Bug hunt and Clouded Yellows in Cheshire 24th August 2014

I am going on a macro shoot today up to Rixton clay pits up in Warrington area.
Arriving nice and early ish   for me that is  lol     i soon spot a nice back lit white feeding on a thistle flower

             And on the fence nearby a Drone hoverfly resting, shot with canon mpe-65 macro lens

                 Some sort of plant bug , i never manage to id these things.   again mpe lens used

 Good job i didn't bring Mollster , never seen this sign before , they are doing alot of work here putting up fences preventing access large areas . this will probably prevent me getting to the best areas and may have to find another place to visit .  why cant they leave nature reserves natural without boundary's!  the best wild flowers for shooting are now on the wrong side of the fenced off path! 

 another Drone portrait  , i haven't used the mpe nearly enough recently , must use it more next year.

      A couple of butterfly's feeding on the Wrong side of the fence , which is not finished so i got through the gaps  lol

                                                                     a Gatekeeper

                               Walking along the boardwalk now in search of Dragonfly's

 The common darters are sunbathing on the fence rail , i just need to creep up on them carefully now to get within a couple inches with the mpe for some portraits

                                   5 frames focus stacked to increase depth of field

                                                                           Fly on Black 

                                 a Noonday fly portrait , I'm having fun now :)  love this lens!

          I have just spotted an Emerald damselfly , never seen one here before but its difficult to get in the long grass to get a shot ,using 100mm lens i need to get the focal plane correct so all parts of it are sharply in focus,, i failed :(

                                                    a newly emerged common darter

                                         nice back lighting on the newly emerged dragon

walking along the fence i have just noticed a digger wasp ,I need to get within 3 inches with the lens for this one!    i have crawled along the ground to get close without spooking it  Yay!  gotcha :D

 In the meadow area there are quite a few Peacocks , ALWAYS great to see these common but stunning butterfly's

 I have just spotted a yellowy/orange butterfly flying in the distance over this meadow , it Must be a Clouded yellow!    i have just Got to get a shot of it, only ever once seen one of these migratory butterfly's.

running through the tall meadow with a long lens i get close and it flys off :(   but soon spot it again and just manage this poor shot.   carefully getting closer i am almost near enough to use the 100mm macro lens when Another Clouded Yellow comes down and spooks the first one!!  Bollocks

after about 3/4 hour i have spotted one again, and this time manage to get fairly close to get these two images  YAY!

                                       Stunning to see , they look more orange in flight

                                          the end of a fantastic days macro shooting :)

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 :)

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