Durdle Door September 2016 pt 1

Catching up on a few images from last year , we stayed at the Durdle Door caravan site.

                                          Durdle Door from the beach , long exposure

                                                                   "Man - o - War" bay

                                  Getting dark now , so quite long exposures  , 2 minutes

                                     Close up of the rocks , it was quite dark at this point.

                                         The following day we went to Old Harrys Rocks

                    A long exposure of 30 seconds with Lee Big stopper  to give cloud movement.  
 

Durleston Country park and i only managed to find one wasp spider , it was quite breezy so most images were slightly soft ,   note to self -  use 5d2 next time instead of 5dsr!


                                                  9 frames focus stacked , hand held

                                             "Man - 0 - War" bay  with the Terrible Twosome

                                              The Door nearing sunset long exposure

 

Looking towards Bat Head at sunset

             Sunset , but it faded very quickly before could get any decent exposures after sundown

Durlston Wasp Spiders and Last Durdle Door Sunset 19th sept 2014

Today I'm going back to Durleston Country Park to find some more Wasp Spiders , it has been drizzling with rain all morning so we haven't been out , but has dried up enough this afternoon , Jan is staying back in the caravan with the dogs while I go on my own.
Arriving after the 30 minute drive i make my way into the meadow to look for the spider i found the other day , but no sign of it.............      so   where to look 

After about 10 minutes i have found one , nicely siting in her web , i take a few phone shots first which show a bit more of the habitat around her.

Now  , to get down in the undergrowth and take a series of frames to focus stack to give larger depth of field.  its a bit wet down here :(

                                                       9 frames @f7 iso200  handheld.

 Phone shot :)

I have now found a couple more , in very difficult positions to photograph unfortunately.  this one is much bigger than the others but i cannot get any decent angle to shoot from , it is up against a bramble thicket.    

     Quite like this angle , shows how Fat she is :D   must be close to laying an egg sac presumably.

I have found another couple but are not in  better positions ,so i have gone back to the first one for a few more shots. The light is almost from behind left, so i am having  to shoot closer to prevent blown out background on the left side. It is really hard shooting sequential frames to focus stack, as the web keeps moving in the slight breeze! 


   I am  really struggling with the low light level , the image stabiliser helps a bit on the 100mm L macro lens , many frames are blurred .  using a tripod would be too difficult to get close enough without hitting the web, and with the breeze probably not much help either as would be using slower shutter speeds.

                                                          12 frames @f7.1  iso200

This is the area i have been finding them in , the bigger stronger stemmed plants being favoured to spin the webs in compared to the shorter floppy grass which is out in the open areas.

     There are loads of these Orb Weavers , huge ones at that :)

      3 frames focus stacked.

                                                                       Yay , another Waspy
                    but impossible to photograph except from this angle , looking straight down on it!

The grass around most of these spiders has been flattened to various amounts, so other photographers must have been shooting them over the last few days.  I don't think there are too many here , i have now searched the hedge row on one side of this field and found nothing except Orb weavers and smaller species.   So back to searching the previous area ,  have now found 8 in total so far and have almost just walked into this ones web stretched across a gap in the brambles!    a good one to shoot from the underside :)             Superb!


                         5 frames focus stacked @f5.6 to give better background seperation.

               I have just found a cracker!    in a great 3/4 position :)  her web is a bit broken though!

                       15 frames focus stacked!    and still missed a few leg tips  Arghhhhhhhhhh

Beautiful back lit Waspy :D     7 frames focus stacked @f7.1  iso 250 as breeze is strengthening.

I have continued looking but no more to be found, and i have filled a memory card with 400 frames , so I'm happy to leave now :)

After dinner  , time to walk back down to the beach for sunset. after half an hour  the light is looking glorious , a misty horizon with soft deep cloud mass over the bay and colour over the cliffs , but it doesn't last very long!   

Its gone flat!   never mind, i have shot some wonderful sunset images this week in Dorset here at Durdle Door. tomorrows forecast is rubbish so this will be the last sunset image.

After dark i have another go at shooting stars , it has come over misty and the yellow floodlights in the caravan park have filled the misty sky ! 

 

Only one more day left now :(

Dorset Holiday pt2 Castles, Spiders and Sunsets sept 15 th 2014

Today we are going to visit Corfe Castle which is about 40 minutes drive from Durdle Door campsite.   i think  lol.    the weather is looking very good for today with sun,  blue sky and staying very warm :)

After parking up we walk around the castle through a wooded path before coming to the main entrance...........

Walking up the inner grounds of the castle towards the ruins.  more info on the castle HERE

Look at the way the gateway has dropped on one side , in fact the ruins clearly show huge walls ect that have fallen or slid sideways where the foundations were not built to hold such large heavy fortifications.

                                                            Mollster resting in the sun :)

                          I believe the castle was partly demolished on orders from the parliament!

                                                           Mol is climbing the battlements  lol

                                 The Swanage railway , always great to see a steam train :)

                          Mol,  being Queen of the castle is looking "Down" on her subjects   haha

                                                                        The" Stocks"

                                                                        Arghhhhh...............

Time to go now , Durlston country park is our afternoon destination , having parked by a lovely meadow , (which i must search for Wasp spiders later)  we have walked down towards the coastline.  a small art gallery has a viewing platform where we can see "Old Harrys Rocks" in the distance.

            A long lens image of the "Pinnacles "   with Peverill "look out point" in the foreground which is overlooking Swanage bay.

                                                                           A bit of fun :)

                                    Mol makes a good squirrel!    she actually hates them  !

                        Walking down to the coastal path , we come across this huge stone globe!

                                                               Something down there Mol?

               I have spotted loads of Dark Bush Crickets :)   shot with 100mm macro natural light.

I have been looking for Wasp Spiders along this coastal path as this is a good area for them, i would really like to photograph one, especially as i have never seen one before.

After looking all along both sides of this path  i have finally found one , and a very unexpected find with a young Lizard in her web!     I had no idea they could catch a prey this big ,  the poor Lizard has been well wrapped up in silk thread  , shows how strong the silk is :)  Its in an impossible position to get good images , this is the best i have managed.

                      Continuing along the path i have not managed to spot any more spiders .

There are quite a few caves here , named Tilly Whim Caves , but they have been fenced off due to being unsafe after coastal erosion i presume.

      Heading back towards the car park , i have found a tiny beetle  lol  , but no more Wasp Spiders :(
I will go and have a look around the small meadow area next to where we parked.

After getting back to the car, I have just 20 minutes left on parking ticket to find and photograph a wasp spider!  This could be a bit tricky!    Look at this meadow.  There are some thicker, higher pockets of brambles and other plants either side of a wooden fence in the middle of this area , could be a good place to look .

Yay  i have found a nice female  , but not in a very good perch/position .   I have run back to the car to get the tripod so i can shoot a series of frames to focus stack to increase depth of field ,i usually shoot hand held but the spider is too deep in the foliage for me to get a good position , so tripod it has to be, but in low light with a slight breeze it may be advantageous and being low to the ground might be sheltered enough.

                       this image is 5 frames focus stacked , natural light shot with 100mm L macro lens.

                                                and a 13 frame focus stack with flash

Time has run out ,i have to get going now, but i will try and come back later in the week to see if i can find some more.......



Back to the camp site now for dinner, and then hopefully another sunset down at Durdle Door :)

Its just before 7 pm now , and i am on the shingle shooting long exposures as the sun starts to set behind me , this is the best image , shorter exposures give the best water movement i have found  and a bit of colour is being reflected in the distance.   only 0.8 sec exposure gave the best "movement" in the sea :)

I have rushed up to the top above the bay to shoot the sunset , its best colour is now at about 7.15 , and setting fast...               cant believe how fast the sun sets here!

A cooler look now as the sun sets behind the cliffs of Bats Head ,but giving a lovely colour over Weymouth now :)

                           Cool blue now , love the colour in the water around the rock arch.

                                                    Back onto the shingle after sundown.

                                        The end of another great day on the Jurassic coast.