Despite the rain, the wind and the fact that it is grey as pitch, there were still plenty of PLs on the thistles here this lunchtime (plus a few large Whites). Yesterday, on the same small patch there were very large numbers of PLs, Whites various, Peacocks, Small Torts and at least 10 Common Blues....

I've just walked a couple of miles around Culham (Thames Valley) this lunchtime and have seen at least 100+ Painted Ladies - looked to me like another influx as most were flying fast from the SEast, although a few had taken up residence on teasels and sow thistles. Interestingly, a few Silver Ys nec...

....It is worth adding that, once practice has made perfect using .jpegs, it may be a good idea switching to .raw files as I believe most people find that the noise can be less evident when a raw file has been converted using a decent software programme (eg Photoshop or Elements), rather than by usi...

Dave - A common nasty here in Oxfordshire - latin name can be supplied if you're really interested. A good tip for avoiding horse fly bites: always go butterfly hunting with someone else, preferable hot & sweaty and wearing a dark t-shirt (same advice in principle as when you photograph polar be...

I sat in my garden on Sunday pm and watched them fly over at about 1 per 5 secs (South Oxon/berks border), with the occasional group of 10 or so individuals. Didn't see any American ones! However, I did see a couple of Silver Ys which were flying with them and peeled off into my garden to look for s...

I've been pressed into giving a presentation in a few weeks time about local wildlife in which I wanted to put a few pics of Green Hairstreaks and Adonis Blues, plus close-ups of the ants that they interact with. Does anyone know of a source for recordings of the "songs" that the larvae an...

Re the comment by Peter above:- The general guidance for handheld shutter speed is 1/lens focal length. For 150mm, that's 1/150s. However, if you don't have a full-frame sensor, then you need to take into account the 1.6 magnification factor - giving 1/(150 * 1.6), which is 1/240s minimum. Don't for...

Despite all the anti-doggism, it has to be said that they do have their uses...... A few years back while walking in the French Jura, I came across evidence of a fairly recent canine bowel evacuation exercise - fairly well attended by four Purple Emperors and two Lesser Purple Emperors. They were so...

Rats....don't talk to me about them! I am doing battle with one at the moment (name of Basil) with a body about 20 cms long. He has eaten the contents of my mothtrap once or twice, takes bait out of a normal rat trap and is never caught, and is too fat to get into a captive trap I have. I shot one o...

Chris Pickford wrote: Despite being a sceptic (scientist by training and profession), I do have to admit to having had a very serious UFO experience.....I have certainly never managed to find a convincing explanation! As for alien abductions, well, they never seem to take the right people, do they?...

Despite being a sceptic (scientist by training and profession), I do have to admit to having had a very serious UFO experience.....I have certainly never managed to find a convincing explanation! As for alien abductions, well, they never seem to take the right people, do they?

Chris

As a bit of an astrofreak, I've looked for and seen quite a few, although most are not particularly special. The most spectacular was mid-1980s when I saw one which went from horizon to opposite horizon and left a glowing trail for a minute or so. As it was 3.00 am, only a few people were up and spo...

I've used the Tamron SP90 lens with the Kenko TC. The resolution is still pretty good and exceeds the sensors requirement, but the contrast drops a bit. (I've also tested it with a very nice digital test chart I managed to talk out of a salesman!). Although they look a little flimsy compared with a ...

jack, I tried moff-ing this year for the first time using a very low cost trap (Paul Batty) based on a low pressure ring light like the ones in mosquito traps in restaurants. It may not be as effective as a higher powered trap, but it has certainly brought in many species of interest, sometimes in q...

I also have a set of the Kenko tubes and would say that they are reasonably strong (probably stronger than the mount of the Sigma lens?). If you were really worried about the weight of the lens and the body, you could use a Manfrotto 293 lens support - I've tried this with a D300+300mm F4 and a 30mm...

Not a posting for Canonites or Sonyites (very Old Testament) Has anyone any experience of the Nikon "cheaper" VR zooms? There is a glowing review from Ken Rockwell re the superzoom (18-200) which is fairly expensive; has anyone tried the cheaper more limited range zooms with VR for butterf...

......focal length (Eccles).

Taken with a 600 mm APO refractor (ie a small telescope) with a 2x multiplier.

Chris

Some of us take the macro lens off the DSLR and put something on with a longer focal length......

Chris

I've found a ring flash very useful at magnifications of 1x or more, although the results look very unnatural (dead boring even) unless there is something close behind to avoid the "caught in the car headlamps" look. For example, sheltering in a rose during a thunderstorm (old manual centr...

A bit off topic this, but I'm hoping there's a beetle expert around. I found this in my moth trap this morning - it appears to be a chafer, but I can't find anything like it in Collins or on the web.

Any ideas anyone?