Copyright Infringement

Each month as part of my image licensing administration I spend a fair bit of time meticulously recording all of the reproduction licenses that either myself, or my agents provide to clients. This is followed up by taking a random sample of my images and then by using the likes of Google Image Search as well as other search software I carry out a trawl of the web for unauthorised image use. Pretty much every time I do this I catch someone who is using my images without permission.

Recently I have noticed that it's not just people downloading images to illustrate a blog, or an individual with a personal website doing it. Instead it is often big businesses, many of which have the cheek to add their copyright statements to the websites my unlicensed images have been placed on.

These so called "copyright infringers" to use a more polite term (some photographers simply prefer to call them thieves) come from a broad spectrum of companies and individuals from across the world. Yesterday the businesses I found using my images were an engineering organisation in Thailand, a fumigation company in Costa Rica and an English educational establishment. A national newspaper, a book publisher and a semi-commercial Blog, (all British) were identified in the previous trawl.

This is one from yesterdays trawl

In this example I know for a fact this image has not been licensed to them. The copyright info screen on the right also shows I own the copyright to the spider image. Oh and just for the record it makes little difference if someone removes the metadata, or alters the image. This is because reverse image search engines look for the image and not just the associated metadata. We also hold the digital negative (RAW File) if any further proof is needed.

On a more positive note my invoices and/or take down notices are in the post so it is not all bad news.

Valley of the Ice Flowers

If you are looking for a landscape in England that has more than just the essence of wilderness about it, then the North Pennines and Upper Teesdale in particular will certainly go a long way in meeting your needs. Such is the geological and climatic diversity of this part of the Pennines the area has actually been scientifically classified as a sub arctic region and is recognised as a European and Global Geopark. Without a doubt to walk here is to step back in time, this really is England's last wilderness.

Falcon Clints and the River Tees from Cronkley Fell. Copyright David Forster

Whenever I walk along the Pennine Way below Falcon Clints, or have a wander over Cronkley Fell by the Green Trod path, I often think about the forces that shaped this landscape. Evidence of great elemental battles between rock, ice and the weather are all around. Evidence too of the resilience of nature to survive where once ice and very rock itself were locked together in a freezing embrace. Thirty thousand years ago nothing could survive here, but then came a change in climate and around 10,000- 15,000 years ago Teesdale was slowly released from the ice to become the valley of the ice flowers. Here Spring Gentian, Rockrose, Birds-Eye Primrose and Alpine Bistort to name but a few, populate the mountains, peat bogs and outcrops that are now part of the Moor House – Upper Teesdale Biosphere Reserve. These plants are all part of a group of plants that botanists refer to as the "Teesdale assemblage" such is their uniqueness.

The Rare Spring Gentian (Gentiana verna) a member of the "Teesdale Assemblage". Copyright David Forster

Mountain Pansy (Viola lutea). Copyright David Forster


Today with a dusting of snow and the sound of chuckling Grouse carried on a cold easterly wind it was certainly living up to its sub arctic label. Looking out over the highest most remote land in the Pennines it really did feel as if the glacial forces that shaped this valley had only retreated a short time ago. Geologically speaking of course it really is only a very short time since this valley echoed to the sound of a glacier grinding its way down the valley.

The ice though is only a part of the story here and we can go back even further to the time when the landscape was still being formed. It would appear that around 295 million years ago magma flowed from several volcanic vents right across northern England producing what we now refer to as the Great Whin Sill (Dolerite). These rocks can clearly be seen at Cauldron Snout, High Force, High Cup Nick and Falcon Clints. They are however just a small portion of a massive series of magma flows that stretch northwards, appearing again as the outcrops on which Hadrians Wall was built and then eastwards all the way to the coast. The Farne Islands and Holy Island being two of the larger islands that are made up of this rock.

Locally in Teesdale the magma forced its way through to the overlying sedimentary rocks of Carboniferous Limestone and as it did so it superheated the limestone causing it to crystallise. This crystallised limestone is known as Saccharoidal Marble if you are a geologist, but botanists simply refer to it as "Sugar Limestone" as it is soft and granular just like sugar - pretty obvious really. It is the presence of the sugar limestone that allows lime-loving plants such as the Spring Gentian to survive here.

In another month or so the Lapwing, Golden Plover and Curlew will return and these valleys will echo to the haunting sound of their calls, I will know then that spring is on its way and the ice flowers will soon appear - it is my favourite time of year.

Valley of the ice flowers. Copyright David Forster


For me the haunting sound of the Curlew (Numenius arquata) signals the arrival of spring

Further Information

· Teesdale is part of the Pennines designated as an "Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty" (AONB), which covers a landmass of around 2,000 square km. AONB

· Moor House - Upper Teesdale Biosphere Reserve. Moor House Reserve

· In 2003 the AONB became Britain's first European Geopark. Geopark