Orchids in the Dunes.

Yet another cool and cloudy day.  Certainly no chance of insects but I thought the diffuse light would be good for photographing flowers so I opted for a quick visit to the dunes at Cleethorpes to look for the orchids that flower here every year.  I parked in the Buck Beck car park by the meridian line and wandered along the promenade (bit posh sounding that; more a sea wall!) towards and then along the path through the dune slacks.  I haven't been down here for a while and the first thing I noticed is that large areas of sea buckthorn have been cleared again.  Huge swathes were cut down last year and now even more has gone.  I'm not too clear on the reasoning behind this; granted the view has been improved but a wonderful habitat for wildlife has been destroyed.  In the past the sea buckthorn has been a mecca for newly arrived fieldfares and redwings as they feast on the berries.  It has always been a good spot for stonechats too.  Again there was a distinct lack of insects but the orchids are again amazing.  Plenty of southern marsh orchids as usual, but smaller numbers of common spotted.  Plenty of the hybrids between the two. however.  I spent a lot of time experimenting with using the 100-400 lens with extension tubes.  Set at 400 and using extension tubes makes it a fabulous macro lens for flowers as it really helps to provide a clean, out of focus background, but it is not a speedy set up to operate and needs the tripod.  Live view is excellent, too, when working close to the ground.  A right angle finder works well too but in typical canon fashion the one I have for the old 400D doesn't fit the 50D or 7D!!

Southern Marsh Orchid.

Common Spotted Orchid.

Common Spotted/southern marsh orchid hybrid.

Hybrid close up.

Southern Marsh Orchids.