Macro shoot Dolgellau April 21 st

Time for a macro shoot,  when we were walking the dogs down along the stream near the campsite,  there were loads of miner bees and a few Beeflys all along the sandy bank along the edge of the field.
Unfortunately I have only brought the 5dsr with the mpe-65 macro lens, which only shoots between x1 and x5 life size magnification.   This means a maximum focal distance of 4 inch at x1 .
So walking along the edge of the field I have found a few subjects on the dry stone wall that is in full sun.      A Cluster fly first.

                                                             Another fly , single frame

Now I have walked to the stream and where the sun is hitting the sandy bank there are Nomada Bees flying all over the place , I have spotted 3 species of Miner bees coming in and out of holes in the sand all along a 20 ft section .    They are all extremely active and it is going to be very difficult to shoot anything!
 After about half an hour I finally shoot this one as it came out of its burrow, 2 frames focus stacked.

         A nice fly portrait , 3 frames focus stacked is the best I have managed, they are just too active

There are a few large black and white miner bees, Andrena Cineraria  , a beautiful quite large species I have only ever seen a handful of times previously.   After waiting ages , at numerous different burrows I have finally managed this image as it popped its head out of the burrow entrance.  this is about 4x life size

                                   And another one, covered in debris , 4 frames focus stacked

                                       This is the best I could manage showing the Bee.

While shooting the Bees I had noticed a few Bee Flys hovering , these are a challenge to shoot with a normal macro lens but with the mpe-65 at its maximum focal distance of 4 inch and with 36 mm filling the frame,  these Beeflys which will only just fit are going to near impossible to shoot in flight!

       But it will be fun trying  ,  anyhow  after an hour or so I managed to get these three images.
all full frame as shot.

                                                Quite a successful macro shoot in all :)

Bodnant Garden Bug hunt April 14 2014

I think its time i went on a Bug Hunt, been far too long , Bodnant gardens near Conwy in North Wales seems a good idea , usually a good chance of Miner bees and one of the few places i know that can see Beeflys which are on the wing now , its early spring and quite warm with a sunny day forecast :)

I have arrived and entered the Gardens , the spring flower borders are looking superb.

                                     Superb view over the Snowdonia mountains

The terrace and the rose gardens are usually a good starting point , a large Saraccoca i think its called, has small white flowers that Beeflys love to feed on is near the steps on the edge of the garden in below photo.    i am heading there first.

Walking down onto the lower terrace i have spotted a Miner bee in the shade on a wall, they need warmth to fly so this one should be easy to photograph with the Mpe-65 macro lens.

                                                                 Its being a good model :)

                                           

coming to where the Saracoca Was!  as its been dug out :(       no Beefly feeding shots today it would seem!
Now i head down a steep path lined with Camelias which  goes down to the lower stream in the valley , good waterside planting will attract the bugs hopefully.     i have just shot this tiny moth fly on a Camelia petal :)   they are about 3-4 mm wingspan .

 

In a sun trap in the valley floor near to the stream i have found loads of bees and a few of these Tawny miner bees, so beautifully coloured

          at last a Beefly  , they are very skittish today and cant get close enough to shoot properly.

                      and another beautiful bee, Ashy mining bee Andrena cinerari.

I have spotted my first large red damselfly of the year, a couple weeks earlier than last year ,this is a two frame focus stack with mpe-65

After an hour shooting, or trying  lol   i am going to have a quick walk around the gardens before going home.                           a lovely hoverfly in a Rhododenron flower:)

                                                         A few pics of the beautiful gardens.

                                                 the end of a great day in wales

The Dukes of Gate Barrows & a Challenge on a Mountain may 16th PT1

I have always wanted to see the rare Duke of Burgundy butterfly, so seeing that they where being seen down in the south of the country i thought that the small population up at Gate Barrows in cumbria  might be worth a look for, and even if i didn't see any at least i could climb a mountain in the afternoon:))
So after  driving up the m6 early one morning ,i arrived at the Gait Barrows car park to find a sign saying that the Ladies Slipper Orchids were in flower :)))  Yay  another subject to photograph.

From the car park there were signs to follow to see the orchids , so that was the first place to start, i have only visited the reserve a few times so don't know my way around very well!
Here is the limestone pavement where the orchids and a lot of the butterflies are found. The weather was quite warm and fairly bright sun , but with patchy cloud appearing later in the morning!

                                                                           The sign :)

Here is the only Orchid that was open!!   it has been so cold that they are well behind last year, in fact this time last year they had almost all finished flowering!  11 frames focus stacked handheld.

I made my way from this area across to the main limestone pavement, amazing to see with its deep fissures and cracks!

                                  Here is a view of the cairn with its memorial plaque!

From this point i walked down through the meadow and around to the open clearings to see if i could find the butterflies!  after about of an hour of looking around, i had only seen a specked wood, a small copper and a peacock!

                          There where plenty of the common purple orchids to be seen

                           a few areas had been taped off and i came across this sign--

I met someone also looking for the Dukes and he had seen one earlier in the morning so had given me directions to where he had seen it.  So a walk back towards the orchids and then into the wooded area behind to where the areas with the Dukes colonies had been taped off!   i soon found a beefly:)

                                                         Amazingly it perched on my finger!

                          Any how , a few minutes later i spotted a " DUKE"   Yay!!!!

A male perched on a grass stem, the bright sun was very difficult to shoot in , but i got these few record shots! this long shot shows how tiny they are!  this is normal thin grass stems!

                                                          Here is the area they are found in

    and a about half hour later, one feeding on a small daisy type flower!  pity about the wing damage!

    So after finally seeing these tiny butterflies, it was time for a mountain to climb :)  Fairfield was the intended target which is part of the Helvelyn range .  the subject of next of blog :)

                                         images shot with canon 5d2 and 100mm L macro.