Whixall moss Butterflies hunt 8th may

With finally a sunny day i decided to go on a butterfly hunt at Whixall moss in Shropshire , one of my favourite sites to go shooting.
I parked at Morris bridge car park and proceeded down the track onto the mosses, it was quite warm already  , but was 10 o'clock already!   in the first meadow before the mosses i soon spotted a few orange tips, it was very breezy so had to shoot at iso 640 to give a fast shutter speed to freeze any wind movement!   one male dropped down near me and i quickly shot 5 frames at 1/640th  f8 before it took off!   luckily i managed to get this wonderful back lit shot showing the orange on the wings that only the males have.

 

walking down one of the tracks i always stop to look at this derelict old car, must have been there for 40 odd years!

and near to this in a small ditch, a Raft spider Dolomedes sp , the largest uk species of spider, this was only a medium sized one, 2 inch leg span

Taking the path onto the mosses i found the first large red damselflies sheltering from the strengthening wind! a real pain when shooting macro.

i didn't manage to get a perched shot but did get one on my finger :) 5 frames focus stacked shot using canon mpe-65 macro lens.

I did chase a few more orange tips and speckled woods which were numerous but failed to get a single usable image!    but did find a pair of flies :))

Onto the mosses now hoping to see the first Green Hairstreaks of the year, but no sign of them in the two normal areas for them.  here is a shot of the mosses with cotton grass.

I now decided to make my way over to the canal, where usually loads of subjects can be seen all along the towpath.  just before the canal i spotted a Holly blue, very rarely do i see them!

Along the tow path , the dandelion flowers attract loads of insects:)

I soon came to a newly constructed wooden platform , presumably for bird watchers. i noticed something Green flash past me, YAY  1st green hairstreak of the year.  there turned out to be loads in a small area on the left of this platform.  a couple of people came over to watch me shoot and where amazed at what i was doing lol

and after shooting a few of them a shield bug shot.

Continuing down the towpath i heard one of the people calling me, they had found a Holly blue, i rushed back to see it  and shot a portrait at high magnification with mpe-65 lens.

Continuing down the canal towards the far end where there are usually plenty of Brimstone's and orange tips feeding on the dandelion heads:)

Male Orange tip  and a closer view of a perched female, note no orange!

Finally managed a Brimstone shot , not great but the first of the year:)

Back to the wooden platform!

a lizard resting!  lol

and a fly,  possible marchfly species , not 100% on that though!

And nearby a Green Veined White feeding!

Walking back to the car , a view down the canal

and finally a spider moulting its skin !

 

The end of a superb day, in all i had spotted over 24 green Hairstreaks , and numerous other butterflies with a total of over 90 for the day!!  Amazing!!!!!

The bug season has now started :))))

images taken with canon 5d2, 100mmL &MPE-65 macro lens

A Review of 2011 Butterfly Adventures April - June

Since its the end of the year,  i think its a good time to post a review of all the species of uk butterfly i have shot this year.     these are just a few of the butterfly shots, they can all be viewed  HERE

So these are a few of my favourites :)    not necessarily the best!

starting off with a back lit Brimstone shot on the canal alongside whixall moss in Shropshire 17/4/11

       at whixall moss 22/4/11 i shot Speckled wood and one of my favourite species, the Green hairstreak!

Next to shoot was an Orange tip,  15/5/11,  shot in my back garden

on 19/5/11 at whixall moss i shot this green veined white on a dandylion seed head, it was quite windy and was very difficult to get a sharp image!

            And a head shot taken with mpe-65 macro lens and focus stacked to increase depth of field :)

                            25/5/11   at Rixton clay pits i found my first common blue of the year

  The first small copper was shot at whixall moss 31/5/11,  got really lucky shooting this!  they are normally quite skittish  but this one just sat on the stem which i was holding in my left hand while sheltering it from a brisk breeze!

In june , my fav Silver studded blue emerged in large numbers at Prees heath in Shropshire,  i will show a few of my best images from a couple of trips :)

                                                                            and a female

and while at prees , shot my first small heath and meadow brown :)

                                                                     and a large skipper!

That was the end of June,  the season really got going in July, with so many new species that i had not seen!

more in next blog :)

Phil

all images taken with canon 5d2 and 100mmL macro handheld.