Gavin Johnson's photos

Along a very nice walk near Painswick in Gloucestershire, the path runs through a country estate. Tocknells Court is a historic and architecturally significant Grade II* listed detached country house surrounded by around 40 hectares of private land, complete with 16th century barns. It was last sold in 2020 for £4.3M / €5M, so, while delightful, it's a little out of our price range!

HBM! The 20 hectare Horsbere Brook flood storage area was created in 2010 following a series of flash floods that affected more than 300 homes in Gloucester. The £1.5m project involved creating a huge ‘depression’ capable of accommodating the equivalent of 70 Olympic swimming pools full of water. If there’s torrential rain the water is now diverted into the depression, and it is then slowly released later. As well as reducing the risk of flooding the storage area was also designed to be a natural looking ‘wetland’ landscape, and, over the last few years, it has become a delightful local nature reserve – attracting many rare birds to the area. Otters have also been spotted in the brook. Tits, kingfishers, egrets, heron, swans and a wide range of both rare and more common birds are now regularly spotted here.

I recently set up software to show random images from my photo library, and it's been popping up shots I'd completely forgotten about, like this on from a Cotswold 'county' show many years ago.

Birds seem to have started nesting earlier this year, and we've already seen broods of Great Tits, Sparrows and Starlings, but no young Blue Tits this year so far. This is one of my favourite bird shots from a couple of years ago, when we had a couple of fledglings using the garden as a nursery.

HFF - a local field being lef fallow for the season looks like it's growing a crop of yellow flowers.

A countryside view from Nut Hill in Gloucestershire; a small hill managed by the Woodland Trust. It lies close to the commuter village of Upton St Leonards and is only three miles from the centre of Gloucester. Along with mixed native broadleaf trees, varieties of nut tree including hazel and walnut have also been planted, reinforcing the wood's name.

HWW - a wall and cottage that have seen better days. This was taken in the Peak District, near Buxton in Derbeyshire. Living here must have been pretty tough, even when the cottage had a roof.

A magnificent artwork by Jaume Plensa at the Bastion Saint-Jaume in Antibes, caught with an incredibly blue skyin the background. jaumeplensa.com/exhibitions-and-projects/exhibitions/nomade

Located in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire on the border between England and Wales, the Forest of Dean Sculpture Trail is a free woodland exhibition. One of the large artworks is this creation of suspended plastic bottles, each with a small amount of colour at its base. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest_of_Dean_Sculpture_Trail

Located in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire on the border between England and Wales, the Forest of Dean Sculpture Trail is a free woodland exhibition. One of the large artworks is this creation of suspended plastic bottles, each with a small amount of colour at its base. [View from underneath in PiP] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest_of_Dean_Sculpture_Trail

I'm amazed by the water repellent nature of these leaves, causing rainwater to roll around as droplets on the surface.

In late 2022 I had a couple of business trips to Amman in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, where my hosts put me up in the newly opened Ritz-Carlton Hotel. It was one of the fanciest hotels I've ever stayed in, and every evening for an hour or so, the music in the lobby was provided by this extremely talented harpist!

HWW - this is one from (just) last century, back in the days of 35mm film. We were looking around Singapore during a multi-day stopover, and chanced on this building, who's owner must have been a fan of Piet Mondrian.

It's a shot I've taken before, but with the squirrels coming so close, I tried again. This is a heavy crop, of course, but the reflection is good, and my wife and I are clearly visible.

Another cute one (I think) from our wildlife outing... a squirrel looking on as we were feeding the ducks. He came up for some (unsalted) peanuts after posing like this. An extreme closeup in the PiP.

HBM - a photo from the overcast day out at the Purton Hulks ship graveyard on the river Severn (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purton_Hulks). Paul Barnett, a local historian, has documented a lot of research about the hulks, and has campaigned to provide them some form of protection from complete destruction. As a result, the vessel in the background - the Kennet barge Harriet" has been scheduled as an ancient monument, and included in the UK National Register of Historic Vessels". This is why it has a fence around it.

Another bit of cuteness from the Cheltenham visit. The squirrels are used to humans and the occasional snack they share, but this one spotted a dog in the distance and froze, before scampering up the tree trunk to safety.

Another shot from Gloucester University's Cheltenham campus. The resident heron was disturbed and flew by on its way to a new perch.