Daffodil

I have not been out for photography for a while, but there are still some pics from the Botanical Garden that I want to show you. This time it's a bit different varieties of daffodils. I have been photographing them at slightly different times during the day and with different lenses.
It's rather nice springs here in Sheffield, as you can find daffodils and a lot of other flowers everywhere.

Squirrel

I have not only photographed flowers when I have been down to the Botanical Gardens.
I also have tried to shoot squirrels with a macro lens, which turned out to not be the easiest thing to do.
The short depth of field that you get from a macro lens makes it very difficult to focus on the right place on the moving squirrels.
You do not have time to check in the viewfinder, so it's best just to shoot and hope some pictures will be good.
What is the right place to focus on then, I think, and many other photographers that the eyes should ideally be in focus.
But it can be fun to experiment a bit, too, as with the macro lens you can try to take pictures of details on the animals if u are lucky to get close to them. :))
So here are some pictures of the experiment.

Check out the teeth

This one is taken with the Wide angle lens

Magnolia

Here are some more pictures from the Botanical Garden, this time of the beautiful Magnolia.
There are three different varieties there,  some are trees with small flowers and then there are two trees with big white and purple flowers.
But it is only those with large flowers that have bloomed out well so far.
I have always liked the magnolia trees big beautiful flowers, there is something special about them maybe because they are quite unusual.
I used  different lenses to shoot the Magnolia, and also photographed various times of day.
Hope u like them.

Rhododendron

Lately I have been few times down to the Botanical Garden, as the spring is approaching new flowers are coming up daily, and some of them have surprisingly short life span that if I'm not there for two day I risk to miss them completly.
So for few weeks ahead you will have to put up with photos of flowers and plants :))

Just couple of days ago I discovered an amazing and huge rhododendron, about 6m high there. I did't even know that they could get so high, it was more like a tree. I was actually most surprised that I have not seen it before, it being so high and all the bright flowers on it.
It is incredibly beautiful with all its flowers and smells heavenly. The pics below are showing it from slightly different angles and with some different lenses.
As usual with flowers, I find it difficult to adjust the composition but here are a selection of photos from the tour.
Camera equipment: Nikon 3Ds and nikon 50mm f 1.8, tamron macro 90mm f2.8 lenses.

Mandarin Duck Couple

Yesterday morning I went for a walk through the Botanical Gardens and then to Endcliff Park and there I saw The Mandarin couple.
I had no camera with me but I thought that I will be back there in the evening and hope they are there still there.
Once I went out at evening it was dark clouds in the sky and the rain was close, but it can provide interesting pictures so I continued down to the pond.
The ducks were still there so I picked up the camera equipment, and just then it started to rain and it was a real shower, they 1.5hours that I was there, it was mixed weather. Then it's nice to have a camera equipment that can withstand rain.
It was actually the first time I photographed Mandarin female, I've seen it before but did not have my camera with me.
It was getting dark and the Mandarin couple wanted apparently not stay there overnight so they flew away.
Camera equipment: Nikon 3Ds and nikon 200-400 f4 lens with Kenko 1.4 konverter.

Water vole and more

Some days ago, I was up to Redmires reservoirs I had no plan really, most went there to check if the spring/summer birds has arrived.
And it had happened a lot since last time I was there, there were swallows, little ringed plover, wheatear, skylark, sand martin, snipe and more, but no ring ouzel that I really wanted to see.
However, I went to the place where it is possible to see water voles and there had the thick blanket of snow finally disappeared so much that they dared to come out and eat along the banks. I was lucky enough to get close to a female I think, because it was very large and because of the size a think she has babies inside her.
I followed it for a while before my legs began to go numb, to squat a long time is not good. :))

Hike in High Peak District

Yesterday, me and my wife, took the train to Edale which is located in the middle of the Peak district NP.
Edale is a very popular area for hikers, mountain bike riders, hang gliders, runners and more.
Kinder plateau which is reached after a relatively short walk is quite unspoiled because it is a large flat moorland and many people would not go there because it is very wet, boggy and difficult to walk.

Here is also the highest peak in the Peak District 636 meters above sea level.
We have tried to walk on the moorland once, and even though we had a map and compass it is easy to get lost there, for there is nothing that you can not orient after.
We just went up to the ridge and followed it for about 6km, we had intended to go all the way to Kinder Downfall which is Peak District's highest waterfall (30m) but the weather changed to rain o bad weather so we skipped it this time.
It also a bit of fun  to walk after the ridges because there is all the cool rock formations to found here and there.
We passed in our opinion, the coolest of them all (Wool Packs) there are all sorts of strange rock formations. Well worth a visit.
From here we went to Jakob's Ladder, it is long man maid rock staircase and back to Edale.
A nice walk of 13km.

Signs of Spring

Yesterday I walked to Rivelin Valley, my idea was that I would shoot dipper and gray wagtail.
But it seems that the dipper will not nest there this year, because I did not see them at all.
There is another thing that shows that they are not in place namely droppings on the rocks, they always leave traces behind and since it has not rained in a long time so it should be a lot of tracks of them.
I think the late snow and cold that came a while ago maybe did them a bit worried and decided to check out another place.
Sadly for me, because I had been looking forward to follow them throughout the summer.
The Grey Wagtail I found in a place which is located quite far away, but they did not seem to have found the nesting place yet, so I do not know where they will end up in the end.
However, I found some sign of spring, the frogs had woken and the males was playing for the females :)) even the flowers down in the ravine had started to come up properly.

 

Crocus

Yesterday I went down to the Botanical Garden to shoot the beautiful crocuses.
In one place where it was most of them, it was probably 12m in diameter so it really looked fantastic.
I tried to shoot them with different lenses, but I thought it was really hard to get a good composition.
Last week it has been really nice spring weather with a +8 in the shade, so it really feels that spring / summer is on the way.
Next week it seems  to be even warmer, with temperatures to +15 :))
This morning I was up to Redmires reservoirs, but there the wind still felt cold and there is also snow in many places.
But a saw many migratory birds such as, Golden Plower, Meadow Pipit, Curlew, Lapwing, Snipe and many more. I also looked after the water vole but it is 1-2m snow in the ditch where they live, so maybe in couple of weeks they are coming out.

Camera equipment: Nikon 3Ds, nikon 50mm f 1.8, 24-70mm f2.8 and tamron macro sp90 Di

Last part of the road trip to Scotland

On sunday morning we left a sunny Isle of Skye to drive towards Loch Ness, but we did not see the Loch Ness monster so we drove on towards the Cairngorms National Park.
We went to Glenmore Forest Park which is located near the village of Aviemore and from there we took the mountain railway up to the mountain cabin which is located at 1024 m above sea level, I was surprised how much snow there was and what a great ski resort it was.
We went up here mostly to take pictures of the view, but my wife and our friend walked the last bit to the top of the mountain, which is also the highest peak in the Cairngorms NP (1309) m above sea level.
I was too thinly dressed and it blew very cold so I stayed near the cabin :))
Lift ticket prices and the like was same as in Sweden, expensive in other words.
Then we drove to Aberdeen that was our last overnight stop. 
But because it still was bright outside, we went to the coast to take photos at a place called Nigg Bay.
On Monday it was just to drive home again, and we also drove through a National Park (Northumberland) but now it was just low hills, and as we have seen everything nice before it felt very boring;))

Loch Morlich and the ski resort in the background

Mountain Cabin 1024m

It is always dangerous with snow