DAY 2: Deerleap Tree – Mendips, Somerset, UK. JB5_0657

One tree, two pictures, 24 hours apart. Day 1 is a colour photograph not that there was much colour that day. But is does make for a detailed and simple image. Day 2 is also in colour but in beautiful winter sun! What a difference a day made, what about in a month, what about a year? Suddenly I had a new project to keep me busy – One Tree One Year. A year in the life of a tree.

Snow finally arrived in Somerset.  Not much by any measure but by luck I had the day off work.  So I set off to the Mendip in search of a winter’s scene – but instead I find a love story.  The trees are icons of the local landscape and famous on Flickr which Celebrates the Priddy Tree.  Traditionally these two trees are not the best of friends – but today I saw the true side – the love of a mother for its child, an arm of comfort on a cold day.

Wells Cathedral – Somerset, UK. ID JB5_0116

While most of Britain is having snow we were still waiting in Somerset.  So whilst I could still drive to work and earn money I was missing the opportunity to capture the winter scenes.  So I decided to play with the Lightroom Enfuse HDR plugin from the Photographer’s Toolbox.

This plugin allows you to blend multiple exposures together into a single fused image. It aims to provide a natural looking image with a higher dynamic range.  It also supports the stacking of images at different focus points – something I need to try with my macro photographs this summer.

I thought this image would be a challenge for the software as it is vital that the images can be correctly aligned by the software.  Whilst a tripod kept the camera steady the fine twigs on the trees could have been moving in the breeze.

To my surprise the images aligned perfectly – or perhaps Enfuse only used the trees from a single image.  I thought the image looked pretty natural, although my son easily noticed it had been HDR’ed!

Snipe (Gallinago gallingo) – Graylake, Somerset, UK. JB4_1613. The RSPB Graylake Reserve in Somerset is a great place to watch wetland birds in winter as the hide has glass windows and keeps the wind and cold out! This patch of ground was only about ten metres in front of the hide. At first it appeared empty but after a while I realised it was full of Snipe – I found eleven, how many can you count?

Glastonbury Tor is the most iconic image of mid-Somerset and pictures of the Tor at sunset are always popular. But having chosen your favourite view how to you know when the sun is going to set behind it? Typically this will happen twice a year, but when?

A few days either side will probably not make much difference if you can move around the road side, footpath or roam into a field to get the perfect alignment. Of course, each day I drive past I could have a look but that is hardly going to be efficient. Luckily, today technology has come to the aid of outdoor photographers in the form of iPhone apps.

The day before I planned my visit I downloaded the Sun Seeker app from Ozpda. This app gives a fantastic augmented reality camera 3D view showing the path of the sun. Using this I could quickly see where and when the sun would pass behind the Tor and sink below the horizon.

So with the aid of this new technology it was possible to get a picture of the sun sitting on the top of the Tor with the church tower in Silhouette.

Tor Sunset – Glastonbury, Somerset UK. ID JB5_0076

How did I choose which day to make my visit? For this I talked to local photographers who new the location from previous years – thanks Jason. But if you are searching for your own view then other apps can help. I chose LightTrac from Rivolu. This shows the direction of the sun at any time of day on a map so you can line up your view point and your subject. This is a great app but the small iPhone screen has it limits so I need to invest in an iPad!


his is a great app but the small iPhone screen has it limits so I need to invest in an iPad!

Knock Knock. Who’s there? Jupiter. Jupiter who? Jupiter hurry to Shapwick Heath, or you’ll miss the Starlings.   That is a rubbish joke!  But this is the best time to get down to the Avalon Marshes in Somerset and watch one million Starlings roost in the reed bed.

Obviously this is not really Jupiter but the sunset was real.  Last night was the most stunning sunset over Somerset I have ever seen!  I was putting a bit of vignetting on the image using Lightroom software when the Feather slider slipped and as if by magic Jupiter appeared complete with a giant red storm.

Passing in front of the planet is a trail of Starlings on the may to the other side of the marshes.  As sometimes happens we were standing in completely the wrong part of the reserve.  The sunset well made up for this!

As we watched the mist gradually fell.  On the way home I stopped off at the Canada Farm end of the reserve. No more Starlings but a beautiful view – if very dark.

The Falling Mist – Canada Farm, Shapwick Heath, Somerset, UK. ID DSC_7428

I finished work early and headed off to Shapwick Heath to watch the Starling Displays.
The RSPB notice board directed me to the best spot and they gave another of their excellent talks while we waited for the birds.  

It was not looking promising and we had almost given-up.  But then there was 30 seconds of fantastic Starling dancing.  I captured this on my son’s video camera which I was using for the first time.

At home I uploaded the movie to YouTube.  Again this was another first for me, before I had only used YouTube to see Fenton chase deer and watch the brilliant Ultimate Dog Tease. I hope I did it correctly. I still cannot find the video using the search tool, but now at least I have a video on my own YouTube channel.

My son and I had went to see the Starlings roost at Shapwick Heath.  This is something we have done for several years.  I remember standing in Westhay on cold winter’s days at minus 7 Celius watching millions of Starlings.  We would often be alone.  Sometimes a few other regulars would nod to say hello.

How times have changed.  Yesterday we stood on the bridge on the way to the Meare Hide – to our left was a line of people, tripods and cameras stretching out to infinity and beyond.  To our right, the same.  Thats 2 times infinity plus 2, and beyond.

It is great that so may people share the same interest.  The work the RSPB, Natural England and the Somerset Wildlife Trust do also fantastic.  But the sense of wilderness we once enjoyed has gone – and where does everyone park their car?

We returned the next morning to enjoy a more private viewing.  Infinitely better!

Starling Dawn – Shapwick Heath, Somerset, UK. ID JB4_9554.

The Market Place on Christmas Eve – Wells, Somerset, UK. ID JB4_9320

Bishops’s Palace on Christmas Eve – Wells, Somerset, UK. ID MOAT

Chimney Top Sunset – Wells, Somerset, UK. ID P1010446.  Thanks to Jane for the borrow of her camera!