I cant believe that there has not been many December sightings reported on this forum?! especially since the weather has been so mild!! Today, i visited a Nature Reserve in Kent, which over looks the Swale Sea Channel, its known as Oare Marshes, its an important wetland Reserve for Birds. The sun di...

This last Thursday (26/11/15) whilst at work, i just had that feeling that i might see a butterfly in the sunshine.
Sure enough, a Red Admiral flew past me, the time being approx 1.00pm.

Several garden November sightings too, both Comma and Red Admiral.

Location - Kent, cheers Paul.

Plenty of Sunshine here in Kent on the 25/10/15 :wink: A few Butterflies on the wing too, 5 species were seen, those being - 1 Small Copper, 1 Peacock, 1 Small Tortoiseshell, 2 Large White and at least 4 Red Admiral (3 were seen together, chasing each other!). Several photos, none of these images ar...

This last Sunday (11/10/15) wasnt too bad for sightings. I saw 1 Red Admiral, 1 Large White, 1 Small White, 2 Small Copper, 2 Comma and a fresh looking Speckled Wood. Location- Kent. Cheers Paul. Small Copper, looking a little worn, but the other one was "fresher". 11th-October-2015-to-600...

Tough to spot any real numbers of butterflies for me lately! This last Sunday, i sighted just the 1 Small Copper, 1 Comma, an a couple of distant "Whites" (ether LW or GVW). Plenty of Dragonflies on the wing though, an still a few October Damselflies about. Location- Kent, cheers Paul. 4th...

dilettante wrote:I love the composition on that lizard shot!

Thanks very much, i spend quite a lot of time each year, observing/photographing UK wild Reptiles.
The adult lizard had just eaten a Spider, an the juvenile lizard was being cautious/timid in the background.

Cheers Paul.

Evening all. Since there are several Panasonic FZ Bridge camera enthusiasts on this forum, I was just wondering if any of you good people would have an old Panasonic FZ50, that you do not use anymore? The FZ50 was a good camera in its day, and its a camera that I would like to put to good use, havi...

Had a quick look in at Queensdown Warren (Kent) this last Sunday, with very few species seen on the wing. Still good numbers of Meadow Brown, 3 tatty Brown Argus, 1 female Chalk hill Blue, 1 female Common Blue, 1 Red Admiral, several Large Whites, 2 Green veined Whites, 1 Comma, 1 Peacock...best of ...

I have also occasionally added a little at the side of a photo, in an attempt to improve the overall balance. I feel that your 'anti-crop' needs a little more at the top. On another controversial point - although the plain background is widely admired and considered to add to the artistic value, I ...

Errrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...ok, ive "cheated" here for the last crop/image :roll: Ive given the butterfly more space to fly/move into, but still retained some sort of distance from the wing tip, to the left of the image. All i used is an ancient Photoshop 6(which is 15 years old!!!) to edit this i...

I don't usually comment on threads which discuss the technical aspects of photography, mainly because I don't have any knowledge of the subject. But this is more to do with the aesthetic; itself highly subjective, so we'll all see it differently. The natural crop for me is as below. In the examples...

Of course if you do take a great picture like that, and crop like Mikes example. You should be arrested, and sent to prison, for crimes against photography. :D Regards Gruditch Cheers for the compliment on my original image :wink: but as i said above, Mikes version/crop, was always going to look &q...

Gruditch wrote:No you can't do that to that picture, I'm calling the police.

Regards Gruditch

yes, it does seem like a crime has been committed there.

Of course if you do take a great picture like that, and crop like Mikes example. You should be arrested, and sent to prison, for crimes against photography. :D Regards Gruditch Cheers for the compliment on my original image :wink: but as i said above, Mikes version/crop, was always going to look &q...

I agree with Pete but you do have to decide what is the subject. If you were aiming to show the SSS specifically, then I would choose something like this: Paul'sSSS_crop.jpg It still lets you know that it is feeding from the flower but places the all-important eyes near the 1/3 points in the image ...

I asked this very question several years ago. And the answer is - to crop to suit the subject / composition. DO NOT be constrained by any fixed aspect ratios (4:3 etc.). Some of my own photos, while shot in landscape, became portrait, and vice-versa, as a result ... and all for the better. Cheers, ...

Well, as i said before, i rarely keep a complete image(99% tend to be cropped). But this 1st image is in fact, uncropped! :wink: However, i think there is too much space above the butterfly, so i prefer the 2nd cropped image(where i cropped a little off the top) and the 3rd image has been cropped at...

I wonder if this is an example of leucism ? I have seen examples in birds but it can occur throughout the animal kingdom. According to Wikipedia : "Leucism is a condition in which there is partial loss of pigmentation in an animal resulting in white, pale, or patchy colouration of the skin, ha...

A great weekend had at both Queensdown Warren(Sat and Sun) and Darland Banks(Sat)...both sites in Kent. On the 15th, i spent the afternoon at Darland Banks(having spent the morning at Queensdown Warren) and whilst talking to a fellow enthusiast, he spots a Clouded Yellow, which was flying hard/fast....

Incredible photos/bahavioural account shown here.