High up in a Dartmoor valley, at the upper limit of tree life, I discovered these two rowan trees clinging to the granite clitter (the debris below a tor). They were among a group of scattered rowan trees growing in one of my favourite places, known as Tavy Cleave. I was searching for tree subjects to be included in The New Sylva. Neither of these two trees were selected as drawing subjects by artist Sarah Simblet but one close-by was a perfect subject. I hope to provide a sneak preview of the drawing on the book website soon.
The River Tavy can be seen bottom left. It rises 6km further upstream, far beyond Tavy Cleave Sharp; the tor just visible below the crown of the left-hand rowan. The head of the river is one of the most inspiring wilderness areas remaining in Britain: a landscape of extraordinary peat hags, and home to the raven. As I explored the trees among the clitter, wheatears flitted quickly between the rocks showing their white rumps, while overhead skylarks were in full song.
Subject: Rowan Sorbus aucuparia trees, sometimes known as the mountain ash.
Location: Tavy Cleave, Dartmoor, Devon, South West England. 350m altitude.
Equipment: Lumix GF2, 7mm (14mm equivalent in 35mm), 1/320sec, f11, ISO100. Handheld, resting on rock.
Processing: Post-processed in Lightroom. Converted to Black & White. Greens and Yellows increased 25%. Cropped square.
Gabriel Hemery
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial- NoDerivs 3.0 United States License.
