My Bogie Butterfly

After a slow start to the week taking all the usual seasonal butterflies, and with the occasional detour to capture damsels and dragonflies, i was sitting on me sofa minding my own, when young Dennis called, inquiring if i'd like to have yet another bash at the Little Terns on the Chesil Bank at Ferrybridge. I agreed to meet him there, and we had a reasonable day togging the terns and ickle fluffy Ringed Plovers.
   Most of my friends know that for the last few years my bogie butterfly hasn't been the Large Blue (which is bl***y difficult) or the Wood White (that is flippin' elusive), but a very attractive woodland butterfly, the White Admiral.
   Earlier in the week i had received a message from Chris Rowland, informing me that 25 White Admirals had been seen in Piddles Wood near Sturminster Newton, so i arranged with Dennis to have a go at those the next day. This proved to pose quite a challenge, and actually took two days of our time. The problems were many, but in the end i was quite pleased with some of my shots, as i have not had much luck in the past with these quick woodlanders.

Little Wings

I've been taking insect shots of one sort or another all week. I'll just bung them on here, and label them as i go. No Large Blue for me today unfortunately, but i know someone that got a female laying eggs.
Small Red Damselfly

Blue-tailed Damselfly (fem form rufescens)

Black-tailed Skimmer (immature male)

Emerald Damselfly

Banded Demoiselle (male)

Ruddy Darter (Imm. male)

Keeled Skimmer (male)

Silver-studded Blue

Wood White Quest

The ongoing search by me and some of my friends to find the elusive Wood White at Powerstock Common continued again at the weekend. Not photographed at the site since 2012, there are fears within my group of friends that the colony may have died out. This delicate and enigmatic little butterfly is a joy to stumble across, and favours clearings, and dis-used railway lines. The photographs below are taken in 2011, and 2012 respectively.

Chasers, Skimmers, and the Little Tern Chase

What a great week i've had. Brilliant weather, and loads of photographic opportunities. So to celebrate last night i fell off the wagon again, and as a result i'll begin by apologising to all the people that i might have upset in the last few hours.
   Last Sunday me and Chris visited a Purbeck pond, it is on private land, so i can't reveal the location. Like many of the ponds around Purbeck its brilliant for all kinds of wildlife, so we were able to fill our cards with numerous species.
   Wednesday marked the start of my obsessive Little Tern chase. They're only here for a few weeks to breed, and i decided that i had to get some good shots before they left for Africa. So with the Gardiner jaw set firmly out, i grabbed my camera ,300mm f4 and a 1.4 converter, and away to Ferrybridge. Little did i know then that this pursuit was going to cost an arm and a leg in parking fees, and provide quite a challenge for my limited 'bird in flight' skills.
   Convinced that the 300mm f4, and converter that had served me so well taking Common Tern shots at Lodmoor would do the job, i settled the bum on the pebbles and waited for the fishing terns to come close. They didn't come close enough for the lens, and actually didn't even start fishing until the tide was well out, and that was after three and a half hours of me taking pictures of the breeding Ringed Plovers. They've got little chicks running around at the moment, and while this was enjoyable enough, it wasn't getting me shots of Little Terns. I came away with just Plover shots.
   By Thursday i was finally coming to the conclusion that i was going to need the 300mm f2.8 with a X2 converter to get over the 'distance' issue. What's more i would need to hand hold the heavy combo in order to have the manouvreablity needed to track the fast little blighters. I'd tried a tripod, and a monopod with it, but i found both lacking when it came to tracking Little Terns. So using this approach, and getting to the location at the right tide time, i finally started to get a bit of tern joy. They are cracking little birds, and not here for long. Go on,,,, you know you want to. LOL,, i still haven't caught a splash or one in level flight. So another expensive week to come.

Wet Start Met Mark Redstart (say that quickly)

Last week started off a bit wet, so i met Mark for some more wee beasty searching, a pastime that me and my closest friends enjoy. Summer is a great time to explore with your camera the colourful world of small insects. On Thursday we both ended up in the gazebo with Danny again for a bit of tern in flight therapy, sadly i've become hopelessly addicted to this gibbering habit. Mark had to get his nut on the pillow in the afternoon to be fresh for work that night, so eight straight days of graft for him now.
On Thursday Chris returned from his Spanish foray, and we decided to go for the Redstarts in the New Forest on Friday. We had a really productive morning there, and we both filled our boots with loads of shots of the male, female, and two young ones.
On Saturday, i had a quiet day at Lodmoor meeting lots of contacts from Flickr, and other togging friends at the gazebo. Sometimes its nice to just go out with no pressure to take shots of anything at all, and just enjoy a bit of banter with like-minded people.

Catching up from the weekend

Had one last crack at the Dukes on the giant. Found one quite worn looking specimen, and that's me and the Dukes done for another season. Radar turned up, and after finding more butterflies than i had in the previous two hours, notably a hoard of Marsh Frits that were pretty high up the hill, we both trickled off to Powerstock Common in the vain hope of finding some Wood Whites. While we were searching the lane for these, Dennis turned up to help, but even three pairs of eyes couldn't spot a WW. I'll be surprised if any are seen there this season, but i'm often surprised so maybe,,,, fingers crossed they will appear. I managed a few shots of a Common Blue, a Brown Argus, and a Small Heath. After this we all fled to HHH, where not too much was occuring.

A Week of Two Halves

Its been a strange week,,, dismal, dull and prone to showers. I've recently got this little 'fold-up' umbrella that fits snuggly into a back pocket.
  Dull,,,,  isn't good for toggers, but you can take your 'sun' with you in the form of a flashgun for those insects that are less manic when its not sunny.

I have this funny obsession with craneflies, if you look on my Flickr insect album you'll see a few.

Whatta shocker! Shieldbug Rear End Kissing.

Aah yes! the last few days of the week,,,,, well click on my Flickr link on your right.