CAPTURE NEW HORIZONS

This afternoon we went for a walk up at the Thornton Glen Nature Reserve near Innerwick, which also includes the ruins of Innerwick Castle. At this time of year the woods are a blaze of colours as the wild flowers bloom in the spring sunshine.  The banks leading down to the burn are covered in white flowers of the wild garlic, and there are also small pockets of bluebells but not was many as in previous years. The sunshine was coming down through the tree tops, with the branches creating shafts of light that highlighted some of the flowers. I used the Fujifilm GFX and the 120mm f4 macro lens to photograph some of the flowers in details and also used the GF32-64mm f4 zoom to get a wider view. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE SUPPORT THIS BLOG BY VISITING THE ADVERTISERS ON THIS PAGE By clicking on the adverts you are helping support...

This afternoon we took a trip out to Hailes Castle to see the display of snowdrops that surround the ruins on the bank of the River Tyne. Snowdrops are a wild woodland flower than comes into bloom at the end of winter.  With the mild weather of late, the carpet of snowdrops at Hailes Castle is earlier this year. Galanthus (snowdrop; Greek gála "milk", ánthos "flower") is a small genus of about 20 species of bulbous perennial herbaceous plants in the family Amaryllidaceae. The plants have two linear leaves and a single small white drooping bell shaped flower with six petal-like (petaloid) tepals in two circles (whorls). The smaller inner petals have green markings.   Snowdrops have been known since the earliest times under various names but were named Galanthus in 1753.  Here are some of the shots I took this morning on the Fujifilm X-T2 with either the XF35mm f1.4, with extension rings fitted to enable closer focusing, or the XF10-24mm f4 wide angl...

Ruhba Hunish is the most northernly part of the Isle of Skye and a great place for wildlife.   It is also a great place for wild flowers growing in the boggy and rocky conditions and while out at Ruhba Hunish yesterday morning I stopped to take some shots using the 90mm f2 lens fitted with the 16mm extension tube to increase the magnification. Cotton grass and orchids were amongst the flowers growing on the cliff top. 

The Southern Upland Way is Britain's first official coast to coast long distance foot-path. It runs 212 miles (340 km) from Portpatrick on the south-west coast of Scotland to Cockburnspath in the east and just 9-miles from Dunbar, where the John Muir Way begins and takes walkers 130 miles (215km) to Helensburgh in the east. The route takes walkers through the beautiful village of Abbey St Bathans in the Lammermuir Hills alongside Whiteadder Water.  The path follows the river for a mile before heading east towards Cockburnpath. On Saturday I walked this small part of the Southern Upland Way and also through the village itself in the warm spring sunshine.  The colours of leaves and wildflowers were breathtaking and the only noise came from the wind in the trees, the bird song and the bubbling of the water on the rock in the nearby river. There are also some walks on the bank of Whiteadder Water that are not part of the Southern Upland Way but are worthy of me...

As well as the dramatic scenery, the Outer Hebrides is renowned for its abundance of wildflowers and grasses, including many types of wild orchids that are only found on the islands. While I was taking images of the sunset at Tiumpan Head Lighthouse, I noticed the peaty ground was covered with beautiful orchids, which I have since found out are Heath Spotted Orchid, which has the Latin name Dactylorhiza maculata subsp ericetorum and is also known as Mogairlean Mòintich in the local Gaelic language of the islanders. With the X-T1 set up on the tripod taking long exposure shots of the sunset and the lighthouse, I used the X-Pro1 and the Fujinon XF60mm f2.4R macro to get some close up images of these beautiful flowers. For more information on the wildflowers of the Western Isles CLICK HERE   Images taken on a Fujifilm X-Pro1 + Fujinon XF60mm f2.4R macro ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------...