Wildflower meadows at Heartwood Forest

Met up with friend/blipper Cat (catchapman) for a mini blipmeet in Heartwood Forest in Sandridge to photograph the wildflower meadows. The day started with light drizzle, but we persevered and wandered up through the meadows. Some of the wildflowers were out but not the carpet of flowers I was expecting after having spoken to one of the estate managers on the phone who told me there was a "wonderful display"!  Cat decided to call it a day but, as it had stopped raining, I thought I would at least get a few close up shots of the flowers before I left.  

I took a different path through the flowers which led me back up the hill, taking a few pics on the way.  As I came back out on a main track I bumped into non-blipper Mike Keville who had decided to join us. Mike told me he had seen lots of flowers in a field at the other end of the estate as he was driving down to meet us, so we headed over in that direction. 

The weather had improved by now and we were treated to patches of blue sky and even a bit of sun! As you can see in my photo, there was indeed a large swathe of Ox-eye daisies and Red Campions along the edge of the field in front of Hillend Farm.  

I had a real piece of luck today. A lady horse rider (who had passed us earlier) stopped to inform us that there was a piece of photographic equipment on the grass back up the path and presumed it belonged to one of us.  I was extremely grateful and thanked her before going back to look for it. There was my macro lens laying in the grass!  I had changed lenses and forgotten to close the zip on my backpack - the lens had fallen out! What a very kind lady she was taking the trouble to come back and tell me.

There should be a lot more flowers in bloom when our group meet again here in a couple of weeks. I'm so pleased I decided to stay today though, as it turned out to be a lovely day in the end and even warm enough to take my rain jacket off!  Thanks guys for a really enjoyable day :) 

Added a few extras from the day!