Grafton Wood in search of Butterflies and Bugs 20th aug 2012

It was now time to head off in search of my favourite butterfly , the Brown Hairstreak. it is later than i saw them last year and virtually no sightings had been reported at Grafton Wood in Worcestershire, but since it was going to be a nice day it had to be worth a trip as there are plenty of other things to shoot :)
arriving about 9.30am in the village of Grafton Flyford and parking by the church, i made my way through the farmyard and down to the wood.  the fields around the wood are mainly blackthorn, this is where the female Brown Hairstreaks will be seen.

Searching all the way along the only butterflies i have seen so far are meadow browns and this Gatekeeper.  not a sign of a hairstreak, but it is a little early for them, 11 - 2 pm best time so there was still a chance yet :)

continuing into the "orchard" area i first found a Large Horsefly perched on a fence post, i really love their eyes, so beautiful but deadly  lol  this portrait is shot with canon mpe-65 macro lens ,5 frames focus stacked to increase depth of field.i placed a green leaf behind to prevent a black background .

                   one of the many Meadow Browns feeding on a Teasel head , looking a bit tatty now !

after a good search though the orchard i have spotted a few migrant hawker dragonflies , and managed to get this image.  they have been a species that eluded me , often seeing them flying but never perching for a photo :)

I have decided to now walk through to the small pond just inside the wood ,near to the corner of the orchard , but suddenly spot a beautiful yellow crab spider waiting for a meal  , so on with the mpe again to shoot her :)      i cant hold a leaf behind to give background colour, so i shoot at higher iso ,  800 in this case,  to balance natural light with the flash preventing a complete black background.

after shooting her i walk down to the small pond , loads of migrant hawkers, common darters and a few ruddy darters are flying around but not perching!    also 3 hornets are hunting bees and i watch these for about half an hour, awesome to watch but they just don't settle for a pic unfortunately.  i do however find loads of Dark Bush Crickets , here is one image .

Time to look through the wood now, there is a central path right through the middle which i take , about half way along i turn left to go search for Brown Hairstreaks on the outer edge blackthorn.  i have always wondered why these two trees are out in the middle of this field?  strange

unfortunately no Hairstreaks are spotted , so back to the main path in the wood where i find in one very small area 6 newly emerged Brimstones .  i have never seen so many together before!

walking down the path there are loads of hoverflies and Bees feeding , a fox darts in front of me into the undergrowth! that's a pity, would have like a shot of one  lol    then while watching hovers i notice a bright blue flash!   it is one of the most beautiful flies there are , if you can call a fly beautiful haha  it is Phasia Hemiptera i very rarely see these , almost 2 years since i shot my last one so just have to get a shot this time.  luckily after a few moments i spot it feeding and get this single image  .

nearby there are more Dark Bush Crickets , and luckily i find this one perched on a single grass stem, superb perch for composition :)    this is my best image of the day!

down near the end of the main path is a large clump of flowers that in previous years male Brown Hairstreaks have been known to feed on , so i make my way to have a look.    unfortunately again no sign of any, but i did shoot this common darter dragonfly with long lens .

its been a long day of walking and searching , no sightings of my intended species but a good day none the less.  on the way back i shoot one of our most beautiful butterflies, the Peacock

                                                                   and a Small Copper

the end of another trip, i will be back in a week or 2 to hopefully see and photograph the Hairstreaks but it has been a good day.


                 all images shot with canon 5d2,100mmLmacro and Mpe-65 macro lens

Arnside Knott july 21st 2012 Scotch argus time

It was time for my last trip to Arnside knott this year , the Target species was the rare Scotch Argus , only found in a few locations in Scotland and in Cumbria.  they might be just starting to emerge, so since the weather is looking very good for a change, ie dry warm and sunny  Shock Horror!   its worth the trip.
the Cumbrian fells are looking good this morning!

to start a quick look down on the lower tiers to see if any High browns or Dark Green fritillaries are showing , down on the large lower level there were a few old looking Dark greens and not much else.
 This is a female, just fading slightly on the forewings.

                        so a walk through to the next field and i found a mating pair of DGs

 

Time to take a look at Heathwaite meadow , a wonderful area full of wild flowers, and numerous insect species .  Northern Brown Argus usually in good numbers.  but not today :(   never mind, i managed to shoot them last two visits, but look at the flowers :)

        There were numerous tiny Hylas bees, ( i think)  really struggled to shoot them , they were just too active, this is the best i could get.  about 5mm in length , shot with mpe-65 macro lens.

                                                                   and a small skipper :)

making my way round the knott to have a look near the top, where a large patch of thistle flowers might have a few nectoring butterflies.

near the top i found a few common blues feeding , i have seen very few of these this year which is quite unusual as they are usually fairly common.

                                                 a meadow brown in the undergrowth :)

                                                               and a camouflaged Grayling :)

             a couple of views looking from near the top of the Knott looking towards Cumbria

 Most of the thistle flowers had gone over so there were very few feeding butterflies to be seen, but did manage this Dark Green image.

Then a very dark butterfly flew past me quickly!  a Scotch Argus Yay!!!    i had to chase it down a steep embankment , it kept stopping for a few seconds before taking flight again.   i ended up chasing it down, around and up the hill three times before i eventually managed this image!  i was knackered by this time.   Not sure if the dam thing was playing games  lol

after all this i sat down!   and then i noticed a pair of speckled woods sitting on a low conifer, really like the composition i got in this frame :)

Then another Scotch Argus flew past , another chase was on the cards, and i was already tired after the last one!!!!!!!!     but it had other ideas and just settled down on a leaf long enough for me to get my final image of the day.   perfect:)   they look stunning when freshly emerged like this one, so dark and velvety.

the end of a good, but difficult day.  always a special place to visit, will be next year before i visit again now.

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.