This thermal landscape shows Wroxall village in the middle distance, with St Martin’s Down and the chalk ridge to its south in the background. Seen from higher and further back, the view is similar to that in my painting here.

FLIR®’s MSX enhancement from a visible light image results in a crisp skyline, above which the sky is cold. Dark areas on the distant chalk downs are woodland and scrub, with the surrounding rough pasture slightly warmer, and lower cultivated fields warmer still.

Below the downs the warmer houses and other building in the village are clearly visible, resulting in some of the warmest (whitest) areas of the image. Closer still, in the mid-left, is Appuldurcombe Farm (white), with the wooded park surrounding Appuldurcombe House in the centre and extending right.

Appuldurcombe House is the remains of a once-magnificant stately home belonging to the Worsley family. At its height, the house was claimed to have had 52 bedrooms and 365 windows. By the early twentieth century it was slowly falling into disrepair, and its rooves were blown off by a landmine dropped from a German aircraft during the Second World War. In recent years some repairs have been undertaken, and the grand hall now has a roof so that it can be used throughout each summer for weddings and functions.

Closest to the camera, the rough moorland grazing is cold, except for some warm patches, particularly one near the middle of the image which has a warm pillar rising from it. This is an area of active thistle growth, and I think that the pillar-like object is a large thistle plant which was still in flower.

Image captured using a FLIR One™ IR camera and iPhone 6. Standard ‘Iron’ palette, without further image processing.