The wrong lens

Now that I have four wonderful lenses to go with my Nikon D800, I should never be caught out. However, I can only fit one body and two lenses in my dedicated rucksack and even then, it’s not something I want to carry around all day. My favourite outings are when I take my camera and macro lens out to look for bugs. I take a very lightweight rucksack for spare batteries, spare cards and a drink and carry my camera round my neck. Those are my happiest times.

Of course, there is always the potential to spot something unusual and in early July last year, that is just what happened. I had driven to a location in Ashdown Forest to look for the silver-studded blue butterfly. Sadly, their numbers are decreasing across many areas, but they can still be found in large numbers in suitable heathland habitats. Luckily, I know where to find them.

I was just making my way from the car and round the far side of a large pond, when I heard a noise. A small flock of sheep were wandering down the hill. I wasn’t surprised – the forest has a long history of being grazed. Sadly, the number of commoners declined rapidly after the Second World War and so the conservators of the forest arrange for other areas to be grazed.

What sprang to mind at the time was that the sheep would likely pass on the other side of the pond and the still water would create a rather nice reflection. The only problem was that I was using my Sigma 105mm macro lens. It seemed worth taking a chance though and the result can be seen as the featured image at the top. Although the macro lens is designed to work best close up, the almost total lack of distortion makes it suitable for other subjects.

After photographing the sheep, I wandered further up the hill and managed to find one of the silver-studded blue butterflies.