Wonderful rain at long last!!
29th July 2018
Last week I went down into my neighbour’s barley field of about fifteen acres which is quite near my garden and the earth in that field was powder dry. I threw some into the air and it was like dust on the wind, I have never seen such an arid soil around here and I was amazed that the crop was so healthy and even ripening in those conditions, it must be very drought resistant.
Yesterday I took a walk back into the same field; it’s easy to walk into a barley field because although from a distance the crop looks as if it totally covers the ground, in fact it is planted in distinct rows and you can walk in between these rows without disturbing the plants. I walked along the field until I was level with an old Oak tree that has stood in this field for hundreds of years. On the 1841 map of the area where I live this tree is marked, so it must have been quite a significant size then, 177 years ago! This magnificent old Oak has stood like a sentinel, watching the comings and goings of many generations, standing guard over countless crops, good and bad - what tales it could tell. Farming with horse drawn ploughs and labour intensive harvesting - now one machine can plough a field of this size in a morning and harvest it in a day.
As I walked through the field a male pheasant popped his head up to see what was going on and then quickly scuttled away into the sanctuary of the crop. I kneeled down on my padded garden mat, very useful when taking landscape shots, especially on hard or wet ground, I always carry one in my rucksack. I also carry a folded up section of Yoga mat, bought very cheaply from Aldi’s supermarket of all places, useful for putting my camera gear on and keeping it clean. As I kneeled there Swallows were hunting insects low over the crop and they were flying right up to me before veering away at the last second. I like little cameos of wildlife like this they make the day for me.
I took a few shots but I was keeping one eye on the sky in the distance because the clouds were obviously gathering and storms were forecast.
The sky was becoming very threatening, and then as quickly as they had arrived the Swallows disappeared. This is always a sign, they know the weather and sure enough a few large spots of rain began to fall. I quickly got all my kit packed up and ran back towards my house because by now the rain was arriving very quickly. I locked the field gate and jumped over a fence and arrived at my garden just in time because the rain had now began to fall heavily. Any further delay and I would have been soaked. I got indoors with about thirty seconds to spare as all hell broke loose with high winds and thrashing rain. I wasn’t complaining because we really need the rain and I bet the barley field and the old Oak were also glad of it.
Canon 1D iv DSLR
Canon 17-40 f4 Lens
Manfrotto 055 tripod
Manfrotto MHX Pro 3 way head
Circular polarizing filter
1 stop ND graduated filter
Yesterday I took a walk back into the same field; it’s easy to walk into a barley field because although from a distance the crop looks as if it totally covers the ground, in fact it is planted in distinct rows and you can walk in between these rows without disturbing the plants. I walked along the field until I was level with an old Oak tree that has stood in this field for hundreds of years. On the 1841 map of the area where I live this tree is marked, so it must have been quite a significant size then, 177 years ago! This magnificent old Oak has stood like a sentinel, watching the comings and goings of many generations, standing guard over countless crops, good and bad - what tales it could tell. Farming with horse drawn ploughs and labour intensive harvesting - now one machine can plough a field of this size in a morning and harvest it in a day.
As I walked through the field a male pheasant popped his head up to see what was going on and then quickly scuttled away into the sanctuary of the crop. I kneeled down on my padded garden mat, very useful when taking landscape shots, especially on hard or wet ground, I always carry one in my rucksack. I also carry a folded up section of Yoga mat, bought very cheaply from Aldi’s supermarket of all places, useful for putting my camera gear on and keeping it clean. As I kneeled there Swallows were hunting insects low over the crop and they were flying right up to me before veering away at the last second. I like little cameos of wildlife like this they make the day for me.
I took a few shots but I was keeping one eye on the sky in the distance because the clouds were obviously gathering and storms were forecast.
The sky was becoming very threatening, and then as quickly as they had arrived the Swallows disappeared. This is always a sign, they know the weather and sure enough a few large spots of rain began to fall. I quickly got all my kit packed up and ran back towards my house because by now the rain was arriving very quickly. I locked the field gate and jumped over a fence and arrived at my garden just in time because the rain had now began to fall heavily. Any further delay and I would have been soaked. I got indoors with about thirty seconds to spare as all hell broke loose with high winds and thrashing rain. I wasn’t complaining because we really need the rain and I bet the barley field and the old Oak were also glad of it.
Canon 1D iv DSLR
Canon 17-40 f4 Lens
Manfrotto 055 tripod
Manfrotto MHX Pro 3 way head
Circular polarizing filter
1 stop ND graduated filter