Magical Marjoram

Gardening was on the agenda this weekend but I also managed to take the opportunity to photograph some of the garden visitors.
We have a marjoram plant that has come into flower and is proving to be a real hit with the gatekeeper butterflies. I was able to get fairly close while they busied themselves feeding.

It wasn't just butterflies that were enjoying the flowers, this Greenbottle was also doing so.

Photographers on Safari

One of my Christmas presents was to go on a Photography workshop specifically aimed at nature photographers. In the end I chose a day at the Wildwood wildlife park in Kent, this was arranged with Photographers on Safari.

Wildwood is a great place to visit it's a great environment in woodland with the collection focussing on British and European wildlife, they are also heavily involved in conservation work.

Unfortunately the weather wasn't on our side with strong sunshine creating high contrast lighting and heavy shade.
John Wright a professional photographer who organises these courses started off by giving a short summary of what to expect and how to get the best out of your camera.
Throughout the day John was on hand to provide one to one instruction where required, and had some great tips on how to make the best of the conditions presented to us.
We visited a wide variety of animals and enjoyed privileged access allowing us to get right next to boundary fences  which would normally be out of bounds to the general public. This made it much easier to take photos through the wire as you could out the lens right up against the fencing. In each case the animals were treated to some snacks when we arrived to encourage them to hang around or our visit was timed to coincide with their normal feeding time.
It was a wonderful opportunity to get up close to some wonderful creatures and I would highly recommend it.

Below are some of the photos taken on the day, a few more can be seen in my Flickr photostream: Photographers on Safari (Set)

Biggin Hill 2010

A bit behind on my posts but the weekend before last Biggin Hill hosted it's annual air fair. This year is a special year as it is also the seventieth anniversary of the Battle of Britain.
It was a packed program, the main downside from a photography point of view was the weather as usual. It was very hot so there was quite a heat haze to contend with, also not long after the flying started a layer of cloud settled into the background.
Then after about midday the sun started to shine from behind the aircraft, still enough excuses I still managed to get some shots I liked so all in all a good day!

Some more photos from the day can be found on my Flickr Photostream: Biggin Hill Air Fair 2010