Risley Moss Dragonfly shoot 17th August 2015

A quick trip down to Risley Moss nature reserve near Warrington  , the black darters should be showing well .


                A Beautiful tiny Black Darter Dragonfly , they are only about 1 - 1.25 inch in size.

                      There are loads of these Emerald Damselflies perching on the grass stems .

                                      A female Scorpion Fly ,  great looking creatures :D

 Another black Darter :)  its a hard going , not that many around and its a bit breezy  which makes the stems more too much!

                                       One of the large Hoverfly species that i always see here .

                                                        Mollster is waiting patiently :)

                                                                          Resting bee :)

                                            A longhorn beetle , very common this time of year

Bug Hunt at Risley Moss 1 st september 2014

A quick trip down to Risley Moss nature reserve today , its a bit windy but it is fairly sheltered at the small meadow area i shoot at .  Dragonfly's are the main target species today.

Arriving at the site  a fast walk down to the meadow are, which is only very small but has loads of insect attracting wild plants/flowers that in turn attract the Dragonfly's , the main species here are the tiny Black Darters.

Unfortunately there are very few flowers open , appears recent rain has flattened most of them , along with loads of other photographers that have been here shooting and created paths through the plants.

                     A Drone hoverfly cleaning itself on one of the few flowers still open :)

                                  I love shooting Back lit spiders :)         the webs are superb
                                           the legs are quite translucent on this orb weaver

       A big hoverfly on my finger :)    its come over quite dull and i think its going to rain so will have to hurry up and find some Dragons, which are noticeable by their absence!

                                                                 another shot of it :)

                              I have eventualy found a pair of Black Darters , and a spider  :)         
                   this image is 5 frames focus stacked to get both spider and the dragons in focus .

                                                   An old  Female Black Darter.

                                         Young Female with her bright colours

                      and that was the last i managed to shoot , its chucking it down now :(

Tattenhall & Terrible Twosome in Whixall Moss Aug 11th

For a weekend away in the caravan with Jan i drove down to Tattenhall near Chester on Saturday evening,  the weather was looking great still, amazingly! 
After i arrived we took the dogs for a walk down along the canal near the Cheshire ice creme farm , a lovely warm evening for a short walk , the sun was already low as we walked down past the marina, the light was superb :)

walking along the short length of canal  i was surprised at the number of Magpie moths that were around, never seen so many but was too dark to photograph them.   the setting sun produced very little colour unfortunately!

The next morning i decided to take Jan to one of my favourite nature reserves, Whixall Moss in Shropshire which is not too far away.   the birds have finished nesting so dogs are allowed off lead now, BUT  I'm not sure that is entirely a good idea with our Terrible Twosome!!!!!!!  and BOGS!!!!

Not long after arriving i shoot my first Black Darter dragonfly , an old looking male  :)

The paths are formed of peat , with bog pools all over the area where huge numbers of dragonflies abound.   small black darters were numerous along the paths  , but the dogs are just disturbing them so photo opportunities are going to be limited!   

                   Ooops     Mollster has obviously been in a bog and is just climbing out  Arghhhh

Chester has just stupidly fallen in a deep pool!       but i shot a short video clip,   he stinks now!

the Terrible Twosome are now running and rolling in the dry grass trying to dry themselves, so funny.

                           Mollster is lying in the sun now , a short break from the madness  lol

I cant believe what just happened!   Chester was running along the grass covered path and in a cartoon style moment , he ran off the path hung in mid air momentarily then disappeared under a weed filled bog!  it must have looked like more grass  haha
                                                 He pops up out of the water   lol

                                           Im not letting you get out Moll says 

                                        OK then, i will pull you out, as she bites his ear and pulls

                                         there you go Chester , out you come   woof, woof

                                  Thank you Molly for helping me out Chester must be saying :)

                                                     Two totally soaked dogs playing  lol

Carrying on along the paths, i managed to shoot another Black Darter, a female this time

                        and an Emerald Damselfly, pity about the grass stem behind it  

and after following this Male Common Hawker dragonfly up and down a path finally got a shot

                               the end of a short weekend break in Cheshire and Shropshire.

                                          images shot with canon 5d mk2 and 17-40 L

Dragons and a Surprise 22nd Aug 2012

I thought a quick trip was on the cards today, after all the long ones i have recently been on.  so up the motorway to visit 2 nature reserves, the first is Risley Moss near warrington, the second will be Rixton clay pits which is only about 10 minutes away. i have not visited them for many months but at this time of year Dragonflies will be the main target at Risley, the first stop .

                                  here is a picture of a giant wooden newt near the visitor centre :)

 

a quick 5 minute walk to a small oval meadowey area that sits next to the path , it is full of wild flowers, thistles ect and being full of insect life  the Dragonflies make it their home :D

This is Black Darter country , there are probably about 30-40 of them in this 60 ft x 40 ft area!  all different shades of black and orange.as they get older they darken in colour.

                                                             and as usual, on my finger :)

among the darters i have seen a few emerald damselflies , here are both male and female as a comparison.    Male first.

                                                                                Female

Most of the flowers have faded now , but in the sunshine a freshly emerged Peacock has been fluttering around , and i have just managed to get a few images :)  they really are a stunning species:)

                                                         another male black darter

                                                  and one last female black darter :)

Time to move on to Rixton clay pits now, i can only spend about an hour shooting these dragons before getting fed up  lol     but as i get near the visitor centre, by the small pool on a long curved wooden seat i find a few darters sitting in the sun.  time to get the mpe -65 macro lens out and try some portraits :)

                                                    here is a Black Darter portrait :)

a 10 min drive over to Rixton now,  i wont spend too long here , just a quick look around to see what i can find :)     walking down the steps i almost tread on a toadlet ,  mpe time again  lol    

near to the lake i have just found this flower beetle feeding on a dandelion flower,  tiny little things about 5 mm in length , shooting against a bright flower i dial in +2/3  flash exposure compensation to compensate for the bright background.

                                                                  and a fly:)   lol

                                                                and a resting Horsefly !

walking down to the lake along a wooden boardwalk , i suddenly spot a large butterfly flitting over the mound and settling on a thistle flower, it appeared to be a Painted Lady. i cant believe it!   haven't seen one this year, and only one last year , so i have got to get a shot of this i thought !

after about half an hour chasing this Lady up and down the path and the mound as it fed on thistle flowers i eventually manage to get a few decent images :)   Yay!

Beautiful species that are migrants from abroad, some years they are very common, but not this year so i am very lucky so shoot this one:)   This is the mound on the right , i must have climbed up and down it about 20 times chasing this one butterfly, think its as tired as i am, as it rests on the wooden boardwalk :)

                                                        and off it goes again, Arghhhhh

That was the end of another good trip with numerous species shot , and on way back to car i finish with another Peacock :)

My next trip will be climbing in the lake district, so it will be a nice change from shooting bugs :)