Don't forget to subscribe on the new improved home for this blog www.newforestlens.co.uk. All the details and instructions are in the New Forest Lens: A New, More Visual Home For The Blog post Bolderwood Deer Sanctuary, 8 Apr 2024 15:00 Bolderwood Deer Sanctuary Bolderwood Deer Sanctuary does what it says on the tin. This is the place ...

A New Home for 'New Forest Lens' A slightly different post this time, more housekeeping than a typical entry. The image image of Mupe Rocks might be familiar; it was the first photo featured on the blog. I'm reposting it to represent a fresh start for the blog as 'New Forest Lens' (www.newforestlens.co.uk). I'll come back to Mupe Rocks...

Durdle Door Beach, 11 Oct 2021, 10:00 Durdle Door Beach, Dorset Yes, this really is Durdle Door beach, but not the view you normally see as the arch, or 'door', of Durdle Door is nowhere to be seen. I am standing with the famous arch of Durdle Door behind me, over my left shoulder, and it is a bright, sunny scene this day that feels al...

Calshot Spit, 22 Oct 2023 08:10 Aerial View of Clashot Spit, facing south east This might not be a conventional landscape photograph but, from its elevated sunrise viewpoint above Calshot Marshes, it captures an exposed and unassuming stretch of windswept land that has witnessed centuries of change from medieval royal defence to aviati...

Melbury Hill, nr. Win Green, 15 Nov 2021 13:30 Silver Birches in Melbury Wood This isn't a scene you'd typically find in the New Forest. Although silver birch trees are scattered throughout the forest, they are rarely seen in such dense and expansive stands. This particular stand of birch trees is located just over the county boundary ...

Stagbrake Hill, 8 Nov 2021 07:40 Ponies at Dawn A mid-autumn dawn in the New Forest. At the foot of Stagbrake Hill, just north of Cadnam Bog, a classic picture postcard scene unfolds featuring two iconic New Forest ponies grazing peacefully. Here, where the ground rises above the flat boggy expanse, the ponies’ perpetual grazing attenu...

Cadnam Bog, 6 Jan 2024 09:30 New Forest Bogs When you hear 'New Forest', forget fairy tale images of Hansel and Gretel or Robin Hood. The New Forest is far more than just trees with about half its area covered by wild open heaths, grassy lawns and waterlogged wetlands. Cadnam Bog is typical of the lowland wetland areas found in the For...

Mogshade Hill, 3 January 2025 8:00 Frosty Sunrise A typical bitterly cold early January morning and in the pre-dawn gloam, I was taken aback by the number of cars already parked near Canadian Memorial until I came upon a group of photographers gathered at the perfect sunrise spot by Mogshade Pond. Happily ensconced with their tripods a...

Bolderwood, New Forest 14/1/2025 10:30 Fallow Deer While the ponies are the New Forest's most recognisable symbol, the deer also play a significant role in its lore and landscape, so it's fitting that deer are an archetypal symbol of the forest and their image graces the local council's crest, my old school's badge and countless local ...

Nr. Canadian Memorial, New Forest 14 Feb 2023 15:00 Pony by Glade Pond, nr. Canadian Memorial Opportunities for landscape photography in the mid-afternoon can be thin on the ground and when they appear it's often abstract shapes or textures that attract, rather than dramatic light and colour. This was a clear, cold winter afternoon in ...

Canadian Memorial, New Forest 1 Dec 2023 8:35 Canadian Memorial Frosty Morning These are the lightning-scarred trees from my earlier "When Lightning Strikes Twice: A Memorial in Winter" post, but with a shift in perspective and time. Forty minutes later and from the ground-level perspective of my camera, the blue hour breaks as the fir...

Calshot Marshes 22 Oct 2023 10:15 Aerial view of Calshot Marshes Who would have thought that the local mudflats could be the subject of a photo arresting enough to hang on the wall? From the shore the marshes are an endless taupe expanse, but whir up a drone and the intertidal zone jumps into life as sediment, sand, and algae entwine i...

Ocknell Plain, New Forest 22nd March 2015 08:15 Dartford Warbler, Ocknell Plain This may not be my finest photograph as the focus point is a bit off, but at least it is an unmistakeable record of a tiny, engaging but very rare inhabitant of the New Forest, the Dartford Warbler. Its habitat is amongst the dense (but not too densely pack...

St Oswald's Bay, nr. Lulworth Cove, Dorset 6th May 2013 12:30 Cliff Fall in St Oswald's Bay The white chalk cliffs of the Jurassic Coast are world-famous and are one of the reputed seventy-odd bands of sedimentary rock that stretch from Exmouth to Studland Point. Two hundred years ago, these cliffs harboured Mary Anning's fossils and a...

Barton on Sea 9 Jan 2023 11:45 Storm at Barton on Sea Much of the New Forest's four hundred square miles remains sparsely populated. Within its boundary is a scattering of homesteads and farmsteads blending almost invisibly into the ancient landscape, mostly homes of true locals, the New Forest commoners. There are a mere handful of sm...

Bolderwood, New Forest 11 Aug 2023 11:00 Fallow Deer Stags Bolderwood, and the air hums with the drone of insects, sunlight filtering through the canopy creating a sense of easy-going, relaxed life in the heart of the deer sanctuary. In the distance, at the far reach of my 400mm lens, the massive antlers of the dominant stag and his en...

Mogshade Pond 2, New Forest 12 Sept 2024 06:56 Near Mogshade A short walk from Mogshade Pond, along a silver sand track and, with the ascent of the sun, the scene transformed as the golden hour rapidly established, bathing the heather-clad hillsides in a radiant golden glow. In minutes, the cool stillness of the blue hour had given way...

Mogshade Pond 1, New Forest 12 Sept 2024 06:45 Serene Sunrise It's the blue hour and dawn paints the eastern sky in hues of indigo, soon followed by the golden hues of sunrise bleeding up from the horizon. This day, Mogshade Pond transforms into a mirror, reflecting the sky's drama in the still morning air. Three fortuitously placed su...

Canadian Memorial, New Forest 1 Dec 2023 07:50 Aerial view near Canadian Memorial Winter has cast its spell over the surrounding landscape. The usually vibrant, purple heather is now a deep, almost black midnight hue, accentuated by the frost clinging to the surrounding grass. The forest has shed its cloak of green and donned the blank...

Whitefield Moor, New Forest 1 Apr 2024 07:15 Sunrise on Whitefield Moor A still, misty, spring morning in The New Forest. The sun rises over Whitefield Moor, casting its soft glow over the dewy grass. You can hear them first in the darkness, the rhythmic crunch of fresh grass being voraciously torn from the ground then, as the light mo...

Calshot, 28 July 2024 11:20 Calshot Beach What a glorious day at Calshot. The air was hot and still, the sun blazed overhead, and the coast had that distinctly continental feel. It's hard to believe this is the same beach my parents brought me to over 50 years ago. Back then, Calshot wasn't known for its pristine beauty. The "sand" was...

Aurora, Southern England, 6 Oct 2024 22:00 Aurora Borelais It may be my once-in-a-lifetime experience but this is the best photo I could muster given the light pollution and clouds. I knew it must be there, it was all over social media, they all said they could ‘see’ it. Truth be told, I stood there, eyes glued to the sky, searching fo...

Mupe Rocks, Jurassic Coast, Dorset, 19 Oct 2024 13:30 MY World A photographic journey around my corner of the world, celebrating the landscapes and recording the rhythm of the seasons. Central Southern England; The New Forest, The Solent, Salisbury Plain and the Jurassic Coast of Dorset is my corner of the world - rolling hills, whispe...