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 :(

Snowdonia walk and Red Arrows Airshow Aug 31 2014

Today Jan, myself and the terrible twosome are going for a walk in Snowdonia , Cym Idwal to be precise.
Arriving at Llyn Ogwen and parking we take the easy Idwal path , the imposing Tryfan is immediately ahead of us .

 The path turns and heads directly towards the Devils Kitchen and Llyn Idwal  , Mol is looking as if she wants to take the short cut towards the Y-Garn path  lol    don't think Jan would like that one :)

                   At the lake,  Mol goes paddling , nice light on the "Devils Kitchen" right now

                                              Love this classic view , never tire of seeing it :)

                       Here is the view taken from the slate bridge looking down to Llyn Ogwen

                   Its a beautiful morning for a paddle , Pen -yr-ole-wen is in the background.

                               We are now walking around the lake , Tryfan is on the right.

 This path continues up and around the Devils Kitchen but we will turn off and go around the lake at low level today.

                              at the turn off point to go around the lake beneath the "Kitchen"

                                                    over the stream and around now :)

 Mol knows the way , back to the lake and then the car.   we have to get to Rhyl for the Red Arrows by 4pm

 I have just enough time to shoot a few long exposure shots of the stream that emerges from Llyn Ogwen , with Tryfan in the background.   nice cloud on the top of the Glyderau to the right.

                                                 We have made it to Rhyl in time , Just!        
                i am shooting with 100-400 lens and manual focus, as auto focus on 5dmk2 is crap!

          i have done quite well considering this is the first time i have attempted shooting aircraft :)

                                   its a pity one of the Arrows is missing :(       should be 9!

                                                                       That was Close!
                       

                                                                      Seagull vs Plane!

                                             

 That was a great day , pity the organisers of the event have absolutly No clue on traffic control!!!!!!
its gridlocked  Arghhhhhhhhhhh     

                       it took 2 & half hours to get home , should have been about 45 mins!!! 

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 :)