Royston Heath - Record Number of Bee Orchids

It was too windy on Church Hill yesterday to do full justice to the wonderful display of Bee and Fragrant Orchids in full bloom at the moment with just the occasional Pasque Flower remaining. I saw a single Adonis Blue and about 4 Marbled Whites and we were entertained by a hovering Buzzard and a very active Mistle Thrush.

Pasque Flowers for Easter

The Pasque flowers are out early on Royston Heath and are there in large numbers. It was a bit windy today for flower photography but I enjoyed trying a few different techniques and also finding some mini creatures - spiders, snails, fly, caterpillar and a Red-tailed Mason bee that makes its nest in snail's shells!

Barnack Hills and Holes

The storm clouds gathered during our afternoon at Barnack Hills and Holes Reserve but the rain stayed away. Lots of Early Spotted Orchids, Pasque Flowers and Man Orchids to photograph. 

Royston Heath Pasque Flowers

We made our annual pilgrimage to Royston Heath to see the Pasque flowers late yesterday afternoon. Not the best conditions as very windy so focus stacks were difficult/ A very good year in terms of numbers of flowers though they have been damaged by the frosts and winds.

Pasque Flowers

 The recent cold, dry and windy weather has resulted in quite a lot of damage to the Pasque flowers this year but still a delight to see and photograph. This was our first RPS Nature Group outing since November so good to see Members can still get down to the task in hand. The weather was very cold and windy though the sun did come out later in the morning.Taken with 80mm Fuji Macro (first 6 images, the first three being focus stacks) and with Compact camera (last 4)