Saturday 2nd July, 2011 After a late night dining and drinking with friends, it was a struggle to get out of be bed at 6am, but I was determined to get to Fermyn Woods early for the Purple Emperors. I had some useful tips in advance from NickB about where to go, so I had in my mind that I would be ...

Anyone going to Fermyn tomorrow? I'm hoping to get up there earlyish, with my 10 yr old son. It would be good to meet any other ukbutterfliers if you're there.

Your orchid is a Bee Orchid ( Ophrys apifera ) Where was it? They tend to thrive on rough waste grassland on chalk soils, often at the side of paths where the ground gets compressed. What a great evolutionary strategy: I'm a delicate flower and I'm only going to grow in heavily-trampled areas :D

That page is just black with no text on my PC here at work? The relevant bit from that page: A.1 What is the maximum size of memory card I can use in my camera? Note: A SD card which follows the SD standard fully is max 2 GB. Canon EOS 1000D: all SD and SDHC cards* Canon EOS 1100D: all SD, SDHC and...

I have had a problem with 2 memory cards. I bought a new 8GB card last year to go on holiday with and had real problems getting it to work in my Canon D10. I figured it was perhaps an older camera / newer and bigger card compatability issue. D10 (PowerShot) or 10D (DSLR)? Assuming the latter, this ...

Thanks, Wurzel. I'm my own worst critic

A few underwhelming pics from Sunday at Alice Holt, Hants #1 Silver-washed Fritillary http://www.pbase.com/dilettante/image/136003478/original.jpg #2 Tatty White Admiral http://www.pbase.com/dilettante/image/136002810/original.jpg #3 Oversharpened distant Purple Emperor! http://www.pbase.com/diletta...

Wednesday 29th June 2011 Following a tip received in the thread "White-letter Hairstreak near Cambridge?" I went to my local Park and Ride car park after work. I wasn't entirely confident about recognising elm trees, but went along with my camera and a pair of binoculars. Being a P&R ...

Yay! Saw them at Madingley Park and Ride this evening! Quite a few WLHs on a poplar (I think) overshadowing an elm tree. No close views, only through binoculars, and then only when they moved, but nice to see them anyway. Also a few Purple Hairsteaks on the oaks there. For anyone wanting to find the...

Sunday 26th June 2011 Went to Alice Holt (Straits Enclosure) with my family and brother to look for White Admirals, Silver Washed Fritillaries and hopefully Purple Emperors. We met up with Matthew again who was able to show us the best places (and times) to look. The morning heated up very quickly,...

I saw a Holly Blue in my garden yesterday (South Cambs, 26 June). it looked in very good condition, so I assume it's 2nd brood, but it's a bit early for that, isn't it?

Great day out at Bookham Common ( today 26th June ) - Three Purple Emperors put on a wonderful display of acrobatics ; Silver- Washed Fritillaries and White Admirals almost everywhere we looked; and some very accommodating Purple Hairstreaks posing for photographs. Many thanks to Gibster who showed...

Saturday 25th June 2011 I was down in Hampshire for a family event, but had a couple of hours to spare on Saturday morning, so my brother, my son and I went to join the ever-affable Matthew Oates at Broxhead Common to see the the Silver-studded blues. Despite the weather there were a good many to b...

Plenty of SSBs at Broxhead Common, Hants yesterday. Looking at my photos, they have far less obvious silver studs than the ones shown here.

When I look at the galleries, there's nothing about copyright anywhere. Could there at least a catch-all somewhere in the gallery saying images are copyright of the submitter? Actually - I think this applies to the forums as a whole since photos aren't confined to the galleries. Anyone know what we...

Not having entered these competitions before, I have a question: I gather the pictures are supposed to be submitted anonymously, so does that mean you can't submit pictures you've already posted in other topic threads? Also I'm sure this has been discussed before, but having anonymous submissions me...

This page is pretty thorough. I haven't read it in a while, but probably should go back and read it again!: http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/image-sharpening.htm On the subject of downsizing it says "For downsized images, an unsharp mask radius of 0.2-0.3 and an amount of 200-400% wor...

I don't have a magic formula, so I'll be watching this thread with interest. Some images posted here look spactacularly sharp, better than I can achieve even with shots taken in perfect conditions. But I also find overshapened images look worse than soft ones, so there has to be a good balance to be...

Saturday 18th June 2011 With the forecast predicting heavy showers and wind, i wasn't going to bother butterflying today. But when it had been bright all morning, I made a late decision to go to Broxbourne Wood to look for White Admirals. I drove through some heavy rain but by the time I got there ...

Trev Sawyer wrote:... at the Cambridge P&R site [...] I drive past every day

So much for the Park and Ride scheme!