Watching a forest grow

The same year that I started planting Paradise Wood , a new forest and centre for forestry research in Oxfordshire, I started recording a view of the former arable farm from a nearby vantage point.

The Wittenham Clumps provided a perfect place to view the low-lying fields to the north, looking towards the village of Long Wittenham. The first photograph was taken in 1993. Unfortunately this did not include the entire width of the future forest although from 1996 onwards a full view is captured.

The photograph catalogue so far is 1993, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2010. I am sure that I haven’t run this photomonitoring project as well as I should. The images don’t align exactly when closely compared. In my defense the fence corner post that I used to mark the position was removed sometime in 1998, and the format changed from 35mm slide to digital format too.

The pictures certainly make for a fascinating record of a changing landscape over a 17 year period, which I intend to continue.

Gabriel Hemery

To enable anyone to follow and contribute to this long-term project I have created an online map showing the details of the location and view.