Gavin Johnson's photos

HBM! A view from the Saint Bartholomew's Church on Chosen Hill in Gloucestershire, looking east over Cheltenham to the Cotswold hills beyond.

Günter, this one's for you - your amzing macro images inspired me to get out into the garden and explore the miniature world. I think this is some sort of solitary bee rather than a honeybee, and it's one of the few shots where I managed decently sharp focus as it was busy feeding and pollinating.

I stumbled across another photo in my collection; this one from Singapore, back in the early 2000s. I liked the juxtaposition between the man with his ageing bike (and a magnificent metal trunk on the back) and the display of expensive jewellery in the window behind him.

HWW! Another image from a few years ago. It’s a genuine photo, but also a something of a cheat. It was taken at an open day at the Barn Owl Centre of Gloucestershire (https://www.barnowl.co.uk), and the owl, found injured injured and being rehabilitated, was placed and happily hanging out - in a hole in the wall for a while, before having a well-earned snack and continuing its recovery.

I think this is a pure white pigeon, as the lcal doves are rather smaller. It was kind enough to pose for me while I was out taking photographs for our local Parish website.

Around 2 km from my house stands Coopers Hill, which is the site of one of Englands more eccentric events. On the spring public holiday at the end of May, participants throw themselves down a terrifyingly steep 27 degree slope in pursuit of a 3-4 kg wheel of Double Gloucester cheese. The person who catches the cheese, or at least is first to the bottom of the hill, wins it as a prize. Most people fail to stay on their feet and there are frequent injuries and broken bones. A couple of local rugby teams line up across the bottom of the hill to catch anyone unable to stop by themselves. Local man Chris Anderson hold the record of 23 wins, suffering a broken ankle, concussion, a torn calf muscle and bruised kidneys over the years. Notably, he is not a fan of cheese; only eating cheddar, so has given away his winnings each year. This year's men's race was won by a competitor from Germany - I hope he's able to get the cheese back home through customs! The photo is from today's event - I didn't fancy getting caught up in the crowds so shot this from a long way off, through a lot of haze. [ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooper%27s_Hill_Cheese-Rolling_and_Wake ]

I haven't heard a cuckoo yet this year, but I've just spotted my first wild orchids of the season. It looks like there are a lot coming up, but here's the most advanced flower so far.

A closeup of one of the residents of Cotswold Alpacas. They'd recently had their annual haircut, so were looking a little thin.

HFF - continuing my accidental series of local landscapes, Cotswold Alpacas have a herd of 45 animals in the village of Cowley. You can book mindful walks with the alpacas and buy their wool, but for a small donation, you can also help yourself to well rotted alpaca manure, which seems to be rocket fuel for our garden plants. As it was a quiet day at the farm, we were also encouraged to spend a little time in the company of these charming and inquisitive creatures. (Closeup in PiP).

I seem to have accidentally posted a series this week of "landscapes I can walk to from home", so here's another of those. About 1km from Monday's bench is this field at the foot of Chosen Hill in Gloucestershire, with a rusting but still functioning metal shed at the end of the tractor tracks. If you look closely, you can see the Malvern Hills in the far background.

HWW - these walls aren't very impressive today, but around 1700 years ago, they formed one of the largest Roman houses in Britain; part of a cluster of very wealthy villas in the Cotswolds area. It was occupied for around 200 years, until the end ofthe Roman period in Britain. Fed by a nearby natural spring, the site was sheltered and fertile. The original plan of the main villa was a symmetrical U shape, carefully terraced into the hillside. The west wing consisted almost entirely of two bath-houses, which were both in use at the same time. The east wing comprised kitchens and storerooms. A rectangular dining room projected from the north side of the central range, which was probably open on one side to provide a covered walkway with a view down the hillside. Both wings had an upper floor where the family lived, and there was probably an upper level above the walkway too. The villa’s entrance may have been straight onto the upper storey.

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.