Southern Marsh Orchid June 2012

Dactylorhiza praetermissa

On a trip out with the Leicester and Rutland Gardens Trust Research Group to Long Close Garden in Woodhouse Eaves.

What an amazing place, and planned on the only dry day for what seems like the last month.

The main aim of our group meeting seems to have been to decide what salads and chocolate cakes are best for picnics as well as to visit the incredible flower meadows which form part of John Oaklands stunning 5 acre garden.

We were tasked with counting the orchids and reached totals of over 200 in the first meadow, which is carefully managed for its wild flowers.

The difficulty was getting in close to one on what was very wet ground.  I was using my 90mm Tamron  f2.8 Macro and Nikon D700 on a Slik Tripod with a remote release.  The top picture is a stack of three images set at different foci.

Below is a single shot at f6.3, 200th sec, ISO 200.

The garden at Woodhouse Eves is open under the Yellow Book Scheme.

Long Close, Main Street, LE12 8RZ.