This weekend has been pretty awesome, even by normal standards never mind during lockdown! It's been years since I woke at or before dawn and headed out alone with the sole purpose of taking photos.
Since we've been enjoying Covid-fest 2020 (Nik's birthday weekend festival extravaganza - I basically put up a tent and some rainbow bunting and we had a couple of BBQs, there will be a blog post about that too), I've been waking up before everyone else. As the dawn chorus surrounds us at 5am, it's beautiful to lay there and listen to so many different birds and as the sun then rises our tent heats up and I fall back asleep, but not today!
Our neighbours own a beautiful orchard and have been sharing photos of the current blooming blossom on their various fruit trees saying they wish they could do it justice and be able to let others in to see so I offered/asked if I could come and take my walk there while they were closed since they're but one field away from us. I ended up going at 5:30am this morning (with pre-arranged permission) while everyone was still asleep so I was literally the only person around at sunrise as I walked down there.
Talk about nature's beauty - wow! I was in awe as the mist was floating over the fishing pond and as I snapped a shot I heard a splash and lo and behold, I'd captured a fish leaping right out of the water in the middle of the pond!
I carried on up into the orchard and while I waited for the sunlight to hit the trees and light up the blossom, I took some photos of their ponies as the sun rose above Buxted Park beyond and started lighting the mist in the trees. I absolutely love how frosty grass and Dandelion clocks glow when they're backlit, even before the warm light hits them.
And then of course there was all that beautiful blossom! I took so many, with the light behind, below, in front, from far away and close-up using both my 35mm wide and 105mm macro lens. The trees were covered in dew and various shades of pink and white, buds and full branches of open flowers - all stunning! I've put most of my favourites in a collage so as not to overwhelm this post! lol
Hint: to see them bigger - you can click on any image and scroll through the gallery below...
I hope this brings a smile to you if you're not able to get out and see the blossom yourself this year :)
Thank you to my lovely neighbours for letting me wander around their beautiful orchard.
Edit: I found a few more to edit! ;)