Bluebells
- 26 April 2011 09:49103555Another wonderful photo !!---------------------------------------------------
Lincolnshire Born and Bred - 26 April 2011 12:37103567We are all surrounded by such beauty. It is incredible.
- 26 April 2011 13:05103570I would never want to get rid of bluebells in my garden, but if I did I would use glyphosate. A litre of concentrate is £40 at B&Q or 11€ at Mr Bricolage in Calais. Works a treat on forget-me-nots.I'm an optimist. But I'm an optimist who takes my raincoat - Harold Wilson
- 26 April 2011 13:20103574Peter,
" I love the smell of napalm in the morning!" - 27 April 2011 09:27103695I promised to let you know when the Tilmanstone bluebells were at their best - which is now, for perhaps another week.
Access is via public footpath - through the metal kissing gate behind Tilmanstone village war memorial, along the glebeland footpath, through the kissing gate at the end and turn left into the woodland. Please be careful, DO NOT TAKE DOGS (there are sheep and lambs in the glebeland), keep to the woodland path, do not drop litter or trample, or indeed pick, any of the flowers. A bluebell woodland takes thousands of years to establish and there are not many left. Take your cameras. Here is a photo taken yesterday:
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Lincolnshire Born and Bred - 27 April 2011 09:38103700Oh wow! that is a gorgeous picture Kath. Oh I do like that one...you're a star so y'are!
Hopefully all will take note of the cautions mentioned above there as these areas are so special.Wonder would I be able to find that. off the top of my head Im not even really sure where Tilmanstone is. But the picture is the next best thing anyway.
email: dover7@msn.com - 27 April 2011 13:07103712Fantabulous picture there Kath of the beautiful bluebell woodland That is certainly on my list of places to go to this weekend
- Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,894
27 April 2011 17:19103742Directions to see the Tilmanstone bluebells.
The Sandwich Road A257? coming from Dover direction, turn left at the Eythorne/Kent Salads roundabout then first right, left at the side of the Plough and Harrow continue straight on down the winding lane until you reach the war memorial and then follow Kath's directions.-----------------------------------------------------------------------
I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
------------------------------------------------------------------- - 27 April 2011 17:46103748Thanks for that Jan, Bluebell woodland, here I come
- 27 April 2011 19:30103763There are other places to find Bluebells within few miles of Dover.
Singledge Wood and Eastling Down are two places, though unsure whether the latter has public access.
The degraded Willow Woods near Studdal and close to thE A256 have some swathes of bluebells.
I imagine the woodland in the Alkham Valley and above River meanwhile has plenty of bluebell cover.
Pasted below is IMG code for a bluebell picture with a difference from 8 April 2008 - bluebells in snow! A very rare event indeed as warm weather encouraged early blooming and then cruelly covered them in ice.
[Paul, if you can make this live I would greatly appreciate it. Andrew] - 28 April 2011 05:51103807Hi Andrew, I tried to make that LIVE for you but there is no image there..On the posting box top right it says "add a photo to this post". Use that link and have another go at uploading. It works easy enough once you get in the groove..
Thanks for the directions Jan...well done with those.email: dover7@msn.com - 28 April 2011 06:43103812
Gorse Hill Wood above River, near St Rads Abbey.www.kenrbaker.co.uk - Photo Gallery - 28 April 2011 09:03103826Are bluebells the hardest thing to photograph? I have never been able to capture the full impact a carpet of blue when taking pictres and neither of the above, as good as they are, fully convey this either. Taken individually you don't get the grandeur of the woodland mass but taken en masse you lose the individuality and the depth of the experience.
Please, photographers, don't take this as a criticism it is just a personal observation after many years of trying to replicate what I see in the woods in a photograph without success
- 28 April 2011 09:23103829Mark
Maybe this is a feature of human eyesight and the brains interpretation, which no camera software can currently compete with.
I'm attending a one day workshop photographing bluebells with a professional photographer over the coming weekend. Maybe I'll learn something relevant !!!www.kenrbaker.co.uk - Photo Gallery - 28 April 2011 21:43103892http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj209/RichardVan/April%2008%20snow/Bluebellsinsnow6Apr08.jpg
Here is a direct link...they are bluebells I promise. A novel sight. - 28 April 2011 22:15103894Lots of flowers reflect light beyond the visible in the ultra violet and infra red to attract insects. Our eyes can't see these but film and digital sensors can to different extents depending on light source, brand, exposure time etc etc, and even in the visible range do not match out eyes responses exactly. Plus our eyes are backed up by an autocompenstaing computer that can't be matched by anything we can buy but often works against us in some situations.
Two tricks that can help with digital photography of bluebells - if your camera has the function, take a white balance reading before each shot. And, again if your camera allows it, experiment by taking a series of over and under exposures at half or third stop intervals and combine them in Photoshop (other image processing software is available) with the High Dynamic Range (HDR) function - doesn't work on a windy day! - 30 April 2011 17:42104092Thank you Kath.
We went to Tilmanstone Woods to see the bluebells today and they really are absolutely magical. Wouldn't have known where to go in Tilmanstone but for your excellent instructions and we had the whole woods to ourselves.
Definitely worth the effort to go. Just for info, no parking at the war memorial itself, but easy parking in a side road just down from it.
A glass of cider and a cheese and pickle sandwich in the garden of The Griffin Inn in Chillenden afterwards was a perfect follow up to the bluebell walk! - 30 April 2011 18:30104096Glad you went to see them, Sue. They are a joy every year. You now know where to go next year !!---------------------------------------------------
Lincolnshire Born and Bred - 4 May 2011 21:55104786Not bluebells, but I took this last year. It looks better than it smells -a vast swathe of wild garlic, the biggest I have ever seen. The flowering season is very brief, a matter of days, and is underway now, several weeks earlier than last year.
- 5 May 2011 10:35104830Andrew - was that taken at Waldershare? They have a similar woodland not far from the gliding club.---------------------------------------------------
Lincolnshire Born and Bred
