Hardwick Wood Coppicing etc

 Any Saturday through the winter months that I am free, I join a conservation party in Hardwick Wood to do a bit of coppicing (contact for details of Saturday and Sunday work parties in Cambridge area info@ccv.org.uk). I first started coppicing in 1962 at Hayley Wood so have had a bit of practise over the years. I walk up and back from the wood - about a 3 mile round trip so plenty of exercise. Coppicing is a traditional woodland management technique that dates back to the Stone Age involving cutting branches at their base to create a ‘stool’ where new shoots will grow - best suited to hazel, but can be applied to sweet chestnut, ash and lime. The original use of coppicing is still maintained in Hardwick  producing firewood and long straight poles for fencing, building and in the garden as bean poles. Coppicing is also thought to improve the biodiversity of a woodland area by opening it up to the sunlight and allowing a wider range of plants to grow. 

Here some images on my walk (including a distant Addenbrookes site!!), of the coppicing area at the start of the process and of the ancient woodland areas (with hundreds of Ash seedlings (reaction to Ash die-back?).  The tall single hazel shoots in the image will be laid into adjacent bare areas to sprout and fill the gaps in the hazel regrowth). 

Paxton Pits

The mist cleared at Paxton on Saturday to give some wonderful reflections with the absence of wind. Cormorants, Herons, Coot and Moorhens were all getting on with building nests and setting up territories etc

 

Thames Path: Woolwich to North Greenwich

On Saturday mornning, we walked through Woolwich and out on the Woolwich Route where my Aunt's used to live now all demolished and at the moment in the midst of a whole new building phase. We then went down onto the Thames path and walked along as far as the O2 dome, taking images as we went. I was using Sony RX100 which has been converted for IR photography, which has brought out  great detail in the skies and ironwork

Frosty Walk with Full-spectrum Camera

We had a hard frost overnight which was great for walking the 'muddy' footpaths now rock solid and the frost patterns on the leaves were beautiful. A single Red Kite occupied the usual morning tree - hoping its mate is safe somewhere. These are images with the full spectrum camera with very little processing.

Sunrise on the Thames

It was forecast to be a clear sunrise on Monday so we walked through to the Thames around 7am. These images are in order and show how the colours changed towards pink with direction of view and as the cloud built up. The exposures (for future reference!) in sequence were 20 secs, 20 secs, 6 secs, 1.3sec,1.3 sec and the rest 1 second, all at f22 using live composite mode on the Olympus EM1 II  - I didn't record how many exposures each had - obviously more where there were changes in the highlights being added as with reflections or contratrails. Not sure what passed behind St Pauls and left a dotted trail (?ideas)