Scottish Rock Garden Club 1933- 2013- Anniversary Party in Pitlochry June 23rd

[Peter Maguire]

36. Couldn't resist a final photo of unsupecting people on the veranda of the Douglas Pavillion.

37. One final plant - a white Dicentra spectabilis

Many thanks to the organising team for a wonderful weekend - I think that special thanks are due to Julia who seemed to be involved in just about everything.
The photos from the previous day's visit to Keltneyburn will follow later.

[Maggi Young]

What grand pictures, Peter  -  are you pleased with the new camera's performance?

[Peter Maguire]

Oh yes, especially the 50x zoom. Useful for candid photography. 
Although I actually bought it for bird photography mainly.

[Maggi Young]

Oh yes, especially the 50x zoom. Useful for candid photography. 
Although I actually bought it for bird photography mainly.

Yes, I imagine it will be great for capturing  birds  - I know how far away you must have been from the Douglas Pavilion to take that verandah shot  so grabbing shots of passing birds - or plants at the back of the border - should be a breeze.

[ChrisB]

Wonderful account of the day Peter, many thanks for doing that, much appreciated!

[Peter Maguire]

Further pictures from the Pitlochry weekend, this time from the Saturday before the main event. I planned to travel up to the area to visit the Keltneyburn reserve which had been billed (very accurately) as a fabulous orchid site. There was to be a guided walk at 2pm, and arriving in the area a few hours earlier, I decided not to visit any of the gardens in the area in view of the poor weather with frequent passing showers. There had been a report on the internet the previous evening about a Common Rosefinch (they're not at all common in the UK) at Loch Tummel so I decided to head there and try out the new camera. The bird was easily found, with telescope wielding admirers in attendance, so I've included the best of my photos, but in the conditions, it really was pushing the camera to its limits.

38 Common Rosefinch Carpodacus erythrinus

 I'm not really the type to travel long distances just to see a rare bird, but as I was in the area... (Inevitably, having returned home to Newcastle on Sunday, one was reported in Newcastle on the Monday)

I arrived at Keltneyburn just before 2pm in pouring rain to find the assembled group led by Julia (she was everywhere!) standing in waterproofs and sheltered by umbrellas. We spent an hour in the reserve, during time which we were blessed with bright sunshine (and the sight of two Roe deer) before the rain re-started as we reached the cars. In find that on these botanical trips I invariably lag behind after the first plant taking photographs, so can miss out on the 'official' identifications, so the following errors in naming (of the Dactylorhizas especially) are all my own work. 

39 Consensus of opinion was that this was a hybrid, possibly Dactylorhiza fuchsii x purpurella, which would make it D. x venusta.

40 Fragrant orchid Gymnadenia conpsea

41 Small White Orchid Pseudorchis albida

42 Greater Butterfly Orchid Platanthera chlorantha. A first for me - I've only seen Lesser Butterfly Orchid before.

[Peter Maguire]

The reserve was certainly living up to it's billing as an orchid-lover's paradise! 

43, 44 A nice patch of pale Dactylorhizas near the top of the reserve seemed to be definitely Dactylorhiza maculata

45 Prior reconnaissance by Julia with the reserve manager had allowed her to locate a group of Bird's Nest Orchid Neottia nidus-avis under a birch tree

46 Another Neottia, easily overlooked in the lush grass was the Common Twayblade Neottia ovata

47 Back down near the lower part of the reserve, in the last of the sunshine, another Fragrant Orchid Gymnadenia conopsea

[Peter Maguire]

48 Another Dactylorhiza, this time from the bottom of the resrve, seems to me to be a classic Dactylorhiza fuchsii

At this point we returned to the cars and the rain started. Most of the others went of to Cluny Gardens, something that I should have done also, but I was already soaked from kneeling in wet grass to take photographs, and I headed to my hotel to dry off. The weather improved in the evening, so I travelled up onto the moors on the Blairgowrie road to take some atmospheric photographs. I'll finsh with one of those.

49 Pitlochry moorland

Incidentaly, if the hybrid orchid was a fuchsii x purpurela hybrid, I did not see any on the reserve. The were however a lot (2-300) by the road junction with the A9 just north of Pitlochry. Unfortunately there was nowhere nearby to safely stop the car for a photograph, and I did not feel like walking over a quarter of a mile in the pouring rain when I can photograph them nearer home, if not in such large numbers. You'll just have to imagine the scene. 

[ranunculus]

Excellent images, Peter ... which camera and lens did you eventually purchase?

[Maggi Young]

Panayoti Kelaidis is clearly enjoying his Scottish visit - he filled a camera card at Ian Christie's place and he's been blogging about onions at the RBGE and reporting exuberantly on the Bainbridge's garden - but again it seems the Brits and the Americans are divided by a common language - the  Prezz and her husband live at Woodhouselee not Woodhousely 

See PK's blog here : http://prairiebreak.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/woodhousely-private-scottish-garden-and.html

[Peter Maguire]

Cliff,
It's a Canon Powershot SX50 bridge camera, so it has it's limitations, mainly due to the depth of field being greater than I'm used to with an SLR. I find that it's difficult to throw a background out of focus with plant pictures, but for bird photography it's great once you get used to it (I'm a Nikon user normally, and all the buttons are in unfamiliar places!).
The other plus point is that it's small and light, so I'm more likely to carry it on a day to day basis, and it's often said that the best camera in the world is the one you have with you. A further not-so-minor consideration is that to get a similar zoom potential for my Nikon, I would need their new, very heavy 800mm lens (it apparently costs around £15,000 - that's not a typo) and a 1.4x converter (costing a further few hundred pounds). It would be more versatile, but I'm sure my bank manager is happier I chose the lighter option (the 800mm lens weighs about 4.5kg).

[ranunculus]

Many thanks, Peter ... I'm considering purchasing a back-up camera for our forthcoming trips to California and New Zealand and there are a brace of bridge cameras that have appealed.  Your images are excellent adverts for the Canon.  I too am accustomed to Nikons and have always been reluctant to switch allegiances because of lens mounts, etc., but in the case of bridge cameras this doesn't actually apply.  it's always good to get the thoughts of a knowledgable, expert and well-practiced user, many thanks.

[angie]

Nice to see what I missed Peter. Looks as if everyone was enjoying themselves.

Wish I was able to take pictures like you have done and with a new camera. I have had my Canon for two years now and I still can't figure it out.

Angie 

[Peter Maguire]

Cliff, perhaps I should also mention that is takes 12Mp Raw files and has good image stabilisation, quite impressive in a bridge camera. Apparently it's become very popular with bird photographers, both here and in the USA since it was introduced about six months ago. I've posted a few pictures in 'General subjects > Wildlife June 2013'  today as well.

California and New Zealand - I have to say I'm exceedingly jealous. Do you want someone to carry your bags? 


Angie, I may not have had this camera long, but I've been taking photographs since the age of ten, so that's er.... a long time. Eventually it all begins to sink in. 

[Maggi Young]

Sandy Leven's two personal reports of the Pitlochry Party Day are now on the main website - in two parts - links are below

SRGC Pitlochry Celebration Part 1
 
SRGC Pitlochry Celebration Part 2


These are quite large files and  may take a  few minutes  to download.