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Hi everyone, not really a post this time but information for you, finally after much persuasion my buddy Mike Smith has got a blog up and running, I'm gonna add it to my links but you can find him at www.foxeysmith.blogspot.co.uk

Mike has some excellent photos which I hope he will share with us all, he is new to the blogging age so bear with him if he makes a few initial errors, I can assure any of you that haven't seen his pics that they are worth the wait.

Welcome to the Blogging world Mike.

What's that bright thing in the sky?

Well that was a change for the better wasn't it? What a difference a bit of sun and warmth makes, although it kinda restricts the photo opportunities because the light is very harsh after about 11am. although it is lovely in the evenings.

I have been chasing dragonflies and butterflies mostly, but the evenings have been spent Owl watching, My friend Mike Smith has been having some fabulous results with both his Barn Owl and Little Owl projects, I have seen some of the results on Birdguides and through emails he has sent me, I am very envious to say the least. However I know Mike has put huge amounts of effort into the projects, He hasn't just turned up and expected to get results. This has inspired me to continue with my own Little Owls.

The initial problems I had were trying to get the owls to come to where I was, to the right side of the site for the evening light. Occasionally they would sit on a roof of the building in front of where I had positioned myself, but the angle and the distance was not producing the results I particularly wanted. My window of opportunity is relatively small too, two of what I believe are three owls don't come out till its almost dark. I remember Chris G complaining of the same problem when he did his project at the same site a few years ago. The Farmers have helped me a lot by removing the favourite resting place of the owls, a stack of fruit boxes, from the wrong side of the building.

However I have persevered and for the first time, last night I managed to get two of the owls down onto the ground and large fruit boxes at distances of 8 to 20 feet in front of me. At one point the one owl was too close to focus the lens on so I just had to sit and watch. not that I'm complaining, they are very characterful little birds. I have fallen in love with just being in their company. They know I'm there, and if I stay in the car they will now tolerate me, even throwing worms out of the window for them.

This is the view I have been mostly used to.

or even this

both of these are 50% cropped at least. However last night as I said I got these,



These are only small crops, mainly for composition. I think this bird is a juv, he's very light in colour and he comes out the earliest.

The best shots are definately the action shots I love this next one.















However this next shot is almost full frame, allowing for the crop of the camera of course, I have trimmed a tiny bit off the sides for composition.

I am sure this is an adult, its darker than the other and is moulting heavily, this feather has been sticking out like that for at least two nights. I am going to continue to work with the owls and see if I can match Mike's standard. If you haven't checked out Birdguides this week, have a look in the notable photo section and see Mike's excellent shot of a little owl. That is what I aspire to, its pin sharp and just stunning.

Marbled white butterfly have featured heavily for me this week, I went back and tried to get some more.

The pair mating was a real bonus, had to lie on my belly to get them though which was not easy.

Emperor Dragonfly have caused me some problems, I had to sit and wait for over an hour until this one landed on my stick only to find that he has a duff wing.

This Ruddy Darter was a lot more obliging in a different location.

and this Four Spotted Chaser was almost as obliging.

Going through my pictures from Prees Heath last week I found a couple more Grasshopper that I like.

I am still trying to improve my photography, I guess we all want to get better, but I got some feedback this week from someone who I very much respect when he said that he would have liked to have had some of the stuff I posted last week. I won't name him as he knows who he is. Thank you mate.

Lets hope the owls and all the other birds, bee's and critters out there continue to come my way, with the weather to make the most of it. I'm down to the forest this next week, Roxy has her hair appointment so I'm hoping desperately that the weather is kind and I get to spend a few hours taking shots down there.

The Good, the Bad, and the totally devastating.

The Bad weather has largely stayed with us although, as I type this, there is glorious sunshine lighting up my back garden. Three days in Chester could have made things bad too other than for the fact that I managed to stop at a reserve at Prees Heath, near Whitchurch in Shropshire which is the last Midlands stronghold of the Silver Studded Blue butterfly. I also had a visit to Burton Mere Wetlands RSPB reserve about 10 miles from mums towards the Wirral, with my brother Alan.

I have had some cracking shots this week, I am really chuffed with my photography, starting with some Grasshopper shots which I think are possibly my best ever.

Both were caught at Prees, I had a great time there although the sun was only peeping its face through the clouds occasionally. I got my first ever picture of a Small Heath butterfly, I can't recall having seen one before either so that was a bonus.

The star of the two visits to Prees Heath was undoubtedly the Silver studded Blue. A stunningly pretty butterfly.

and a real bonus was catching a pair locked together mating,

It really shows the difference between the male and the female, I love this picture. I quite like this next one too.

In addition to the butterflies there were some really interesting Fungi on the heath, firstly is this Puffball. I cannot identify the species other than it could possibly be simply a common Puffball.

secondly there was a fungi that caught my eye in a small group, it has a green colour to it and again I cannot identify it other than possibly The Charcoal Burner, or Grass Green Russula. It was located near to Birch trees.

The trip to Burton Mere RSPB reserve with my brother was a chance for him to impress me with his photgraphy skills and for us to chase dragonflies. We did see Common Darter and Brown Hawker whizzing about the place but didn't get chance to photograph them. I did get a nice shot of a Blue tailed Damselfly

and my first shot this year of a Gatekeeper butterfly.

Alan hasn't had chance to go through his shots yet, he's a busy lad holding down 2 jobs, but when he lets me have a couple we'll see how he's coming along, he did have what looked like a corker of a female Common Blue damselfly on his camera so I'm looking forward to seeing that.

Back to Herefordshire and making the most of the sunshine these last two days I've been out chasing butterflies and dragonflies, with mixed results. The only dragonfly I got was 3 frames of a Common Darter.

I have however had some lovely butterflies, Gatekeeper,

Marbled White,

and an extremely lucky, the only one I saw in over an hour of looking, the beautiful, Wood White.

as you can see he was in very shadowy cover so a bugger to try and process. I have to be honest I wasn't confident of finding one but Haugh Woods (pronounced Hoff) are a stronghold to a good colony. I thought it might be a little late in the year too but lets be honest this is a strange year with things appearing to be all out of kilter. I was really pleased to catch sight and photo this little character.

Its Caterpillar time as well isn't it and this week I've photographed two differing types, firstly Peacock and secondly Cinnabar Moth.

All in all not a bad week. Until the Totally devastating.....I banged my Tamron lens and have completely knackered it, I thought about getting it fixed but I don't doubt that it will cost as much to fix as a new one would cost me to buy, so I'm going to save my pennies and buy another because I think for the money, around 120.00 new, its been a fabulous lens, with the exception of the marbled and wood butterflies all of the shots this week have been taken with it. I have loved the lens the 180-300 macro has enabled me to get good close shots without having to stand right over the subject, I don't doubt it doesn't compare to lenses like the Canon 180 macro but it has given me a lot of joy this last month or so.

Finally, isnt it funny that you go years without seeing, or at least noticing a species of bug, then you get a shot of one for the first time, and suddenly you start seeing them more and more. I posted a shot of a long horn beetle Strangalia maculata in one of the last posts and I've seen a few since, today I saw two mating and managed the following shot, then a little later I saw another all on its own in a different location.

Nice weather apparently for a few days now so hopefully another post soon. Make sure you come back and have a look, and don't forget click on images for larger versions.

Ok, Enough is Enough.

Still the weather continues to play havoc across the country, photographers everywhere have been leaving their kit under the stairs and sitting in their lounges looking longingly out of their patio windows, or is that just me?

I have managed two brief periods of photography this week which have resulted in trying to scrape some interesting stuff together. I have concentrated on butterflies and insects, I am still of the opinion that there are not as many butterflies this year, I have seen only a few, mostly Meadow Brown, Ringlet and Skippers.

I have managed a few nice shots to share with you, firstly Skippers.

Small Skippers.

and Large Skipper.

also a few others, this Comma for a start.

and a Green Veined White,

also a Burnet Moth or two, five spotted.

The insect that I saw that I want to show you is one that I have never knowingly seen before, its called Strangalia Maculata, initially I thought it must be the Wasp Beetle but the colouring was the wrong way round too much yellow and not enough black for the Wasp Beetle, Its a weird thing though isn't it?

The only birds I saw to photograph, when the sun was hiding behind the clouds were a few House Martins collecting mud.

So not a lot to show you but better than nothing, keeping my fingers crossed for a change in the weather soon.

Who turned the taps on?

I think that summer has passed already, strange that last year April was stunning and then the rest of the year a washout. this year it was March wasn't it? I remember stopping and talking to a fellow dog walker in early March and we were both in light clothing and feeling the heat. What is going on?

Well the weather has put a downer on my doing anything much since my last posting. I have had a couple of chances but there has been a definate lack of good opportunity. Just one or two pics to show you.

I have been visiting the Barn Owl site regularly without a single sighting, I have spoken to dog walkers who walk thereabouts and all of them have said that there hasn't been a sighting for nearly 3 weeks. I was there last night until 9.30pm and nothing. I am concerned that maybe the male has been killed in a Road accident. I will keep you appraised. However my being in the area has led me to find a Little Owls nest. I managed a pair of shots the other evening in poor light.

I stood nearby last night and could hear at least one juvenile in the nest calling for food, its a very noisy screeching sound, I am hoping that I may be able to get permission to enter the land and set up a bit of a feeding station as the evening light is just perfect for the spot, when there is some of course.

The only other bird I have taken a shot of recently has been a Pied Wagtail.

I have had a male Sparrowhawk in my garden recently, It's the first time the male has visited. I have had the female on at least three occasions. The Male missed the birds on the feeder and sat on the fence for a while, of course I didn't have the camera set up.


I have been going through my macro stuff and the only thing worth a look is this,

I haven't put a name to it as yet, but I think its a sawfly of some kind.

Hope for better weather so I have something more next time.