Spring flora - Yockletts Bank

In search of orchids

I have been waiting for the wind to die down this week to get myself over to Yockletts to check out the orchids. I awoke around 6.30 and peeked through the curtains and, whilst it was not still, there was just a light breeze, so I decided to give it a go. A quick coffee and double check of my gear and I was out, arriving at 7.30.

It's still a bit early for the lady orchids but I walked around the site and warmed up on bluebell and wild garlic.

Bluebell

There are often fine cobwebs on the flower heads which one invariably does not see until loaded onto the computer.

Wild garlic

I used manual focus / live view which worked pretty well. The hardest thing is trying to get a background that does not compete with the subject and getting a brief lull in the wind to keep the flower heads still. One thing that you need to be aware of is that live view eats batteries, so make sure that you're well stocked before you leave.

On my way round I noticed this great growth of fungus which I had to capture.

Having almost given up hope I stumbled across my target species, albeit an example not yet if full flower but it was in a fairly sheltered position which made it fairly easy to photograph.

Lady orchid

I continued round and located this individual that was more advanced. It was difficult to get the shot that I wanted without treading on other plants nearby.

Now that I know the lie of the land I am to get over again in mid May when they should be at their best and other species should be making an appearance too.