Wanderings with Chris…. More Bluebells!

After the last trip looking for native Bluebells, i kind of got into taking pictures of them and wondered where locally we would find enough flowers to capture a great photo. It turned out to be Burton, the mere actually. We had been to the RSPB site earlier in the year, unknowingly stealing a visit as we didn’t realise we needed to pay. As We walked through the woods we were greeted by a carpet of flowers, a plethora of bugs and the odd sculpture.

We crossed paths with two women visiting the area and they had been lucky to have seen a baby badger just around the bend from where we were photographing, they were very excited about this and we swapped stories for a few minutes, however when we walked further along the badgers had all gone away.

Someone has a great sense of humor as the sculptures are great and lots of fun!

Wanderings with Chris, Bluebell cottage and woods

Chris knew i wanted to take some photos of Bluebells in a wooded situation and while my back was turned researched where we were to go for this weeks wanderings. He chose Bluebell Cottage circular walk and RHS registered Bluebell cottage garden and nursery situated in the Weaver Valley, Cheshire. Its a bit of a trek up a narrow one lane track and you park on a grassy field but it is well worth it. You pay £3.50 to go into the gardens and nursery, where there is a help yourself tea room that serves lovely  ice-cream and home made cake and a, well port-a-loo is not quite the right description, more shed done out nice, toilet. We walked around the gardens and ooh’d and ahhh’d over the lovely plants, took some photos and then just had to stop for coffee and cake. (the fruit cake was delicious)

Fortified, we set off to discover the Bluebell woods, over the field and through the new planting in the woods and there they were, carpets of beautiful jewel like flowers, all native to the British Isles. I didnt know where to look next, there were lovely pictures just waiting to be taken and take them i did! I used my new 50mm prime lens for some shots as i wanted a very shallow depth of field. I didnt know how well it would work as i have never used a prime lens before, i think it worked ok, i am pleased with what i have, i also used my 55-200mm lens as we found an amazing viaduct when we went on the Bluebell Cottage circular walk.

There is more to follow…………………………………

Dyserth Waterfall

I mentioned to Chris that i  had the urge to photograph a waterfall,  i think it was because i wanted to experiment with moving water and how it would be affected when i used different techniques like filters and long exposures. I asked Chris to find me one within a short drive and he came up with Dyserth in Wales. Never heard of it i hear you shout, well me neither. I think it has something to do with the A55 and by passing places to get to who knows where. Anyway, we went. Surprisingly the waterfall is on waterfall road, you cant miss it, you drive down the hill, around the bend and bam there it is. Its only little, a trickle compared to some, about 70 feet high so it does rumble a bit. We went on a lovely sunny day, it had snowed the previous day but there was not very much on the ground though it was wet under foot, read muddy. To get to the top of the falls you have to walk up steps between two walls, i had thought it had recently been built that way but it looks like it was built for a water wheel and there had been a mill there at some point. Anyway after walking to the top we wandered around a bit, found the river, more stream really, i took a whole bunch of photos as it was really lovely and these are some of the photos. I have included an url if you want more information, i hope its of interest to you.

http://www.dyserth.com/html/dyserth_waterfall1.html