Strumpshaw today - several Swallowtails despite the strong breeze. First sighted on 13th May this year.
Nick

Having had a similar debate at my camera club recently ..... I have come to the conclusion that the use of image processing - especially "gardening" in wildlife photography - comes from the fact that we are all getting lazy! Lazy in that we want instant results! Lazy in that we may not mov...

Well - a bit of cross country and a fence or two gave me access to Over railway cutting one weekend afternoon. And the good news was that there were quite a few Grizzlies on the original banks. None in Transition area yet - it could work - tho' since new area closer to top of hill and not so shelter...

Phew!
I'm planning the Bank-holiday weekend for a visit to Norfolk - thanks to everyone for the info - don't want to miss them this year!
(Thanks to JackHarr also who pointed out that in the last few years Swallowtails have been emerging a couple of weeks earlier than when he was a lad! )
Nick

I think it might be a week or two too early. But, as I always say to those that ask me how I get to see so many species - it's because I actually make the effort :) Good luck. Cheers, - Pete Given the heatwave this week, don't you think that things will start to happen around that time? Last year (...

Ted Ellis Reserve, Surlington(?) nr Norwich is one site...Also How Hill, Strumpshaw..
N

"Gwenhwyfar" "The photo shop stuff - Maurice Pugh advised me at the UK Butterflies photography workshop day, that my Common Blue pic, would be better if I removed the blade of grass running at an angle in front of the butterfly’s antenna." Exactly the same advice I have had when...

Sorry for being stupid, but I'm not sure what you mean by this? The Hairstreak is making a very good impression of a leaf, but why 'After Gwenhwyfar'? After Gwenhwyfar.....Can't you see I'm a leaf?! Sorry - It is just that I have seen that it is also the composition, rather than the traditional fil...

Both Devils Dyke, Newmarket and Fleam Dyke, Cambridge - see Butterfly Conservation Cambs & Essex Branch Website for Sightings

Found these dodging the dog**** on the Devils Dyke at Newmarket Racecourse!
Nikon D300 Tamron 90mm ISO 250 f11 @1/160, Monopod, Cropped in Photoshop.

Surely the challenge for us all is to take better "photos" or digital images, using a camera. I know that I can (and possibly should seeing the standard here) take a Photoshop course with my camera club, to produce better images from the originals. And whilst it is true that a good picture...

I have an interest in that now I have no IS but a DSLR and lenses I wish sometimes for the in-body IS in my old Panasonic FZ50! The image quality now is much better, but even with monopod getting them pin-sharp is difficult. I regularly hand-held down to 1/25th with good results on my Panasonic. But...

In the light of the fantastic GH shot by FISHiEE - (nice lighting - do I detect a hint of fill-in flash?) changed to this one from Mill Road Cemetery yesterday morning.

Strange to find thread on Chalkhills but there you go... Interesting to see that the numbers of Chalkhill Blues seems to have dropped dramtically for previous peaks in good years from transect counts around the country. I walk the Fleam Dyke nr Cambridge where a few tens of Chalkhill Blues have been...

Hi fellow Cantabridgians, I realise that officially the answer is no, but it always an unofficial right of way I think. Trev ....... if I can go there without harming anyone else or compromising their rights or property in any way, I feel quite justified, particularly since, as you state, disused r...

Here in Cambridgeshire there are few sites with Grizzlies.....a disused railway at a place called (prophetically) Over, about 8 miles out of Cambridge was the most dependable site and had been managed by BC volunteers over a number of years to reach that state. However, it stood in the way of progre...

Don't know if this is the right place for this. But what nectar sources for emergees have other members seen being utilised? I myself have tried to stick to native plants for the garden but in the Cemetery nearby I have seen seen only daisies used as well as the Mahonia that both the Comma and Small...

There is a sheltered spot near home in South Cambs where I can virtually guarantee to see a Comma in early spring. Today there was one basking within 3 or 4 metres of the same spot used this time last year and the previous year. The individual butterflies seem to remain within a small area occasion...

Now that I have got a DSLR it seems de-rigeur to defend the brand I own - it could have been Canon but in the end I got the Nikon D300 and I know it is not full-frame (my fiancee would not have put up with that) and NOT A CANON, which seems to upset the guys out there, but I have to agree with the p...

jackharr wrote:I am delighted to learn Nick that your fiancee understands the need for proper equipment

Jack

I couldn't possibly comment!