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.

Whixall Moss Butterflies & Bees May 14th

Another trip to whixall moss on the welsh/Shropshire border.  it was a warm day , still a bit breezy but hopefully the green hairstreaks will be in a nice mood to be photographed :))
a quick look at the normal section just on the moss at the crossroads produced nothing , so a fast walk along to the canal section i shot all the butterflies on the previous week.  it appears that most of the dandelion flowers that lined the towpath had gone over , which drastically reduces the number of opportunities to shoot bees !  but plenty of blossom :)

It was soon evident that butterfly numbers where way down on the previous week , a brief glimpse of a holly blue was all i spotted, but soon found a few recently emerged large red Damselflies , which perched very nicely:)

Eventually i came to the wooden platform where all the green hairstreaks where last week!   they were still there , but very flighty and took a lot of chasing lol , but eventually managed a few good shots.

They really are a beautiful species :)   and amazingly i managed to get one on my finger!!!!!!

A Cold Bee needed warming up!

Leaving this area to continue down to the end section to hopefully find some Dandelion flowers to shoot some miner bees. but just a few meters down the tow path and i spotted a Hairstreak feeding on a daisy flower! i have never seen this before and spent about 5 minutes shooting it , just had to get a good shot of this!

At the bottom end there where plenty of the required flowers , but first a female Orange tip was feeding!    it stayed in the same position for ages , so managed to focus stack a few frames on this image!

I soon found the miner bees , a passing cloud cooled the temperature down enough for this one to stay still while i shot it with mpe-65 macro lens at about x4 magnification:)  what a wonderful image!  my fav of the day.

Then i found a cold Nomada bee , that wanted to be warmed up also:D  most Miner & Nomada species need warmth to fly , so when a cloud blocks the sun, the Bees cool down sufficiently to prevent them flying!

5 frames focus stacked to increase depth of field, shot one handed by resting mpe lens barrel on my palm while shooting!  holding finger in front of a dandelion flower for background colour!

And yet another cold Miner bee , which looked like it had curled up to sleep inside the flower!  lol

Enough of shooting the Bees , these few shots were more than i expected so back looking for Butterflies :)    Brimstones were noticeable by their absence but eventually found one perched nicely:)

And finally , an Orange tip feeding hard, which allowed me to shoot its portrait at high magnification with mpe lens, focus stacked 5 frames , f6.3 iso 100  handheld, resting left elbow on knee to brace camera to keep frames aligned.

                                                 The end of another great days shooting:)

                               all images shot with canon 5d2,100mmL & mpe-65 macro lens                  

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.