Cheers Neil and Dave
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
I too have experienced the frustration of the Silver Y! Previously whenever I've attempted to get shots of them they have either been ridiculously difficult to approach or when you do get close enough they've buried themselves in the grass so you get shots of a blob behind some green stuff, or as you both mentioned they are busy vibrating their wings to such an extent that the hum is almost audibile
![Twisted Evil :twisted:](./images/smilies/icon_twisted.gif)
I was so shocked that this one was still (possibly torpid?) that I went and checked later that it had moved to make sure it wasn't dead
Garden, my refuge
Another nice weekend has passed but it’s like a switch was flicked on Saturday night as the temperatures dropped, the wind built and the rain that had been threatening for a while finally came. Still on Saturday I was blissfully ignorant of what was to come and with the girls back from swimming and a trip to town (sarcastic yay!) in the offing I nipped out for a short while to make the most of the back garden.
As usual it didn’t disappoint with 5 Red Admirals all feeding on the smallest Ivy bush in all the surrounding gardens! At some points there was so little room that they were crawling over one another to find nectar. I decided that I’d taken more than my fair share of Red Admiral shots this year so had a poke around to see what else I could find. The top end of the garden was very quiet apart from a few Hover Flies and also an unusual looking fly. It looked like a mosquito with its’ large spindly legs but the head didn’t seem right?
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The Red Admirals were still feeding like crazy on the Ivy so I succumbed in the end but tried for some different shots. So rather than getting level side on views I started poking the lens between the bushes and deliberately tilting the camera a few degrees off level. However I was most happy with the shots that I took from below one Red Admiral, with the sun streaming though its’ wings it took me back to those heady days during the early summer looking for Silver Studs at Slop Bog. In another shot the Admiral is almost playing peek-a-boo with me.
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On the other side of the garden a Wasp was chewing the fence for paper. I managed to move in really close for a shot and then as I backed away was surprised to see a Comma fluttering up from an Ivy leaf right where I’d been standing. I was even more surprised when the dead leaf I brushed my hand against was a second Comma which stoically remained in disguise. I was about to get some shots of this when something really special caught my eye. I remember years ago when I was first getting into birding I’d flick through field guides and there was always the section with the birds I’d love to see – Hoopoe, Roller, Bee-eater. The really bright, gaudy ones that catch the eye and stand out from the rest of the LBJs. Well what I’d found was the Wasp equivalent, a type of Cuckoo Wasp probably Chrysis ignita. It was stunning with a bright purple abdomen and its’ head and thorax bejewelled with Emeralds and Sapphires. I was only sad that the view was so fleeting.
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I did get back to the butterflies once I tried and failed to relocate the little wasp and again tried for some different shots, this time of one of the two Commas that were hanging out in the garden. I never realised how hairy they are – insulation ready for the winter ahead.
Unfortunately the trip to town couldn’t be postponed any longer so with a heavy sigh I headed back into the human world...
Have a goodun
Wurzel