One example was this Muntjac deer I came across in Haugh Woods on the outskirts of Hereford. I say, I came across, what actually happened was it crossed my path some distance ahead of me. I managed 4 frames and it was gone.
Not the best shot but as it's only the third Muntjac I've seen in Herefordshire I was more than pleased. The last one I saw was in the same woods a couple of months ago if I recall.
I was in Haugh Woods looking for Club Tailed Dragonfly, Someone had posted shots of one in the woods earlier on Birdguides. I have never seen one, I don't think, and certainly never photographed one so it was a challenge to be met head on. Unfortunately a couple of hours, some sore feet and a change of tee shirt later I still hadn't seen or photo'd one. However the time spent in the woods was not wasted entirely. I saw lots of Peacock, Silver washed Fritillary, Green Veined White, Gatekeeper, and Speckled Wood butterflies and this rather nice Broad Bodied Chaser dragonfly.
Earlier in the week I had been up to Shropshire again, mostly to visit Whixall Moss in the hope of getting some nice Black Darter and maybe a White Faced Darter if there were any still around. I managed the Black Darter and a really nice pair of Emerald Damselflies.
female Emerald,
male
Black Darter male.
I try to find something different to photograph each time I go out. It doesn't have to be something new that I haven't done before but perhaps something that is a first for this year. I get a lot of satisfaction from the hunt. I mentioned in an earlier posting that I hadn't been seeing many butterflies in Herefordshire this year, well there has certainly been an influx of them in the last week or so. I hadn't managed even a shot of a Comma yet this year as I had only seen a couple and both of them had manky wings, well I finally managed to get one this last week. Its not the best but I finally got one, I also got a cracking shot of a Small Copper and a rather unusual shot of a male Banded Demoiselle.
I love nature, It is amazing, I love finding things lying around, Owl pellets are one thing I enjoy finding, but this snake skin was great too. It was about 2 feet in length, maybe a tad longer. The photo was taken on my phone so its pretty bad.
But still amazing to see it.
Finding this Buff tip Moth was probably my highlight in the last couple of weeks. Such a fabulous looking thing.
Anyways That'll do for this posting. Don't forget to click on an image for a larger version and to check out the new Smugmug galleries.
