May 2009 Sightings

[romansnumber7]

Went to Welshmoor yesterday hoping for PBF and maybe an early SPBF but unsuccessful on both accounts so will head back there in a couple of weeks when maybe I'll get a chance to see a Marsh Fritillary. But all was not lost as got my first sighting of a Green Hairstreak. There were lots of Orange tips(male) and GVW's along the Cuckoo flower filled ditches.

Camera settings on D80, Sigma 150 2.8
f9
ISO 200
1/200
Tripod

[Ian Pratt]

Good number of Glanville Fritillaries around in the Bonchurch Isle of Wight area yesterday. They have apparently been around since 24 April 2009. See photo in May 2009 gallery, and on Hants and IOW BC website.

[Jack Harrison]

A little bit of a cheat.

One of my newly emerged OTs placed on Cow Parsley, a favoured resting place in the wild. The pose is entirely natural, exactly as I have seen them. The camouflage is superb.

Jack

[NickB]

Nice one Jack! Not many on the Devils Dyke at the weekend; lots of Dingies and Green Hairstreak and a fantastic still-flying old Peacock. Also went to Burwell and saw a solitary Brown Argus, with lots of Brimstone females ovipositing or drinking moisture on the bushes. Then finally went to East Barnwell and found a nice female OT but not much else. Still waiting for the next few warm days to trigger another emergence...
N

[Jack Harrison]

Nick

Don't know why, but that Peacock reminds of my my mother-in-law. She's 90 today!

Jack

[Ian Pratt]

Very dull and cloudy day but stil saw 8 Glanvilles roosting at Bonchurch plus 3 roosting common blues- the first of the year.

[bugmadmark]

Have been to Gransden and Waresley Wood to practive with the new lens. The 15omm macro is heavy and takes a bit of practice indeed! My son and I found loads of Orange Tip eggs on Lady's Smock/Cuckoo Flower - have some pics but will upload samples when have time to put on PC. For now here is a GVW on Lady's Smock.

3rd May 2009 Green Veined White on Lady's Smock - Gransden and Waresley Woods

[Shirley Roulston]

That a nice photo of the GVW and tut tut Jack, you will be old one day
Shirley

[FISHiEE]

First trip out in anger with my new toy. Decided the 50D was a better choice than 5DII for my needs and so far I'm pretty impressed. Seems a shame to reduce this Pearl Border Fritillary down from 15MP to this 1000pix version. Freshly emerged, this female didn't know what her wings were for so I had her as a captive subject for approx 30 mins

[Gruditch]

I love My 50D too, defiantly noisier at higher ISO's than the 40D, but IQ is great.

My PB taken on Sunday, it took 4 hours of perseverance to get a shot worth keeping.

Gruditch

[FISHiEE]

Great shot Gruditch. They certainly are one of the more active species and it's difficult to get them to settle for a photo. They are also one of the more spooky species when they do too!

Found with the 50D per pixel noise is quite noticeably higher than my 30D even at 100 however this is partly due to lightroom by default enhancing brightness way too much when importing the RAW's so it made it look worse. Not really tried shooting much above 640 yet and never really did that often with the 30D. There are some awesome noise reduction software/pluggins out there that do a far better than Photoshop (Lightoom really sucks for this) and I am experimenting with them right now.

Initially I was concerned about the noise in the first few test shots I made but now I am using it in anger I am very satisfied indeed. Stacks more detail in the full images than I'd get in a blown up 30D image and more depth of field than I would have had with the 5DII. Plus I saved myself approx £1200 on a 5DII

LCD is awesome and I can see live view being an excellent feature in some situations. The step up from 5 to 6.3fps sounds not much but in reality it seems a massive leap in speed and I can see this being a big benefit in action situations.

[Neil Hulme]

Hi FISHiEE and Gruditch,
Don't understand a word of the technical stuff but I AM seeing two of the best PBF shots I've ever seen! Congratulations.
Neil

[bugmadmark]

Here are a couple of OT Ova my son and I found on Lady's Smock/Cuckoo flower on 3rd May 09 - Gransden and Waresley Wood

Look very carefully and you will see it!

Photo of Orange Tip Ovum on Lady's Smock. This was taken by my 10 year old using his Fuji Finepix point and shoot

and another..

OT ovum on Lady's Smock
Canon 400D Sigma 150mm Macro

[bugmadmark]

Male OT at Gransden and Waresley Woods, 03-05-2009

[Jack Harrison]

Successful day at Holme (Northwest Norfolk coast) in spite of less than perfcet weather with two firsts for the year for me, Brown Argus and Wall Brown.

Small Copper 100+
Green Hairstreak circa 10
Wall Brown just three. Photography interrupted when two males began sparring and spiralled out of sight.
Brown Argus just one.

The Green Hairstrreaks were coming down to the flowers and often clashing with the equally pugnacious Small Coppers; I had never before seen
interaction between these species.

Photos of all, but so many species published here already that probably only the Brown Argus could be of interest.

Jack

[bugmadmark]

Great shot Jack. Not been to Holme in years but may just take that trip if weather improves. From a real amateurs point of view - i can never get to see enough of members images as it is inspirational for me and keeps me focussed - even if I can't focus on the butterflies myself

[Jack Harrison]

OK, just for interest, this male chased the female on the ground for about two minutes before giving up.

Jack

[Denise]

Cracking day out today at Rodborough Common, Glos. Our target was the Duke, and we found half a dozen. Also here, Dingy Skipper, Brown Argus and Green Hairstreak.
We moved on to Hazelbury Common, Wilts, and Jerry found a single Marsh Fritillary. The weather was closing in so it all too soon went to ground. Great day out guys.
(Photo's on my blog)
Denise

[eccles]

Also, I brought back an unwelcome guest, almost certainly from Rodborough Common, a tick nymph that had attached itself to my hand near the base of the thumb. Fortunately, it had not yet punctured the skin to feed and I was able to pull it off with tweezers. So any visitors to Rodborough, take care.

[wiccaman9]

Hello all,

Just back from Totternhoe quarry today. Sorting through some pics, very good I feel.
T.quarry took a while to warm up and get going, feared there were no D o B's for a while, but saw at least 8 on the wing at the same time, 6 in one area, and 2 from a smaller population area. With some side winds, hopefully the population is considerably more. Holly blues, G-v/small/large whites on the go, and dingy skippers.

Brief visit to Totternhoe knolls a waste of time, 2 dingy skippers... far too windy!

brief visit to Sewell cutting before I left for the two hr drive home, not too bad...only one Duke seen I'm afraid, no Little blues seen anywhere yet, slightly too early I feel. Whites galore, lots of OTs and brimstone. Saw a single male Common blue, rather early. Occasional cinnabar moths.

Dreaming of my next trip to the broads in the coming weeks....

Aron

ps Thought I'd share some pics with you....