Tag: Shropshire

Monthly Photo Challenge: Frosty January

I was beginning to think I would never get any frost or snow photos of Ludlow. The last time I saw a really hard hoar-frost was several years ago. Then on Wednesday I awoke to a beautiful softly coloured sunrise – and frost!

DSCF3744

Not only was there a hard frost, but also fog diffusing light. An ideal time to grab the camera and wander down by the river.

Date: January 20 2016
Weather: cold, freezing fog, but sunny
Temperature: Cold (0°C)
Time: 13:20 – 14:25 PM

Excited by the thought that I might find some rime ice on leaves and trees I first went down to the river by the Mill Weir, where I hoped to get a view of the river and the trees along the Breadwalk. Because the sun was coming from my left, the trees were in darkness with just a glimmer of gold on my side of the river. Continue reading Monthly Photo Challenge: Frosty January

Monthly Photo Challenge: A year in Ludlow

(The header shows what it should look like at this time of year)

lime tree collage
A year of the lime (linden) trees

Here is a slideshow of images taken throughout the year and if you want to view each month then please follow the links at the end.

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One of the most beautiful things about Britain is the changing season. From the fresh greens and soft rains in spring, the bountiful colours and long light-filled evenings of summer, the turning colours and misty mornings of autumn to the frosty clear days of winter. There is nothing quite like it and I treasure the constant shift. And thanks to this challenge I have enjoyed recording this year around my home town and sharing its beauty with you. I hope you have enjoyed it too. I have also enjoyed looking around localities at different times of the year all over the world.

The Cardinal  ran a photo project going throughout 2015 – a blogging event, a monthly photo challenge. The idea was to find a location near your home, take somewhere between 5-20 photos and post them in a gallery in your blog and to continue to do so every month. The idea was to capture all the changes: the seasons, the weather, different times of the day, some night photography perhaps? And news is that he is going to run the challenge for another year. So maybe you will join in?

january
february
march
april
may
june
july
august
september
october
november
december

Monthly Photo Challenge: The Changing Seasons #12

For me, November and December are the harshest months. The days constrict to just a few hours and all light seems to get sucked from the air. We are left with a dull pewter greyness that seems to invade my soul making me feel dull and joyless. I look for anything that casts a precious light into this bleakness and was pleasantly surprised to find some cheer on my December stroll.

A bad hair day
A bad hair day

Date: December 06 2015
Weather: cloudy and mizzling
Temperature: Mild (14°C)
Time: 14:00 – 15:45 PM

The linden (lime) trees were in a sorry state, only a few golden leaves hanging on after all the recent gales, their whippy branches resembling some sort of alien creatures. The benches empty, despite the unusual warmth of the day. Continue reading Monthly Photo Challenge: The Changing Seasons #12

Monthly Photo Challenge: The Changing Seasons #11

The penultimate month of this year-long challenge. There was a time when I thought I might not be here to finish off the year as a move was on the cards. Still is I hope, but not this year. Still I am more than happy to have had a year to record the changes here in my adopted town and gather some memories.

The trees have gone from green to orange and yellow and umbers and ambers since my last post. The copper beech I can see from my house turned red, then orange and is now a golden-coppery colour. That is the few leaves that remain. Fog and rain since the beginning of the month has had their toll, but today I went out shortly before sunset after a shower to gather in the remains of autumn.

Date: November 13 2015
Weather: sunshine and showers, chilly wind
Temperature: Cold (9°C)
Time: 3:45 – 4:45 PM

I’d hoped to catch a sunset as the sky had cleared after a heavy rainstorm. Grabbing my new lens I wrapped up warm as the temperature has finally fallen to below 10°C in the wind chill and headed up to the square where the last of the market traders were packing away.

Since it was cold and the ground wet from the recent storm I decided to just do a circuit of the castle and see what I could find, but naturally I have to show you what the pollarded limes are doing now.

Pollarded limes (linden trees)

You may notice that the Christmas lights have been hung up between the trees, but I shall try to capture them once they are turned on at the end of the month. Continue reading Monthly Photo Challenge: The Changing Seasons #11