Lady's Smock - Cardamine pratensis

Lady's Smock or Cuckoo flower is a lovely little plant frequenting damp grassland, ditches and roadside verges. The lilac or white flowers are 1 to 2 cm across with four petals. It has a blue-green upright stem with very narrow leaves in a rosette at its base.

Lady's Smock - Cardamine pratensis  

Quite a delicate little flower, which makes photographing it quite tricky. A still day is ideal as the slightest breath of wind will get the plant swaying. A tripod, cable release and selecting mirror lock up will yield the best results and ensure a pin sharp image.

Up close, you can see just how beautiful the flower is.

Lady's Smock - Cardamine pratensis 

Common Lizard

I've always wanted to capture a decent shot of a Common Lizard but they're very wary and super fast, the closest I normally get is the rustle of grass and the briefest of glimpses as a tail disappears in to the undergrowth, camera still by my side. All that changed a couple of days ago, whilst out photographing orchids. A beautiful and quite large female was basking away on top of a blanket of reeds, body spread out, maximum exposure to the sun. It was such a good position that I think she wasn't going to move for anybody and I was able to get quite close. No time for a tripod setup as this would've likely spooked her, so a technique whereby you shoot on continuous high was adopted, allowing me to rattle off a number of shots in quick succession. Shooting like this gives me a much greater chance of capturing at least one sharp shot and I would highly recommend it to anyone if a tripod is impractical. The Nikkor 105mm F2.8 macro comes with vibration reduction, and this was invaluable in this instance.  

Common or Viviparous Lizard

I had recently read a guide book where the lizard was described as having skin that resembled many tiny beads and I think you can clearly see this on the image above, they really are fascinating

 After I had taken a few shots and was satisfied with the results, I left her in piece and carried on with some orchid photography. Walking back along the path an hour or so later, there she was, in exactly the same position, having not moved an inch. What an absolutely beautiful animal. 

Lily of the Valley

Lily of the Valley

The beautiful Lily of the Valley is a fantastic little plant that carpets shaded woodland floors throughout many parts of the U.K, it's delicate little white flowers, dancing with the slightest breeze. The beautiful, fragrant scent this plant produces is truly wonderful, and it's a joy to see every Spring.

Not really the easiest of flowers to photograph as the mass of broad green leaves covering the floor can make it difficult to select a suitable subject. Delicate stems of tiny white bell like flowers poke through this sea of green, so for me, isolating one specimen seemed to work best, the surrounding leaves acting as a great background. It's a very short plant, no more than 15-20 cm, so I adopted a very low camera position to try and capture the delicate beauty of the flowers, as well as the shape of the stem. Using a tripod and getting in close allowed me to achieve this. Patience really is the key with close up photography as the slightest movement of the subject can ruin the image. Days with little or no wind will likely provide the best results and shooting with a cable release will also help avoid any camera shake.

A beautiful little plant and well worth searching for during May and June across dry woodlands and hedgerows on chalky soils.