Whixall Dragons and Bugs 18/19 th May 2014

Time for another bug hunt, Dragons hopefully this morning , Whixall moss in Shropshire is my destination and i should be able to see the rare White face darters :)
 parking at the Roundhouse car park i make my way towards the White face darter pools , i soon spot a dungfly which i shoot with the mpe-65 macro lens and then come across.......................

A cold Bee :)     it quite happily warms itself on my finger while i take a series of shots, again with the mpe, resting the lens barrel on my fingers in front of the Bee.

                                             Yay   my first Dragon   a four spot chaser :)

                                        and another one!   they look fairly freshly emerged .

         I have spent ages watching the Dragons flying around the White face darter pools but not managed any pictures of them , until i spot one on a walkway

          another one perched way out in the pool , had to crop heavily even from a 400mm lens shot

i have not seen much else this morning so will go home and go out tomorrow down to the river Dee in search of Demoiselles .


                Early Monday morning i have driven to just upstream of Chester to Aldford on the river Dee , i might find a Clubtail Dragonfly if I'm lucky but its quite windy and think shooting anything is going to be a challenge today!          passing the beautiful bridge, while keeping a look out for the resident Kingfisher i walk down to the field side path ..

          A female Banded Demoiselle , they are really skittish and i just cant get close to them

there are quite a few but i am not getting anywhere near them today :(       a long leg Orb web spider hides under a nettle leaf.

                                                   and a pair of Sawflies mating

I have given up, will drive just down the road to Churton to see if any Hairy dragonflies are in the pool , crossing the field i soon spot a newly emerged Four spot chaser

                                       and then my target species,  Hairy Dragonfly :)

                                 an interesting two mornings shooting Dragons

Two Evenings of Glorious Sunsets may 13/16th

The weather was looking good for the next couple nights so i may as well make the most of them down at New Brighton.      no particular order , just a few of my favorites :)

                                                   Tide coming in with strong wind

                                      Ships Silhouetted against the sunset windfarm

                   I stopped off on way down the promenade on the way home to shoot this afterglow.

 Two days later i was down on the end of the beach over to the right of Perch Rock lighthouse, the tide was just turning and the sun coloured up beautifully with different shades of gold,orange and red.

                          Slight slow shutter to smooth out the tide which had just turned.

                                                             Close up of the windfarm

          45 second exposure as the sun drops below the horizon, as water lapped around tripod legs!

                                                   Perch Rock Panorama after sunset.

Pearls in North Wales 5th May 2014

Its a long bank holiday weekend in Ruthin with Jan and the Terrible Twosome, and hopefully as the weather is much warmer than this time last year. The Pearl Bordered Fritillaries will have emerged up at Eyarth rocks, which is a butterfly conservation site which protects this species of butterfly.
                                          It is a lovely camp site just outside Ruthin.

                                       The Terrible Twosome have settled in ok after the drive :)

it must have been a stunning house when in good condition, such a shame to see it like this now

                                                         a few of the locals are watching us, mother and...

                                                                 Awwwwww   cute :)

the next morning we are heading for Eyarth Rocks , its about 40 minutes walk up into the hills :)   looking a beautiful day for a nice walk even if the butterflies are not there.

                  Taking the bridal way i have just shot this miner bee on a dandylion flower:)

 Heading up the steep path through the woods that will eventually come out at the reserve , the silver birch make a good contrast with the bluebells

                                                    Moll in a sea of Forget-me-Knots :D

Finally we come to the reserve entrance , in the clearings Bracken just starting to come up and bluebells still in flower, would be great to photograph a butterfly sitting on one of those :)

 This is the area where the Pearls should be found , i have a good look while we are walking through but cannot see any butterflies .

 It is quite warm now and the sun is starting to come through the light cloud giving lovely light, If i can find something to shoot!  Jan and the dogs are taking a rest near the top.........while i go for a hunt.

                           After just a few minutes i have just spotted my first Pearl :)   Yay!

This is the area , i have spotted 3 or 4 now and they look like they must have just emerged as they are not flying too far before settling.

                                                     Now to find a nicely perched Butterfly :)

Found one on a Bracken frond, just sitting drying its wings, this will make a perfect subject to photograph:)

        

                                                                           "Perfection"

             moving slightly  i can get out of focus blue bells give a different background colour :)

                 It has flown a short distance with me chasing it and perched halfway up an old stem ,                                                          love the back lit wings :D

                                  
        and now to get the mpe-65 out to do a portrait :)     focus stacked to increase depth of field

                 I'm happy now , so we are continuing the walk and i have just shot this dandy :)

 We are now back to the field after a really good morning walk , agreat avenue of trees and ..........

 

the end of a good day :)

its "Yoda" the sheep :D

 

A normal Lamb :)

                                                                   a magnificent oak.

Whixall Bug hunt 28th april 2014

For a change i am going out macro shooting , haven't done enough this year so far so as the Green Hairstreak butterflies are emerging a trip to Whixall moss in Shropshire seems appropriate.
arriving early ish , for me anyhow!      i walk out onto the mosses to have a look to see if any Hairstreaks are in the usual places.
  on the way i am constantly looking for any other bugs to photograph and have just found a "March fly"  a bit late as usual lol

 i have used iso 400 to allow more background light into the exposure,using the flash to freeze the fly for sharp detail ,this gives a more natural image.

         arriving at the crossroads area i soon spot what I'm looking for, a Green Hairstreak.
         They are being very flighty and not settling for very long, also a bit out of reach :(

                             a beautifully perched Dungfly , using same method as in previous image       

            At last i have managed a Hairstreak shot, not great but ok.  natural light only for this shot

Moving on now and heading off the mosses towards the canal.  as i get near the towpath a  holly blue flys past but doesn't settle :(     a Nursery web spider gets a quick shot though............

             onto the next Hairstreak hot spot but cant seen many flying here on the edge of the mosses.

                                just managed to bag this Hairstreak shot , a bit lucky!

 There have been a few Orange tips flying along the canal towpath and this one looks great as a wide angle image.

Moving in for a closer view :) 

A Portrait of a Shield bug with Mpe-65 macro lens

                                               and a golden Dungfly to finish of the day

                                                 The end of a good macro days shooting.

Sunsets again 26th april 2014

Another trip to the lighthouse ,  unfortunately i have arrived a bit too late but the light is not looking great, a few clouds are moving so i quickly set up with the 10 stop nd filter to record some cloud movement ,  a 90 second exposure combined with a 62 sec one to produce this image.

 the tide just isn't right, i am not getting any good slow exposures and as the sky has cleared except on the horizon behind the wind farm i get out my 100-400mm and shoot a couple of long shots which have good colour impact.
                                                            a two frame panorama first

       
                                                                     Sun going down!

never mind, i got three good images and will head home as i am going on a bug hunt tomorrow to Shropshire for butterflies and other bugs hopefully.