Posts tagged ‘woodland’
Wishing all my readers a very Happy Christmas
and
a fruitful New Year
-
- Woodland edge and oak tree with hoar frost
-
- Oak tree and river frost
-
- Oak tree wearing a snow blanket
-
- Oak leaves and hoar frost
-
- oak log in snow
-
- Frosty oak woodland in sun and shade
-
- Snowy Oak woodland at dusk
Gabriel Hemery
Like this:
This image is a 360° panorama made from 13 separate photographs that I captured recently in an English woodland.
The images were shot with a Lumix DFC-GF2 and 7mm (14mm equivalent in 35mm format) lens. I used a tripod and mounted the camera vertically, levelling the camera carefully so that as I swung it around my position it remained level. I made sure that each shot overlapped the last by at least 50%. I fixed the focus and the aperture using manual settings (f11). Finally, I took an image of the sky overhead, and one of the ground after removing the camera from the tripod.
I combined the images using the free and excellent panorama maker: Hugin. I set the perspective to ‘fisheye’ and manipulated the viewpoint to create the image until I was happy with it.
The colours and texture of Autumn are perfectly captured, with a hint of seasonal swirling winds. I love the idea of falling into the woodland; like disappearing down a silvan plug hole.
The sharp-eyed of my regular readers may recognise the star in this image: the ancient ash coppice stool depicted in my Coppice Story.
Fall in woodland by Gabriel Hemery. Click to enlarge.
Gabriel Hemery
Like this:
With Christmas just over one month away, we are all beginning to think about gifts for friends and family. Here’s my top ten list of gifts for all tree, woodland and nature lovers. If you’re looking for a little inspiration, I hope this is of some help. If you know of other ideas, why not add them as a comment and share with other readers?
Ten
A tree! Maybe this should be number one. Look for the unusual and beautiful, such as those that produce food too: e.g. Black mulberry or a walnut cultivar. There are several companies that can deliver trees direct in the post presented in gift wrap. For something a little different why not gift some native hedging, containing dogwood, spindle, wayfarer, hazel and hawthorn (or ‘quicks): you need to account for about 6 plants per metre (or yard) and about 50% should be hawthorn.
Nine
Top quality pruning tools make all the difference when caring for your trees; reducing tree damage while improving your safety.
Eight
Tremendous tree books and Magical films
Seven
A camera to provide a focus for tree and nature interest. Read more about Tree Photography.
Six
Why not have a hot drink in the outdoors without having to make up and carry a flask? The engineering of the kelly kettle or storm kettle are fantastic:- boil enough water for a couple of mugs of hot tea with just a few twigs. It’s good fun too and kids love it.
Five
If you live in the UK the ForestXplorer app from the Forestry Commission for use with the iPhone: “carry the forest in your pocket”. Download or gift from it from the itunes store. An alternative smartphone gift would be a level or theodolite app, which can be used to measure the height of a tree.
Four
A quality bushcraft knife, using handmade quality steel using local hardwoods for the handle, such as the Woodlander series from Ben Orford.
Three
A top quality tree planting spade. Look for full strapping, where the metal extends right up the wooden handle. Foresters prefer to use a Schlick:- a design that can be used anywhere and will last a lifetime. Here’s one UK forestry supplier’s description.
Two
Serious forester gadgets to help measure and assess trees and woodlands. Consider a clinometer (for estimating tree height), diameter tape (for measuring tree stem diameter), or a GPS for plotting the location of trees and woodland boundaries. When it comes to keeping all those notes dry, I’m a huge fan of the WeatherWriter clipboards.
One
Being comfortable in the great outdoors makes all the difference, and will help make most of many of these gifts when using them in the woods. Quality jackets such as those by Patagonia or Swanndri (especially the latter’s famous bush shirt) combine unique features and construction to provide silent wear (great for watching wildlife) and comfort in inclement weather. Don’t forget feet either, as cold toes will ruin any day in the countryside. You can’t beat a pair of neoprene-lined wellington boots for the ultimate in luxury and comfort, such as those made by Chameau or Hunter.
Some free ideas
- Sign up or gift a membership to TreeWatch.com – adopt a local tree and help contribute to the future of trees across Europe.
- A subscription to this blog – it’s free! Just enter your, or a friend’s, email in the FOLLOW ME box at the bottom of this page ….
Gabriel Hemery
Barrow Wake is a well-known viewpoint near the village of Birdlip in Gloucestershire, England. It has fine views from its seat on the Cotswolds, looking West over the Vale of Gloucester towards the distant Malvern Hills.
The view was particularly fine earlier this week when I happened to be passing through the village. The rich autumnal colours looked stunning in the late afternoon sunlight, adding a wonderful luminescence to the bright green fields and bronze tree foliage. The sun’s low angle in the sky also emphasised the interesting landforms.
I took three photographs (DMC-GF2, 14mm (28mm), f11.0, 1/60th, ISO100, handheld). It is always good to fix as many settings as possible when taking photos that you intend to link later in a panorama. So, if you can adjust manual settings on your camera, select a suitable aperture (f stop) and focus point. I stitched these together, using the excellent program Hugin – panorama photo stitcher, to create this panorama. Hugin is a very powerful program which enables all types of panoramas to be created, including 360 degree images in different perspectives: see some inspiring examples. Not only is it powerful and flexible but as it is open source program it is free to download. Post editing in Adobe Lightroom allowed some fine tweaking using saturation, clarity settings, and a subtle graduation filter to be added to the sky.
The view from Barrow Wake, near Birdlip in Gloucestershire, England. Click to enlarge.
Gabriel Hemery
Plant more trees or Manage existing woodlands? Have your say …
November 14, 2011
Gabriel Hemery
Should we be planting more trees or managing our existing woodlands? I have strong views on this that may not be shared by others. I’ve written on my blog before about the hundreds of thousands of hectares of woodlands in England that are not being managed (England’s wall of moribund woodland). I have also had a poke at the large number of short-sighted planting schemes that are resulting in low-value (read ‘unsustainable’) woodland littering our countryside (More forest plantations less green fuzz). Finally, I have discussed the likely scenarios of a future where, with 7 billion people to feed today increasing to 9 billion by 2050, land will be too important for food production to permit an increase in land area dedicated to the growing of wood fibre (Land for trees or food).
In short I believe simply that we should be managing our existing woodlands better before we plant more. If I was allowed a caveat it would be “to manage existing… at least while we plant more” so I may be tempted to answer “Both”. But what do you think? I would like all my readers to have a say by completing this poll. I am sure I can be criticised by trying to persuade my readers first and then ask them their views, and I’m sure a social scientist would have a field day! However, I am confident that there are many readers with equally strong views that will differ from mine and that they will not hold back in setting out their arguments by using the Comment box below, so we should have a good debate to help inform. So over to you …
I will keep this poll open for several months in the hope of a good response rate. I am sure that this poll need not only apply to English forests and land use, but also to many other countries around the world. So wherever you’re from, do have a say.
Gabriel Hemery
Share this:
Like this:
8 Comments