Pensthorpe

During my week off, I took a trip to Pensthorpe Natural Park in Suffolk.  Pensthorpe offers both truly wild birds, viewable across a number of environments, and a captive collection.

Shooting captive animals feels a little like cheating, but it does allow sight of species or behaviour that otherwise would be difficult to witness without a lot of patience and field-craft.  I haven't seen bearded tits in the wild, let alone photographed them.  Similarly, I was watching a nesting captive avocet with one active young chick, when a second, still wet from the egg, came stumbling into view.

Cow Parsley at Coe Fen

I am in the process of catching up with pictures I shot during my week off, last week.  These were taken on the meadowland of Coe Fen in Cambridge, which is thick with cow parsley at this time of year.  A day of rain, had given way to a beautiful sunny evening.  I wanted to accentuate a dreamy feel, so chose to use my lensbaby.

The Colours of Late Spring

After the rainbow of colours that make up early spring, late spring has a subtler palette, predominantly of green and white.

Heron at Paxton Pits

Saturday morning I joined other CCC members for a walk around Paxton Pits nature reserve.  It was a cold and breezy morning.  This meant we didn't see many insects.  There were several flower species out, which I will pop back for another (less blowy) day.  The advantage of living 10 minutes drive away.  We heard one of the resident Nightingales, but only Ann was quick enough to get a shot of it.  I had to content myself with some shots of a very obliging Heron.

Waresley Wood Again

I am catching up after a much needed PC and software upgrade, which will hopefully speed up my workflow.  Last weekend I took another trip to Waresly wood.  The light was more interesting this time with dappled sunshine.  The bluebells were still at their best and their were still some nice looking primroses.  The early purple orchids were starting to emerge, but not quite open enough  to shoot.  I even found an obliging bug, which I have subsequently found out is a St Mark's fly, so named because they emerge around St Mark's day (25th April).

Snake's Head Fritillaries

A subject I was quite keen to shoot this year are Snake's Head Fritillaries.  A little bit of internet research led me to Portholme Meadow in Godmanchester.  A quick after-work mid-week scouting mission located a small patch of fritillaries, including several white ones.  Sadly, between then and my return early Saturday morning, about three-quarters of them went passed their best.  But, there were still a few prime examples remaining.  This was my first time photographing this challenging subject, and it's clearly one I will need to return to next spring.