In just a few days time this small pocket of London will be swarming with rowers, each battling it out for the title of Head of the River 2010. Good luck to all, especially the ones I want to do well!

I came upon this as I was taking a MASSIVE detour around the Stonehenge traffic jams today. Cley Hill, right next to Longleat. Geographically speaking it’s on the edge of Somerset and Wiltshire, and curiously not made of clay (as the name suggests) but chalk. I saw it some way off as I came over a rise through a village and said to myself; Have to climb that one! Fortunately the road I was on went right to it, so we (the Dog and I) hopped out of the car and within moments were at the top and looking west to Somerset and east to Wiltshire. This view is looking east and you can make out Salisbury plane in the distance. Bright sunshine battled with patchy (but dense) clouds, so I sat and waited for a couple of broken up ones to roll past before taking a few shots. Light was too harsh for anything spectacular, it being 4pm-ish, but in black and white the contrasts the light and dark made, as they shifted across the open grounds below, really show up well.

[In true Hitchhikers Guide fashion] Wikipedia has this to say about Cley Hill (grid reference ST838449) a prominent hill near Warminster in Wiltshire, England. A 26.6 hectare area of chalk grassland at Cley Hill was notified as a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1975. Mostly Harmless. Unless you don’t like climbing hills.

Although this summer has failed to brighten up on many levels I was still surprised by what I found in the woods today. The persistent rain over the past few weeks has, it’s true dampened my spirits slightly. So I resolved to face it head-on and went for a walk during a monumental downpour to some local woods. This served two purposes; firstly get the hell out of the house and secondly to satisfy my curiosity to really see what changes come when it’s absolutely chucking it down. I’m not talking about ‘lots of water from the sky’ type changes, nor the resulting puddles of it collecting on the ground as I walk. No, I’m talking about the change in atmosphere around me and how could I possibly capture that on camera?!

During the summer months woodlands are pleasantly mild, shaded places full of buzzing insects busily going about their tasks, flitting between the dappled pools of light from flower to flower. More often than not, any breeze is reduced to a whisper on the woodland floor and may only be noticeable from the swaying canopies as it brushes by above. How different it had become from the usual warm environment I had become accustomed to on previous visits. It was not cold, although we have had considerable amounts of rain this ‘summer’ temperatures have been gradually creeping upwards during the day, no it was warm and dark. Very, very dark. The thick canopies above all but blocked the light leaving very little remaining to hit the sodden floor beneath. I found there exists a strange middle-ground between floor and canopy where very little exists, save the tree trunks stretching upwards to support the world above. It all reminded me of something that could be found in an Anime film. I took a few shots as I explored the darkness, heavy rain pounding its way though to the ground and literally blocking further viewing through the woods. During a break in the deluge a mist gradually rose all around me, the trees and ferns steaming as the moisture returned from whence it came, no doubt building for the next shower! I shall return again on a rainy day and make a better go of things… Who said we have to stay indoors when it rains?!

And here’s some more: