ernie f

[trevor]

Cheers for the info, Ernie. The plough is one constellation I do know.
With your description I should be able to locate the Comet.

All the best,
Trevor.

[ernie f]

Good luck, Trevor. My wife and I saw it last night. Its great through bins and imagine even better through a scope.

[ernie f]

I am thinking of starting a photo gallery of images of where a butterfly was a split second before I take a picture but in that moment decides to fly off! Today at Magdalen Hill I lost count how many times that happened. For example...

Yep - that would have been a fantastic shot of a Chalkhill Blue.

But I got a few decent shots in.

And there were 2nd-brooders galore, including Small Blue, Common Blue, Brown Argus and Small Copper.

[Wurzel]

I reckon they can hear the focus wheel/autofocus motor Ernie We butterfliers are a bit like fisherman - often regaling others with our tales of 'the one that got away' the similarity is even more marked when it comes to Grayling The shots you did manage to get are great Ernie and the one of just the plant is a cracking image of Bird's Foot Trefoil

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[David M]

...I am thinking of starting a photo gallery of images of where a butterfly was a split second before I take a picture but in that moment decides to fly off!

God, if I were to do that I'd threaten the bandwidth limit of the forum, ernie!

Good to see you've got plenty of Chalkhills to keep you occupied and the pristine Brown Argus is a major bonus.

[Goldie M]

Hi! ernie, you could send me a Brown Argus please it's one I've missed this time lovely shot Goldie

[Neil Freeman]

I am thinking of starting a photo gallery of images of where a butterfly was a split second before I take a picture but in that moment decides to fly off!

Ah yes! Plenty of those myself Ernie

I reckon they can hear the focus wheel/autofocus motor

Or get spooked by the little focus assist lamp that some cameras have. I always turn it off on mine since I noticed the effect it can have.

Cheers,

Neil.

[trevor]

Like others, I must have had 100's of butterflies lined up perfectly in the viewfinder
only for them to make a quick getaway as I was actually shooting.
This happened only yesterday, I had a Wall Brown displaying perfectly on Vipers Bugloss,
only for it to flap it's wings a couple of times and move to an awkward position, then it was off!.

[David M]

Wall Browns are one of the worst for doing that, ernie.

If it were easy though it wouldn't be such fun.

[ernie f]

Wurzel - I think the main reason I get so many pics of butterflies with the butterfly actually absent is because I take liberties with them. I often set my camera to its super-macro close-up setting and creep up until I am only a few centimeters away!!! Invariably they clock me and do a flit.

David - Yep, I was very happy with this particular Brown Argus. As I mentioned to Wurzel above about my close-up efforts, I did manage to get within a few centimeters of it and get this pic before it flew off. And of course you are right. It's fun because it's difficult!

Goldie - OK, One Brown Argus is in the post to you.

Neil - Or it could be the vibrations of my footfall or even my breath on them from being so close?

Trevor - You didn't do such a bad job with your pic of a Wall Brown on a Vipers Bugloss though. That pic you missed must have been fantastic.

Regards to you all

[Matsukaze]

Once in a while though, the photo opportunity gets enhanced when another butterfly decides to join in unexpectedly!

[Wurzel]

"Wurzel - I think the main reason I get so many pics of butterflies with the butterfly actually absent is because I take liberties with them. I often set my camera to its super-macro close-up setting and creep up until I am only a few centimeters away!!! Invariably they clock me and do a flit."...I used to do that but then I religiously put the hood on the end of the lens which meant that I got used to standing back a little I also developed the butterfliers dance..."The Click Step", click, step closer, click, step closer, click, step closer etc...

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[ernie f]

Seeing other people have got fantastic shots of the Brown Hairstreak at Shipton and Noar Hill, I decided to try my luck today. Unfortunately I had to wait in for a delivery so got to Noar Hill a bit late. Still, I found two males and got a distant shot of one perched. My first shot of the year.

The lack of a close-up was amply rewarded though by the behaviour of these two males. They did their jousting style battle as usual, heading for each other and then narrowly by-passing one another at the last minute but then, wow - they started to spiral in a helix around each other, up and up before parting suddenly at the apex to dive back down to different parts of the tree beneath them. Now I had seen White-letter Hairstreaks do this in the past but to my memory this was the first time I had witnessed Brown Hairstreaks do it. I was well chuffed. No vid though.

And when I got tired of craning my neck upwards, at my feet I found a female Common Blue and a Small Blue. It's amazing what you might miss right next to you when you are looking at something else in the distance!

And on my walk back - a very fine example of a Clustered Bellflower.

[ernie f]

More fun with Chalkhills and BArgs today.

My quest for the ultimate backlit shot of one continues.

A courting pair of BArgs?

No - he got the brush off in the end!

[Wurzel]

Great backlit shots Ernie I like your shorthand for Brown Argus - it fits right in with their aggressive nature - "A bit of Argy Bargy like!"

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[ernie f]

Wurzel - Yes, your right. I might start calling them Bargies!

[ernie f]

Yesterday at Noar Hill I saw 20 species in 1 1/2 hours but by 10am it was 30 degrees and it got the better of me, so I went home. Many species were very energetic and rarely stood still for long anyway. However did get a nice Holly Blue female with its wings open.

Today I got to Noar Hill early and was staring up at an Ash tree by 7.45 am. It was already 16 degrees. Within 5 minutes I clocked my first Brostreak, and within an hour I had spotted four, all low down. They zig-zagged, they basked with wings open, they zoomed off making it look as though they had gone, only to sneak back round behind me - and they fought each other (all four were males). On one occasion, two males were jousting at around head height, the first time I had ever witnessed a Brostreak fight this low, and one of them came right at me and nearly flew right into my face, only swerving off at the very last second. Now I know what it's like to be on the receiving end of an intimidating male Brostreak in full fight mode. Scary!

That was an hour well spent I thought.

[trevor]

You get 10 points and a mrgreen for those open wing male Brown Hairstreaks, Ernie.
Something that has eluded me to this day. I once saw 22 males in two days, over a week,
but not one opened up!. ( Not seen a male since ).

Great stuff, keep well,
Trevor.

[ernie f]

Trevor, thanks for the 10 points. I think I may have accumulated 30 points in total from you now over this year.
I think the trick to see them with wings open is to get to site early. Around 8 am seems to do it.

[ernie f]

Proving the Brostreak open-wing phenomenon early-morning is no fluke.

I was at Noar Hill today for only 30 minutes at the Brostreak location that was so good to me yesterday and sure enough between 8 am and 8.15 am (a short window when it was both sunny and warm enough) they were up and about, basking, searching for females and fighting between themselves low down. Yesterday I worked out there were at least four at my chosen spot because when I got home and looked at my pics I found four with differing wear and tear marks. Today three were in the air at once having a squabble. I got more shots of them with wings open. Then it rapidly clouded over so I left because they settled out of view. It got sunnier later (as I write this) but I have shopping to do now. Darn.