Hawthorn blossom is a real beauty in the hedgerows at springtime.This past week has been dull, wet and cold, with some early snow showers this weekend. To cheer myself up I have sorted through some more of my photographs and have published some more photos of Hawthorn to the hedgerow section of the Environment Gallery.The first photograph shown above shows some pink-tinged blossom of this hedgerow shrub. Mostly the blossom of Hawthorn is white which gives the beautiful May Flowers that are so characteristic of the Welsh and English countryside during May. On my previous smallholding in Wales, we also had some trees that had pink or pink tinged blossom.The second image is looking up into the trees and shows the masses of blossom. Later in the year these did turn to the bright red hawthorn...
This week I am continuing the theme of trees in the hedgerows with another selection of photographs. When I lived on my previous smallholding in Wales, I liked to wander over the fields at different times of the year and day to take photographs of the trees and hedgerows. I tended to take most photographs of the same few trees as I considered them photogenic although other trees looked good at different times.The first image shown above is a group of 4 trees in a single hedgeline. This is one of the few photographs of the 4 trees together although I had previously taken photos of the trees inpairs or singly. I like this image for the sense of space and tranquility it presents.The second image is one of my favourite trees. This is a single specimen growing in an old hedgeline along with...
This week I have opened a new section in my Environment/Natural History Gallery for trees. The first album that I have created in this section is for trees that are in the hedgerows and fields. Currently, these photos are all taken at our previous smallholding in Wales.The first photo, shown above, is a single tree growing in the hedge line at the eastern boundary of the smallholding. This tree is growing amongst a lot of gorse bushes which is quite common on the smallholding and in the locality. The local village (or rather hamlet) is Tynreithin which translates from the Welsh to Gorse Cottage. This view is roughly to the east towards the Cambrian Mountains which are just discernible in the distance (about 2 miles away).The second photograph shows a small hawthorn amongst the gorse...
This week I am featuring some photographs taken a few months ago of gorse growing in the hedgerow. These photos were taken quite early in the morning when there was a light frost, but on a bright day with a clear blue sky.The first picture shown is a close-up of some gorse flowers against the blue sky. In this photo you can just see the frost on the flowers. The sun was starting to warm up and the frost did not last long.In the second image below, the photo was taken looking down on the flower stems into the bush. In this you can see the frost on the flowers, buds and the spiny leaves.One thing that was noticeable was the gorse was a different shade of yellow to the previous year. In that year the gorse flowers where a lovely lemon-yellow colour. This year they have a more orangey hue....
The hawthorn blossom has been out for over a week now. It has been difficult to get much in the way of photos as the there has been a lot of rain. I have managed to get some good close-ups though by taking short cuttings from our hedgerows indoors and taking photographs in my 'studio' (a cardboard box!).The picture above is one of my favourites and is an extreme close up of the centre of a blossom. You can see that the anthers (the tip of the stamens) are pink. This seems to indicate a fresh blossom - as they get older they go brown. I do not know if this is due to the pollination process or if it just is the way that they age. I find I am noticing things like this more since I have been taking my photography more seriously.The picture below shows the blossom just opening up.Below is an...
