More Moors and Bluebell Season Begins
A round up from the last couple of weeks moorland wanderingss. All images taken with the Nikon Z7+24-70 f/2.8S or Fujifilm X-H2 + 100-400. A CPL was used on all of the woodland pictures and some of the other Nikon shots (I still don't have adapters for the Fuji lenses). Processed from single raw files in Capture One Pro 22.
Withnell Moor
The first collection of images were taken on a fine evening wandering around Withnell Moor. My walk began in Brinscall and after a steep plod up Well Lane I arrived at my first location, Cocker's Folly. A Farm ruin perched high on the hill above Brinscall and one of the few that is actually visible from the village below
Early Evening Colour at Cocker's Folly
I was quite taken by the way this shapely tree and how it was softly lit in the early evening sun.
The Ruins at Cocker's Folly
The ruins here are little more than a pile of rocks, with the most notable features of the site being the cluster of well developed trees that have grown amongst them.
Lonesome Tree in Bloom
It was sunset by the time I reached the ruins of Botany Bay farm, deep in the heart of Withnell Moor. The lonely beech tree, which spends most of the year looking dead as a doorpost has now sprung into life, fielding a healthy covering of leaves and buds. The sunset itself was something of a non event, so I've taken a bit of artistic licence with the magenta tint in the sky.
Heapey Moor
The next walk, on another fine evening, began at White Coppice, where, after scrambling up through the quarry I crossed Black Brook and made my way over Grain Pole Hill and Hurst Hill. It was then a case of risking life and limb to cross the very boggy Anglezarke moor to arrive at Round Loaf for sunset, before finally returning via Heapey Moor.
White Coppice
Looking across White Coppice towards Chorley from the top of the quarry near the beginning of the walk.
Coppice Stile
Looking towards Coppice Stile atop the opposing bank of Black Brook, as I made my way up the surprisingly steep and essentially pathless side of Grain Pole Hill.
Round Loaf
By the time I reached Round Loaf, the sun had done its usual disappearing act into the fog bank on the Irish Sea, sucking the colour out of the evening and scuppering any chance of a nice sunset in the process. This is the cairn on the summit of Round Loaf, with the many masts of Winter Hill in the background.
The Guardians of Heapey Moor
It was dark by the time I was making my way back across Heapey Moor to White Coppice, but as I approached my destination, my path was blocked with several spectral beings with glowing eyes. Fortunately, these turned out to be sheep rather than anything more sinister and they obligingly made space for me as I passed.
Bluebell Season In Brinscall Woods
Finally, this week, I took a teatime walk into Brinscall Woods for what seems like the first time in months. For one reason or another I typically miss the peak time for Bluebells, but I think I hit it just right this year and for once had nice conditions to enjoy the extra burst of colour they bring. The light was constantly changing between harsh, direct sunlight and soft diffuse light as the broken clouds rolled across the sky, high above the woods, but as I was set up on a tripod I was able to take multiple shots of each composition with differing intensities. All of these images were taken with the CPL adjusted to reduce reflection on the damp surface of the vegetation and effectively increase saturation. When I got these images back into Capture I ditched most of the direct sunlight ones as the highlights were way too harsh and the contrast too high, so most of these were taken in diffuse light. I've avoided the urge to boost the colours of the bluebells using a selective colour filter in C1P, so apart from minor tweaks to contrast, exposure and colour balance these are mostly as the camera rendered them.
Fallen
Fallen trees slowly disappearing into the bluebells.
A Jolly Threesome
These three trees appear to be having a whale of a time.
The Bluebell Path
This is one of the few images that benefitted from more direct sunlight. I liked the way the path weaved around the tree in the foreground, although the locations I could take the shot from were limited by a) a scrubby looking tree to the right of where I was stood and b) not trampling the bluebells.
Fairy House
If tiny woodland folk were a thing, this is definitely the kind of place I'd expect to find them hanging out.
