A little bit of this and that.

A patchy week, mostly spent chasing dragonflies. Hawkers the like of Southern or Migrant still evade my camera, I did see one but no photo. Black Tailed Skimmer and Darters have been the order of the day on most days. Ruddy Darters to start.

Very obliging little critters these, a little jittery at first.

my favourite shot of these were when they were flying in tandem.

I spent an afternoon with some BTS they have a routine, they tend to sit until something comes onto their patch then chase them off and return to their spot. This enables you to move a little closer each time they move away. eventually they allow you to get real close.

this is camera full frame, taken lying on my rather large belly using my 100 macro with a +2 adapter lens on it. absolutely amazing.

Some other shots from the BTS.

Common Darter too this week. Not as close as the Ruddy ones though.

A special critter this week was my first ever Hazel Weevil, I honestly cannot recall ever having seen one of these before.

A stunning little critter I think you'd agree. I also got some stunners of adult Forest bugs. Two of them were together in an Oak tree.

There was some other stuff but I will finish with a couple of spiders, the first is a delicate little thing although with the size of its legs its not really little.

Harvestman.

Finally a rather arty shot of a Garden Spider which I quite liked.

Rain, Thunder and Lightening this morning here in Hereford so no photography today. See you in a week.

There it was, gone!

Is that it then? is that summer definately over now? With flood warnings being given for various parts of the country you could be forgiven for thinking so.

I have snatched a few day time sessions with bugs and butterflies, but my evenings continue to be owl filled. Saying that though I have seen less of them this week than last. Still a couple of nice shots to share with you.

I have missed one evening in the last 11 and am disappointed that the owls have proved more elusive than I was hoping. Still I have had fun, I have got some cracking shots and there is always next year to look forward to. I won't give up just yet though, although I have been alerted to another possible site that might prove fun, and challenging.

I am so missing my Tamron lens, I think I've missed a lot of shots trying to get to what I believe is a workable distance from the subject with my 100mm. I accept that there will always be a bit of cropping with macro shots but there is an acceptable level that I try and keep to. Don't get me wrong, the quality of the Canon lens is unquestionable but, the bigger lens gives you a bit of room so to speak.

So what have I done? I have a few butterfly shots to show you and a couple of other things that I hope you'll like. I saw my first Holly Blue butterfly for over two years yesterday (sat 4th). I only got off one frame and it isn't what I would have liked but it's acceptable.

I also got some nice Large white shots,

I have a caterpillar of The Vapourer Moth, which is a very spectacular looking caterpillar. I found this whilst standing under an Oak tree sheltering from a shower.

I have also managed to get some cracking Grasshopper and Cricket shots from around the country park at the back of my house. Starting with what I guess must be an adult of a cricket that I have posted before. It is the Speckled bush Cricket.

I also got some Dark Bush Cricket.

and a Meadow Grasshopper.

Now I need a bit of help, I have looked through all of my books but I cannot for the life of me identify this little character, It has a little of the scorpion fly about it, but clearly isn't the same species due to the colouring on its body. It also has the characteristics of a crane fly in particular the Ctenophora ornata, although again the colouring is slightly out but it could be an early form of that critter. I would welcome suggestions.

So there it is, another weeks offering. I have a few images from the last few days to still go through so I may add more over the next few days. Have you all checked out Mike Smiths' new blog yet? I am so looking forward to his images.
I had a comment from Paul Riddle on last weeks blog, regarding my LO's, I would strongly urge you all to have a look at his Blog, he has a definate skill when it comes to Owl shots and I know from reading it he puts a lot of effort into it. I can't put it into the links on here yet as I haven't asked his permission but go to www.birdguides.com and look at Little Owl shots from Leicestershire, in fact just look for amazing Little Owl shots and he will be there at the forefront.

See you all next time and don't forget click on the images for a bigger version.

Hot news

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.