As the August bank holiday approached, I found myself irresistibly drawn to the vibrant purple hues of Ashdown Forest’s heather, eager to capture its fleeting beauty before the season’s end. Nestled in the heart of East Sussex, Ashdown Forest is a vast expanse of heathland, renowned for its scenic beauty and as the inspiration behind A.A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh. Each August, this sprawling landscape, with its rolling hills and open skies, transforms into a breathtaking sea of purple as the heather reaches its peak bloom.

With my camera in hand and a mission in mind, I set out to explore the forest’s ten square miles of public open access land, determined to find the perfect compositions amidst the sweeping heathland. This journey was not just about photography but also about immersing myself in the tranquillity and natural beauty of one of England’s most enchanting landscapes.

August Heather

The August bank holiday was upon us and I set myself a mission to improve my heather photography within the bounds of Ashdown Forest. Heather a typical scene of August was blossoming early and I needed to visit Ashdown Forest before it was past it peak. Within the boundaries of East Sussex Ashdown Forest is really the only place where there is a lot of heather. I was considering a return to the Peak District during August but had a change of plan. Maybe next year, the heather there is stunning.

Ashdown forest is a large area to cover some 10 square miles approx. of public open access land. Finding compositions within the expansive heathland can be difficult. My visualisation was to attempt to isolate individual trees amongst the heather maybe with an interesting background catching the light.

Colemans Hatch Heather

The first day of the August bank holiday was an all day rainy Saturday. It was due to clear late afternoon, so that was when I headed to Ashdown forest on the high weald in East Sussex. The first stop was around an area of the heathland known as Colemans Hatch.

Was wearing my waterproofs as the clouds above began to break up and the rain ceased, No more soakings like that time in the Brecon Beacons.

Saturation

The wet foliage can help with colour saturation and photographing heather is all about the mauve colours. Sometimes an overcast sky is favourable acting as a giant diffuser. Plenty of heather, much of it at its peak but some beginning to fade. Wishing I had really come a week or two earlier. From above is a typical Ashdown forest scene, lots of sweeping landscape, colour and expansive skies but lacking a strong focal point. Noted though could work well for sunrise.

Old Lodge Heather

From Colemans Hatch made my way round to Old Lodge to check out the nature reserve there. Parked up at four counties and began my walk from there down into the old lodge nature reserve.

This was a part of Ashdown forest I had not explored before and the heather was particularly vibrant and thick here within the Old Lodge nature reserve. Found a lone silver birch tree within the heather providing a strong focal point. Had to wait a while for the light. Made a note to return to this location as there was more to explore.

Rainbow over the heather

On the walk back up the hill felt some rain. The sun was shining behind me and knew this meant there would soon be a rainbow in front of me. I then proceeded to fit the polariser to my lens and sure enough there was the rainbow

Not a great composition not a great rainbow. The rain was light so the rainbow only lasted a few seconds but the process went like clockwork.

Lone Scots Pine HDR edit

Further up the hill a lone Scots pine provided a focal point amongst the purple heather. A point worth noting here given the perspective – looking up the hill to the focal point – you can get down low and close and not lose too much of the mid ground as it rises above.

HDR Edit

Being that time of day contrast was high or the dynamic range of light between the highlights and shadows was too great for the sensor so had to bracket a couple of shots to get the right exposure. This is not a problem but if not edited correctly can look a bit HDR if the shadows and highlights are not balanced correctly. Like saturation you can take the HDR too far if not careful.

Golden Hour Heather

I had noticed some distinctive lone Scots pine close to the carpark with a carpet of mauve heather leading up. It was facing north so would get side lit from the setting sun. Late August and sunset is now a more sociable 8pm. Behind in the distance were the hills of the north downs and an expansive sky.

With the composition above used a landscape orientation and included two Scots pine and the fantastic cloudscape catching the light in the northern skies. Generally its considered a stronger composition if it includes an odd number of elements rather than even.

HSL Sliding

The warm light of the evening golden hour changes the colour of the mauve heather. You will notice this when adjusting the colours post processing in lightroom using the HSL panel. In white or blue light the purples will change the heather whereas in golden light its the reds and oranges that change.

Polarisation

I realised at this point in time I had now lost my polariser which really could have helped put more punch in the scene. Over the years I have lost so much gear. This was a LEE 100mm polariser and holder so not cheap to replace. Generally polarisation works best with the sunlight to your side so perfect for this scene. With wide angle shots which this was not can get polarised and unpolarised patches in the sky so need to watch out for that.

Circular

I would replace my polariser and ND filters with the Kase magnetic Wolverine set. But they are very expensive! And because I keep losing gear cannot risk it. I will just use cheaper circular polarisers now if they do the job. The advantage with the circular kind is can use them with a lens hood too. Generally I do not keep a polariser attached if not using the polarisation effect. I feel as going through another layer of glass you are compromising quality slightly.

Blue Hour Heather

I hung around until blue hour to more observe the conditions. In this particular location the heather was not so vibrant and thick maybe pass its peak a little. In the Old Lodge nature reserve a lot of it is on a west facing hill so guess it gets more shade from the intense sunshine this time of year.

Strong Subject

Changed to a vertical orientation to compliment the lone Scots pine. The less the lone Scots pine intersects with on the horizon, the more defined and impactful it becomes as a focal point, especially when framed solely against the sky—unless it intersects with a celestial body like the sun or moon, which can add a dramatic emphasis. Some light catching the trunk adds emphasis and interest just as the sun is setting.

The heather was now returning to its more natural hue being somewhere between golden and blue hour. With the low light my camera was now on a tripod. It was windy so was trying to use a faster shutter speed to eliminate motion blur in the heather via a wider aperture of F/8 and higher ISO. What I had not eliminated was focus blur.

Focus Blur

An aperture of F/8 would have been fine at the 24mm end of the lens but was zoomed in to the max of 70mm. Focusing approx. one third into the scene renders both the foreground and background out of focus. Either I should have focus stacked at this focal range or reduced the aperture to F/16. Oh well it had been a long day. Alternatively should have focused on the lone Scots pine with it being the main subject and artistically and intentionally thrown the foreground heather out of focus as it was providing a supporting role. Still its a nice composition with good colour and a strong focal point in a location where that is difficult to accomplish. You only notice the focus blur when you zoom in close. From a distance or on a small screen cant tell.

Dawn Heather

I returned the next morning for sunrise. I was hoping for some mist but very little about as I made my way to Colemans Hatch within Ashdown forest. Still required an early rise out of bed for a sunrise of around 6AM this time of year. Especially when you been out for sunset the night before.

As I setup my tripod in the heather realised I had not quite lined up the sunrise correctly within Photopills. You know from observation where the sun will rise as a particular area of the horizon will be brighter. It is best to use the AR feature in Photopills to see where the sun will rise rather than trying to line up with the sun’s position in real time the day before. The sun would rise further to the right of the frame, behind the darker and higher treeline.

Once the sun did come over the horizon I just reacted handholding the camera. As facing into the light not so dark so could get away with ISO of 100 and some DOF with F11 also giving the sunburst effect. I like the way the tips of the heather are backlit by the rising sun. Perhaps I could have found a better location for sunrise, with the sun rising behind a lone tree or something, that composition is still elusive.

Patience is action

It would have been better to use a tripod and f-stop of F16 as the shutter speed was low for handholding. The sunburst becomes the focal point with the heather playing a supporting role leading you toward the sunrise and the dawn sky. The lesson here I was too ready to give up once I realised my vision was not going to plan. You should just adapt to the conditions. Practice patience. Its still a beautiful morning.

After sunrise and during morning golden hour had a good hike around the area scouting out any more possible compositions. Unlike Old Lodge this area of Ashdown forest lacks lone trees to provide a visual anchor. Did find some interesting roots catching the morning glow leading you into the high weald woodland.

Old Lodge Morning Recce

Once again I returned to Ashdown forest the next morning being August bank holiday. There was still a large area of Old Lodge I had yet to explore. So on these landscape photography trips don’t have a composition in mind are more hoping to find some new ones.

To the north west Old Lodge borders a military training area with no access to the public. Close to the fence I started shooting the above scene looking north so would benefit from some low evening side light coming in from the left.

Hip Pack

Tried to retrace some steps to find my polariser but no luck. I was now using a hip bag to keep small items in and my mobile etc hoping that would help me stop losing gear. Trouble is when I start shooting an interesting scene I just forget everything else. The problem with a hip pack is you still have to remember to zip it close after opening it. With a hip pack being above your waist its prone to tip in this craft of landscape photography as you are constantly moving up and down. The other problem is when you first start using a new piece of gear its not in your muscle memory – with a hip pack or sling bag being just another piece of gear. What you should not do in pack to much stuff into a hip pack, that is a recipe for losing gear. The plan is to persist with the hip pack in the future just a matter of training myself.

Decided to shoot some test compositions with my mobile, put my hand in my hip pack to then find to my horror it was not there! I had lost my new mobile phone. The Horror.

Google Find My Device

Surprisingly I stayed calm despite it being a new phone the Samsung S24 Ultra. I retraced my steps but no luck. Like looking for a needle in a haystack. Usually it would be where you sat down or climbed over a fence or something but nothing. Obviously the hip pack had proved useless for my condition – Gear Acquisition Syndrome and Loss.

No Backup Device

I was not carrying my spare mobile on me else could have tried using the Google Find my Device app, that I was aware of but never needed to use, until now. An associated google service is timeline or location history this shows you where you have walked. The find my device service does not rely on location history being turned on.

Despite my connectivity issues on a recent trip to Hartland in North Devon was not carrying my Mifi device and spare SIMS. If I had been could have connected my smart watch to the MiFi and this has a find my device app on it. Better still should carry my spare mobile, should not lose this gear as stays packed away in my backpack although once nearly lost my entire backpack on a trip to Devon.

Staying calm the plan was now to drive home, then attempt to locate my device using my old mobile phone. Back home using Find My Device – it seemed to pinpoint my lost phone at the top of Old Lodge. You can then click Directions and uses Google maps. So I drove back to Ashdown Forest once again to find my new phone using my old phone. Was thinking it was 50/50 chance, I not know how good this app really was. if I could get in the ballpark then can use actions like ring my phone. Another hike back to the location in the photo above and there it was laying on the ground – pinpoint accuracy. What an app! just saved me a small fortune! I think what happened I just put the phone down on the ground rather than in my hip bag and was shooting the scene with my main camera. Moved around a bit to make adjustments to the composition and just completely forgot about it.

Lost Hat

Amazingly on the walk back to the carpark feeling happy a couple of hikers asked me if this was my hat? Yes I had lost my hat on the hike back! Thanks to them I retrieved it. Hopeless case. I had a good reason to tell them my story they were impressed with the app. Maybe I just don’t respect enough – gear, I need to slow down, be patient, priority is not to lose expensive gear rather than get the photo.

Memories

So more a memory issue I think. It was a good lesson though. Maybe it was a dry run as possibly planning some travel later in the year and don’t want this sort of stress happening abroad. Lucky this area of Ashdown forest is remote and the phone was able to ping its location via internet access there. Also lucky it not pour with rain.

So an interesting long August bank holiday weekend photographing the heather in Ashdown forest from dawn till dusk from the depths of despair to the peaks of joy and relief. After all I think I beat my best heather photo in Ashdown Forest and learnt some lessons. But I think will do a lot better next year with repeat visits. I’m beginning to get to know this vast location.

Ashdown Photography Tips

• Try to find a lone interesting tree in this vast heathland to act as a strong focal point
• The less your subject intersects with on the horizon the stronger it will be unless this is the sun or moon.
• If your main focal point is north or south your best light is going to come from the side during golden hour.
• Golden hour light will change the hue of the mauve heather to a more orange colour.
• Shooting heather in blue hour is more complimentary for the natural hue of heather
• Just as the sun is setting or rising can catch the flowers of the heather without changing their natural hue.
• When shooting up a hill can get down lower and closer to the foreground without losing a significant amount of the mid ground
• When zooming in your acceptable focus range decreases. You need to be aware of this when wanting front to back focus.
• If using a hip pack to keep small items to hand, you need to zip it back up when replacing items and need to train yourself to use the hip pack if new
• Do not overpack a hip pack.
• Slow down be patient, patience is action, prioritise not losing expensive gear over rushing around trying to get the shot.
• If you do lose devices make sure you got a spare and have registered them all on Google’s find my device.
• Use the AR feature within Photopills and point at the horizon to determine where the sun will rise or set.