Spring has sprung! Some shots from a day tour to Mt Field and the Styx Valley earlier this week.

Spring in the Styx Valley – tiny ferns unfurl under the giant trees canopy

Spring in the Styx Valley

One of the major highlights of spring is searching for tiny little orchids which appear out of the forest floor. In the Styx there was a nice patch of bird orchids right below the big trees viewing area, and a few fully formed flowers were on display.

Bird Orchid, Styx Valley

A somewhat less expected highlight in spring is the fungi – generally an autumn highlight, if you search around closely enough you can often find some even at this time of year.

White fungi (Hygrocybe mavis I think) in the Styx Valley – in late October!

A nice yellow fungi in the green moss, Styx Valley

And the moss itself is a magical subject, especially with a shallow depth of field, and composed alongside the filtered light in the background. It fast becoming my favourite “macro landscape”!

Moss spores and boke (blurred) sunlight

An army of moss spores against some dappled sunlight in the cool, dark Styx forest.

Most shots were captured at f2.8, although a couple (orchid and white fungi) involved stopping down a bit to get more detail on the subject.