With many of our native wildflowers in full bloom and breeding birds in their most striking plumage, early June is a great time to take nature photographs. Beth Hoar, a photographer who operates Green Thumb Photo, will be sharing her talents and tips on Sunday, June 8 at the Macphail Woods Nature Centre in Orwell.

Beginning at 2 pm, Beth will show slides of her own work and discuss techniques for getting the best out of your camera. Beth’s website (greenthumbphoto.com) shows her photographs of different types of wildlife, from red squirrels to the flower buds of eastern larch. The images are captivating and her talk will both inspire and enable you to take better pictures. After the slide show, participants will go outside to the nursery, arboretum and trails at the Macphail Homestead and practice on a wide variety of subjects.

“This is a new workshop for Macphail Woods,” said project manager Gary Schneider, “but I think it will be quite popular. Beth is an excellent photographer with a real love of nature and we have such a variety of plants, animals and habitats on the Macphail site that it just lends itself to a workshop such as this.”

The tea room at the Macphail Homestead will be open at 12:30 for a light lunch, with both regular and vegetarian chili. Cost is by donation.

Each year, hundreds of people take part in the walks and workshops at Macphail Woods and become more observant of the natural world around them. The free workshops are open to the public and registration is not required. Participants are advised to bring good walking shoes and clothing appropriate to the weather conditions. For more information, call 651-2575.

The workshop is part of an ongoing series of nature and forest-related walks and workshops sponsored by the Environmental Coalition of PEI and the Sir Andrew Macphail Foundation.