Ploughman's Wood (February 2019)

This was my first visit to Ploughman's Wood near to Woodborough, Nottinghamshire. A fellow photographer had mentioned it a few times so I decided to take a look.

According to Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, Ploughman's Wood was once part of a larger woodland that dates from the 13th century and describes it as "one of the country's few remaining ancient woodlands". Today it is mostly an oak woodland and the wildlife trust lists ash, sessile oak, sycamore, wild cherry, sweet chestnut, and hornbeam as some of the tree species in the wood. It also states that the best time to visit is when the bluebell and wood anemones carpet the ground - something to note for a few month's time.

The conditions on the day for photography were not particularly good although there was a brief appearance of the sun late in the afternoon. This provided the best photograph of the visit and this is the view across farmland towards Woodborough Park:

The sun remained on the path for the return journey to the car:

The shots in Ploughman's Wood were restricted to tree branch patterns against the grey sky and a few texture shots of bark. Now I have my bearings for this venue I hope to return in the spring for the bluebells.

Woodborough Park - Photography Week 19 (2017)

With the permission of the landowner, I had an opportunity to walk around Woodborough Park Farm in Nottinghamshire. Over the years I have taken many photographs from the public footpaths and the roads that surround the farm but having the freedom to enter the fields gave a new view on a familiar landscape.

The attraction of this farm is the way the land undulates as it descends into a valley with many isolated trees sitting nicely in the fields. It is one of the few locations in the local area where it is possible to get above the landscape - elevation being very important for landscape photography.

Also important is the variety provided by the different seasons and different crops. On this ocassion the oilseed crop dominated many of the compositions but there were opportunities to pick out some other features of the landscape:

Nottinghamshire Countryside - Photography Week 32 (2016)

The countryside north of the city of Nottingham is a mixture of farmland, forest and remnants of the area's mining industry. In between Calverton, Woodborough and Dorkett Head is a valley and farm with an undulating landscape. Its panoramic views and isolated trees in fields have made this area a firm favourite to photograph over the years.

All the images in this selection were taken with a 100-400mm zoom lens. The panoramic photographs are several 100mm shots merged into one image. I then used longer focal lengths to zoom into the landscape: