbyshire, is captured from the ramparts of the castle. It uses a super zoom lens to bring the trees and houses close together. Trees surround the row of houses. The leaves on the trees vary in their shades of colour.

Hylands Park in Chelmsford is the location of the second image. It is a close up of oak leaves from a tree in one of the vast open spaces in the park. The leaves next to each other are green, yellow and brown colours.

The final image is from Danbury Lakes near Chelmsford. The lakes offer lovely colours and the calm waters have created complex reflection patterns. Too complex for a jigsaw!

A page on our website entitled Autumnal Colours has more images of autumn from this year and 2019. https://www.compassphotography.co.uk/autumnal-images/

Not for hay fever sufferers

By cpadmin

This post is not for hay fever sufferers. The white May blossom is lovely to look at from a distance as the trees and bushes become covered in delicate white and creamy coloured flowers. It’s even better to get close up and see the shape of the flowers that make up the blossom. If you suffer from hay fever you will disagree with me. Some flowers, particularly the hawthorn have a strong smell. The smell also gets through to the back of your throat and makes you want to sneeze and cough!

Blossom from three different plants, trees and bushes are shown below. Firstly the Hawthorn Bush which produces some very delicate clusters of white flowers. The flowers will eventually turn into red berries.

  • Hawthorn blossom
    Delicate flowers of the Hawthorn
  • prunus padus watereri AGM Bird Cherry Tree
    Horizontal cylinders (prunus padus watereri AGM Bird Cherry Tree)
  • Cow Parsley blossoming
    Cow Parsley blossoming
May Blossom

Secondly there are images of the cylinder shaped blossom of a cherry tree with a very long name. It’s called “prunus padus watereri AGM Bird Cherry Tree”. These flowers are creamy rather than pure white.

Lastly there is the “common as muck” Cow Parsley, Latin name Anthriscus sylvestris. The umbrella like clusters appear all over our fields in May and June. They are summer itself, but not for hay fever sufferers! They can’t wait for the early summer to pass.

See more of these images on our May Blossom page

Just to confirm all of these images were captured on my daily walks during lockdown!

Before the rains came

By cpadmin

Before the rains came we have had almost five weeks of sunshine. The temperature has varied from cool to very hot and back. The forecast said several days of rain and before it came I spent time capturing images of the plants growing in the garden.

The weigela looked particularly outstanding. The pink and white flowers were showing as buds and/or full blooms. The colours always remind me of raspberry ripple ice cream, one of my favourites. The variegated leaves are attractive too. The plant send it flowers out in arching stems on which the growth of the flowers extend. One shot shows a high stem crossing the washing line!

The passion flower plant was sending wispy tentacles out over the top of the fence. They remind me of the tentacle of the creatures in HG Wells War of the Worlds.

Three images are shown below, eight images from this series can be seen on our website by using this link https://www.compassphotography.co.uk/before-the-rain-came/

  • Wispy tentacles
    The wispy tentacles of the passion flower
  • before the rains came
    Raspbery ripple flowers of the weigela
  • Before the rains came
    Close up of red Aquilegia
Three of the eight images in “before the rains came”

Suffolk in Autumn

By cpadmin

Suffolk in Autumn comprises four images from an overnight trip this week. The catalyst for the trip was the concert being held by “The Hot Club of Cowtown” in Bury St Edmunds. I chose to take the scenic route to Bury, up through Clare and via Ickworth.

The main street in Clare was full of fallen leaves and this gave a great opportunity to create a really leafy Suffolk in Autumn image.

Ickworth is a national trust property – see their website I went there to photograph the huge Rotunda. Alas, scaffolding covered the Rotunda! At the bottom of the Italian formal gardens is a path which curves round. The wall and the shadows of the wall lead your eye nicely round to a tree with golden leaves. Classic leading lines!

  • Leading lines at Ickworth
    Leading lines in the grounds of Ickworth
  • Suffolk in Autumn
    Leaf strewn main street at Clare
  • Bury St Edmunds
    Benedictine ruins at Bury ST E
  • Suffolk in Autumn
    Glorious colours in Bury’s Abbey Gardens

Moving on the Bury St Edmunds I spent time in the Abbey Gardens. One ruin amongst others! Firstly, I came across golden trees and then ruins of the Benedictine Monastery. I progressed down to the stream and found many opportunities for autumnal colours.

In short, there was lots to see in Suffolk in Autumn! The autumn colours seem brighter this year