Violets in the Cemetery

 Violets are popping up all over now, but I was pleased to see both white and purple ones in the cemetery today, but I have found them all over recently including the Dead Wood, Weelsby Woods and our garden.  I was asked the question by our next door neighbour whether white violets are a separate species or just a different form.  Not having an immediate answer I checked in my field guide and, as far as I can tell, white ones are a form of sweet violet, our only fragrant violet, and, like the purple form, have slightly hairy stems and blunt sepals.  The purple ones that I have been finding, I think, are the common dog violet with hairless stems, pointed sepals and no scent.

I find the white ones particularly difficult to photograph as they are small and therefore require the use of the macro lens.  The lower outside petals have a tendency to curve forward and as at very close range the lens has a narrow depth of field it is difficult to get the flower sharp throughout and also eave a plain out of focus background.  I have tried both focus stacking and using a very small aperture, neither of which I have been totally happy with.

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Common Dog Violet

White Sweet Violet, focus stacked.

A Beautiful but Quiet Day on the Patch.

 It was an absolutely beautiful day today: only a gently breeze and warm sun.  I had hoped to capture some images of the hares that I have been seeing on the winter wheat near the Dead Wood but today there was no sign of them.  In fact it was very quiet on the wildlife front and I saw very little.  I was pleased, however with some house sparrow pictures that I took.  I normally don't get the opportunity to photograph these birds as we have none in the garden and they don't come to my winter feeding station.  I do walk past a couple of flocks of them in the hedges between houses and fields on my daily walks.  They are awkward to photograph, though, as they tend to congregate noisily deep in the undergrowth and rarely show themselves; they obviously not had the lessons in posing, unlike the female reed bunting which sat up nicely on a bramble for me later.

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On the Local Patch with the Macro Gear for the First Time this Year

A longer walk again today taking in the Woodland Burial Ground first and then across Peaks Parkway to Weelsby Woods, the Dead W and then back over Peaks Tunnel and the Horsefield.  An what a beautiful sprink-like day with plenty of warm sun.  These early days of spring are amazing.  The land is drying out quickly now and it is becomming easier to negotiate the Dead Wood, although the middle is still flooded.  There are lots of signs of spring now with primroses well out and also, in the cemetery the alder catkins are in their prime.  I saw my first butterfly of the year and the white violets are coming into flower in the Dead Wood.  I took my 55-200mm lens with extension tubes in the hope of some macro work and used them for the included images.

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