A day out with the camera - again

Had a day off today so decided to go and play with the camera, a local area nature reserve – Aberthaw, I managed to get a poor picture of a Green Tiger beetle there a while ago so my view was to try again, 

 

a bit better this time but still lots of room for improvement, a good number of Dragons and Damsels were about, including a Emperor that would not land but was hunting all the time as well as defending territory, one shot I really want to perfect is the in-flight shot so time to practice panning and focusing while panning ! 

not brilliant but not bad for a start. Then there was the shiny new Common Darter 

and a slightly worn Black-tailed Skimmer. If you look closely you can see he was using this piece of polystyrene as a dinner table

Aberthaw has a good number of orchids each year but this year seems to be an absolute stormer – I especially like the Marsh Helleborines 

and the Pyramidal Orchids amongst the 

Common Spotted and Marsh orchids

There was alos this splendid chap - Mullain moth, the actual moth is rather boring in comparison

Then off to Parc Slip and another go at the Emperor in-flight. Being as these guys can do a seriously fast turn of speed, they are after all apex predators I was not too unhappy with my attempts but lots of work to perfect this technique is needed

In all of this a few beetles and other pretties, most people think the leaves turn red and yellow in autumn, the colours are always there all year but you normally only see the green – here is a new leaf with the autumn colours before the green covers it

A few beetles and other nice spots

Well we managed to get to Lincoln to see our parents, Yokes mum, my dad and Christine and my eldest brother and his lady. When I say ‘we’ I include Eleanor in that although the trip was hard for her with her balance disorder and lots of stops along the way were required.

I managed to get out for the day to a local reserve Whisby, - http://www.lincstrust.org.uk/whisby-nature-park

It really is a great area to take a day out at, not only great wildlife but a nice centre to take a break in. It did rain and I took shelter in a hide, so after 40 minutess or so great views of Common Tern, Black-headed gulls with chicks and a Kingfisher I went for a longer walk to get some insect shots, after rain and with a bit of sun they all come out.

 I had a bit of time in the hide to try panning shots - but as my lens was only a 150mm it is a bit 'distant' so I cropped the picture a bit

common tern flying in the rain

 

Bugs were all around with a couple of new ticks for me, and an awesome view of a Red Deer albeit fleeting and no chance of capturing it on film.

Chimney Sweeper moth

Rare beetle and a new tick - Agapanthea villosoviridescens

new Moth for me - Latticed Heath

This moth has no common name but the male has the longest antenna of any UK moth

Nemophora degeerella

did not spot the moth till i saw the shot on the computer monitor

called a Snout - obvious really

having lunch 

 

After that on the Sunday we went over to my brothers home  – he has a decent sized garden and we dug a pond in it earlier in the year – a few insects have found it to make it home to our pleasure as have a few ducks to his annoyance as they muddy it up and eat all the leaves of the aquatic plants trying to grow !

Overall a really nice weekend, it was really nice to see everyone and for me to have a bit of decent insect photography done outside my home location.

Nice dragonfly Libellula depressa , female and male, femal on Lupin.

 A rather handsome hover fly

Helophilus pendulus

 
Backswimmer or Water Boatman, if you look closely you will see small creatures at the back - its the young of the water boatman I think - thats also them - the small brown spots top rh side

water boatman

 A very young bush cricket if you realise thats a petal of a dog daisy it is sitting on you will see how small it is

 I really must sort out the presentation of this to get the photos side by side a bit more - ah well something for the next time.