ChrisC

[Susie]

Those aren't mozzies, they're fairies!

Love your butterfly photos, I thought I was doing well with a small tort, a couple of red admirals, a comma and large and small whites.

[ChrisC]

if fairies suck blood then yep they were fairies
ta for the comments on the pics, not as good as a brown hairstreak mind

[ChrisC]

not knowing what i wanted to do today, choices being preparing soffits and fascias for painting, go out after butterflies or do something else. i decided to do something else...... I drove up to Longstock nursery in search of a later flowering buddliea. it was about 10. when i got there and already lots of butterflies on the buddlieas, Peacock, comma, red ad and small torts galore. I spent half an hour just walking up and down the row in the main garden part just enjoying the spectacle. the camera stayed firmly in it's case as too many butterflies to choose from. so making note of the one i wanted to get i headed into the nursery and ended up with 2. Autumn beauty and bicolour flowerpower (Susie it was on your recomendation so it better be good ) well they proved a hit in the garden as before i could sit down and contemplate where to put them 2 silver-y were already on them. they have been occupied all day so still don't know where they are going to go. so now i'm up to 10 varieties. i can forsee a conifer and apple tree suddenly needing to come down
here they are,

and some shots from today all taken on them

this comma used all it could to try and push off the small tort.

so ..... so far so good.

[Susie]

Have you ever known me to be wrong?







Don't answer that!

[ChrisC]

took the afternoon off and popped over Martin Down.. small heath, meadow brown, common blue, single chalkhill, possible Adonis but wind took it, red ad, small tortoishell,] small and large white, small copper. as you will see some are really starting to look tired. but some stunning fresh common blues.

and if you want to see a male blue pulled around by a female for 4 minutes this video is for you
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcwikZDc ... ature=plcp[/video]

[Susie]

That last common blue photo is utterly gorgeous

[Debbie]

Lovely pictues, and great common blue

Debbie

[ChrisC]

Thank you Ladies it was my favourite too

[ChrisC]

martin down again this morning. after my afternoon visit during the week i had a rough idea of where to stake out. and the butterflies didn't let me down. at one point a chalkhill, adonis and 2 common blue chasing each other. ok maybe not in the best condition but still great to watch.
some of the common blues were in fine fettle

with females varying from brown to almost blue, including 2 ovipositing which i've not witnessed before

some of the adonis were looking tired and the wind caught the freshest one after one (bad) shot not to be seen again

a small heath doing something other than laying in the grass which was a pleasure to see. past the sell by date though.

and on the way back my eye caught some movement to see this little chap keeping an eye on me

a pleasant couple of hours of pretty much just sitting watching.

[ChrisC]

as mentioned in previous post. my first egglaying encounter.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlrEZE_O ... ature=plcp

[ChrisC]

a very nice autumn day today started with a lie in before taking the dogs out. the dew bringing the normally invisible world of spiders to life, webs were everywhere

by the time i got back the garden was starting to come to life

an afternoon walk with the dogs didn't produce many butterflies but there is still plenty to see

fox moth caterpillars were fairly common

looking for A.quadratus, i didn't find any, but i did find plenty of other species including a couple of raft spiders

but while watching a large dragonfly over a small ditch i spotted my first ever Black Darter

a fine Autumn day.

[Wurzel]

The Black Darter is a beaut - the Stealth Darter almost

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[ChrisC]

thanks Wurzel, i was chuffed to see it.

a 2nd new species for the weekend zygiella atrica, although a common species i have looked at many hundreds of zygiella x-notata in my quest to find of these, tonight i succeeded. The extra long palps are the give away. not normally associated with buildings but this guy was on the side of the bungalow. it's almost a relief that i don't need to look so much now, though if i find him again in daylight i'm hopeful of a better picture

[ChrisC]

had the company of this most of the afternoon, the thicker the cloud the more pronounced it was, unfortunately my skill (or lack of) or the limits of the camera couldn't quite capture it.

just messing around reversed out in black and white. the eye in the sky

[Susie]

Sauron!

"Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatulûk, agh burzum-ishi krimpatul"

[Nick Broomer]

Lovely photos Chris, especially the second one, you even managed to dot the eyes.
All the best, Nick.

[MikeOxon]

Sauron!

I think it should be red for him!

Sauron.jpg (19.83 KiB) Viewed 1456 times

(apologies, Chris for messing about with your pic)

Mike

[ChrisC]

no worries Mike

[ChrisC]

well i bit the bullet yesterday and bought myself a Digital SLR, a macro lens and some extension tubes, only had a chance to use the macro lens, and judging by the cropped images below, there could be some interesting pictures next year

[Neil Freeman]

Nice ones Chris,

Looking forward to seeing what you post with your new kit.

Cheers,

Neil F.