Sun and Shade at Cambridge Botanics

After a spell of cold cloudy days, yesterday spring cum summer arrived with warm temperatures and bright sunshine. Cambridge Botanic Gardens is at its best as regards spring flowers and foliage. Dicentra is always a good subject on a sunny day as it prefers shady spots, the Magnolias are in full bloom and the leaves and ferns are all unfurling. 

 

Marsh Harrier Display at RSPB Fowlmere

We spent around an hour watching a pair of Marsh Harriers displaying at Fowlmere. A Fallow Deer also came out to drink while a Mallard dropped in to have a wash.

Breeding Underway at Fringringhoe Wick, Essex

Despite the current cold spell, breeding is underway at Fringinghoe Wick Nature Reserve. This male Kestrel was stretching its wings etc after being relieved of his egg sitting duties in the nest box. Spring migrants (Blackcaps, Chiffchaff) were busy setting up territories along with resident birds. Nightingale was heard but not seen! Even saw a male Adder in his resplendent silver colours

 

New Lighting System for Fuji Macro

My ringflash has ceased to operate so I have been trying alternatives for throwing a bit of light into my Fuji macro shots. Here a selection with a small TTL hot shoe flash that seems to give the right amount of light to work at the F22 aperture that these small beasties need. Bumblebees are almost impossible to photograph well being round and covered in very reflective hairs but this is certainly about as good as I have previously achieved. On white flowers, the flash does an excellent job in filling in shadows. Being TTL even did good job lighting a more distant lizard.

Depth of Field in Depth of the Woods

It is always difficult to decide how much to have in focus in an image - obviously it depends on the reason for taking the shot. The first four were taken with the idea of a pictorial idea of a life in the woods (f 7.1 for the Shield Bug; f16 for the next two and f20 for the Morrell fungus). The last two images are focus stacked at 2.8 to give a simple background but maximum detail of the subject. By chance I have a wonderful uniformity of colour palette, which is probably the thing that most influences my reaction to an image.

Waresley Wood on a Misty Morning

Spring is certainly in full swing in Waresley and Gamlingay Woods now though the bluebells need another week or so to be fully out. The misty conditions in the morning were ideal for flower photography with water droplets adding interest to the images.