MikeOxon

[Lee Hurrell]

What a lovely story, Mike. Great photos too!

It reminds me of my English classes at secondary school when I used to watch and sketch a family of partly white crows that lived a group of large trees in the school fields. My English didn't suffer, thankfully.

I also used to see a Blackbird with one white outer tail feather most mornings when I lived in Kent. I remember reading around that time that recent research had shown that people think they see the same Blackbird(s) each day but mostly they were just passing through. I knew this one was local!

Keep up the good work.

Best wishes,

Lee

[MikeOxon]

Still not the weather for butterflies locally. Today was dull and drizzly but, by way of compensation, there was a beautiful Red-necked Grebe in full breeding plumage on my local Farmoor reservoir, this afternoon.

RNGrebe, Farmoor res. Oxon - 6th April 2014
Nikon D300s with 300/4 + 1.4X TC - 1/500s@f/6.7 ISO800

Mike

[MikeOxon]

The weather was looking considerably better in Oxon today. While I returned to Farmoor Reservoir for another look at the beautiful Red-necked Grebe in full breeding plumage, I also noted several Peacock butterflies ranging over the grassy banks of the reservoir.

A surprise came this evening, as I went to put out the wheelie bins for collection tomorrow. A Peacock was roosting on the vertical side of the bin. I placed the bin in a sheltered position by the hedge at the front of the house and hope the butterfly will wake early enough tomorrow to escape 'the early bird'.

Roosting Peacock, Abingdon - 9th April 2014
Lumix TZ25 - fl=13mm, 1/60s@f/4.7 with flash

Mike

[MikeOxon]

Since I decided to start this blog, there seems to have been rather a dearth of butterflies locally. Yesterday was especially frustrating, as I set off to explore the Roman Road on the Southern edge of Otmoor in glorious warm sunshine.

'Roman Road' Otmoor, Oxon

This track, which starts adjacent to the entrance to the RSPB Reserve, provides a wonderful sheltered habitat for butterflies, dragonflies, and several species of warblers; indeed it is known locally as 'warbler alley'. At the far end, as seen in the photo, is the 'forbidding gate', which I have mentioned in a previous post at viewtopic.php?f=16&t=5917&p=54337#p54334

When I arrived, I could see good numbers of Brimstones, Orange Tips, Peacocks, and Small Tortoiseshells, all patrolling the length of the ride but then, within minutes, the clouds rolled in and they all disappeared!

I had to content myself with the songs of Chiffchaffs, Willow Warblers, and a trio of Blackcaps making a great noise as they chased each other along the hedgerows. At one stage, I spotted a couple of Peacocks in a tussle overhead but, unfortunately, an alert Chaffinch also spotted them and took one. The only photo I managed to get was of a Speckled Wood, grounded in the suddenly cool air. Not a great photo but my first sighting of the species this season.

Otmoor, Oxon - 10th April 2014
Nikon D300s with 300/4 + 1.4X TC - 1/350s@f/5.6 ISO800

I was expecting a repeat of the same today, as it was a glorious morning but I had a lunchtime appointment! Fortunately, however, although it became much cloudier, there were still some good sunny spells into the afternoon. This time, I decided to visit my nearest reserve, at Dry Sandford Pit. It was cloudy when I arrived but then the sun broke through and the quarry face was soon being patrolled by all the expected species. They all seemed to be in perpetual motion but then I found their feeding station, where an Orange Tip paused for my first photo of the year.

Dry Sandford Pit,Oxon - 11th April 2014
Nikon D300s with 70-300VR zoom - 1/500s@f/5.6 ISO800

When the sun disappeared again, I had my eye on an OT so was able to find its roost, which provided a few more photo opportunities.

Dry Sandford Pit,Oxon - 11th April 2014
Nikon D300s with 300/4 - 1/750s@f/5.6 ISO800

This time the cloud was quite extensive, so I moved in for a closer look at the underside scales. Although these appear greenish from a distance, a close view shows that they are, in fact, a mixture of yellow and black scales.

Dry Sandford Pit,Oxon - 11th April 2014
Nikon D300s with 300/4 - 1/250s@f/8 ISO800

Mike

[William]

That Peacock roosting on the bin is brilliant Mike , it's very difficult to get that level of detail on the underside when so often they are backlit or in harsh light.

[MikeOxon]

Thank you, William. Proof of the excellence of the Leica lenses used on the Lumix compact and bridge cameras.

I sometimes wonder why I lug around my Nikon gear

Mike

[Butterflysaurus rex]

I have to admit it Mike I'm a real sucker for those back lit Orange Tip photos. That Orange has an almost fiery glow, lovely stuff

B'saurus

[Pauline]

That's a great close-up of the OT Mike and interesting observation on scale colour.

[MikeOxon]

At last, a splendid afternoon on the Roman Road, Otmoor, Oxon. I spent several hours there on Sunday, having decided it was time to brush up my camera technique and try some new ideas.

Brimstone, Orange Tip and Peacock were the most abundant species present but I was pleased to see both Small and Green-veined Whites, and a few Speckled Woods, which provided me with much entertainment later!

Whites are notoriously difficult to photograph well, so I was pleased with this shot of a Small White, where the oblique lighting has really made the veins stand out. I am always surprised by how yellow the undersides look in photos but, when I look at Richard Lewington's paintings, they show similar colour, so it must be correct! I suspect that it's another example of how the brain assesses colours according to context, rather than perceiving what is actually there.

'Roman Road' Otmoor, Oxon - 13th April 2014
Nikon D300s with 70-300VR zoom - 1/2000s@f/5.6 ISO400

On the opposite side of the ride, I spotted another white; this time it was a Green-veined, lit through the wing, which has enhanced the appearance of the veins.

'Roman Road' Otmoor, Oxon - 13th April 2014
Nikon D300s with 70-300VR zoom - 1/750s@f/8 ISO400

Next, I found a female Green-veined White, with her abdomen raised in the typical "stop bothering me" position. The muted colours of the shady background have helped to keep attention on the butterfly.

'Roman Road' Otmoor, Oxon - 13th April 2014
Nikon D300s with Tamron 90mm macro - 1/350s@f/13 ISO400

If whites are diffcult, Orange Tips in sunshine are doubly so, because of the strong contrast between body and inner wing and then the saturated colour of the wingtips. The extended brightness range (dynamic range) offered by a DSLR in RAW mode really helps here and, with a little 'dodging and burning' allows all these very different areas to be rendered reasonably well. I did some experiments and found that photos taken with -0.7 exposure compensation gave the best overall result. (Incidentally, the 'HDR' mode on some Lumix cameras - e.g. FZ200 - does a good job, providing the subject remains still through multiple exposures)

'Roman Road' Otmoor, Oxon - 13th April 2014
Nikon D300s with 300/4 lens - 1/750s@f/13 (-0.7EV comp) ISO800

Later in the afternoon, I found a pair of Speckled Woods engaged in a prolonged aerial combat. They were continuously gyrating around each other, while moving to and fro across a failry limited 'jousting field'. I decided that it was time to practice some 'in flght' photography. Although modern automatic cameras are wonders of technology, there is still a need for practice, to get the best results. After all, we wouldn't expect to be able to play a piano well, without a few hours practice each day! It's the same with a camera - we have to develop a sort of 'finger memory', so that we know exactly where each control is and, more importantly, how much to move it. This allows us to get the effect we want by innate 'feel', rather than having to read dials. So, a quick roll of the thumb on shutter speed or aperture, to react to changing conditions or, even more important, an instinctive twist on the focus ring - in the right direction at the right time! This last is an area where a 'prime' (non-zoom) lens scores, since there are too many variables with a zoom and it is very diffcult to develop the 'instinctive' feel for such a lens.

These were the skills I decided to practice on the Speckled Woods! I must have taken well over a hundred shots, with the camera set on high-speed firing rate (in my case, 8 frames per second). The first 60 or so were complete rubbish but then I started to get the hang of it!

'Roman Road' Otmoor, Oxon - 13th April 2014
Nikon D300s with 300/4 lens - 1/750s@f/4 ISO400

First of all, even the high-speed autofocus of my Nikon AFS lens was totally useless. Even if it caught one of the pair momentarily, it instantly lost focus again, as they spiralled around each other. So, it was time to switch to manual and train my 'finger memory'! The Nikon 300mm f/4 lens has a nice broad focus ring, which turns easily and smoothly - essential for this work. It's also essential to get used to which way the ring turns, to move closer or further away. So I spent some time learning to keep focus as well as I could on the rapidly moving subjects, standing back sufficiently far from the combat to have a chance of keeping them within the frame. These butterflies were moving really fast, so I used aperture priority, set at maximum (f/4 for this lens), to achieve the highest possible shutter speed as they moved in and out of sun spots. Gradually my success rate began to improve and became even better when I increased to ISO800 for a still higher shutter speed so that, at last, I started to get some reasonable photos:

'Roman Road' Otmoor, Oxon - 13th April 2014
Nikon D300s with 300/4 lens - 1/2000s@f/4 ISO800

I had the cameras on a loose ball head on my monopod, which provided a little stability (in the viewfinder), while leaving me free to pivot around, following the action. Then,it was just a case of following focus with the manual ring and touching the shutter button whenever there seems to be a reasonable chance of a decent result! I don't know about the butterflies but I was exhausted when they finally gave up their chase (10 -15 minutes!) and suddenly parted to go their separate ways.

'Roman Road' Otmoor, Oxon - 13th April 2014
montage of photos taken during prolonged airborne duel

With my new-found skills, I finished the day with a few shots of the bee-flies hovering over the ride - at least they kept reasonably still for a few seconds at a time.

'Roman Road' Otmoor, Oxon - 13th April 2014
Nikon D300s with 300/4 lens - 1/350s@f/9.5 ISO800

All have to do now is continue to put in lots of practice

Mike

[Willrow]

Thoroughly enjoyed your post Mike, I can only admire your new found (and well earned!) skills, as a fellow Nikon D300 man I know what your going through...in fact I know so well that I decided to quit and put all my impatience and lack of ability down to chronic camera shake!!! Incidentally you surely chose one tough species to hone your skills on, akin to the butterflies version of 'whirling dervishes'

Kind Regards,
Bill

[Neil Freeman]

Great post and some superb photos, I particularly enjoyed the sequence of Speckled Wood in fight

Cheers,

Neil.

[MikeOxon]

Many thanks Bill and Neil. Your approval is a huge encouragement.

I've taken so many butterfly portraits that I'm trying to 'spice things up' a bit. A cynic could ask why I don't just use a video camera but I'm trying the flight shots as a challenge!

Mike

[Butterflysaurus rex]

I've got to say your efforts have been very well rewarded with some really lovely photos. Whatever you're doing Mike keep on doing it

B'saurus

[David M]

You've shown real patience there, Mike and have deservedly got your rewards.

Lovely images.

[Pauline]

Great shots of the butterflies in flight Mike. Never been able to manage it myself. I take my hat off to you for your dedication and skill.

[robpartridge]

Some terrific photos in your recent posts, Mike - especially the whites. By the time I have worked out the exposure compensation they've always long gone!

[MikeOxon]

Yet another brilliant sunny day in Oxon.

I decided to visit Linkey Down since I had heard that Ring Ouzels were 'on passage' there. It's a favourite stopover on the migration routes to Northern hills. The Down used to be part of the Aston Rowant NNR before that was cut in two by the M40 cutting, so this is the remnant on the South side of the motorway. (Click on any of my photos for enlarged versions)

View over Oxon from Linkey Down

The panoramic view over the Oxon plain is impressive but the slope is much steeper than is apparent in the photo. As a result, I decided to leave most of my heavy photo gear at the top before starting down the slope. This was not a good decision since, although I did get some rather distant views of a Ring Ouzel, I also found a Green Hairstreak that was only too willing to pose for photos! So, I had to do the best I could with my birding tele lens. With a 400mm lens, it's a bit of a tightrope between camera shake and insufficient depth of field! Fortunately, the bright sunlight was on my side!

Linkey Down, Oxon - 16th April 2014
Nikon D300s with 300/4lens + 1.4X TC - 1/125s@f/16 ISO400

The iridescent colours,when seen in direct sun, are stunning - ranging from peacock blue at one extreme to yellow-green at the other. I hadn't noticed the brilliant orange leading edge of the wing so clearly before. This individual also had a fairly well-marked hair streak. For some reason, most of the examples I saw last year had very little, or no, white on the wings.

Linkey Down, Oxon - 16th April 2014
Nikon D300s with 300/4lens + 1.4X TC - 1/250s@f/11 ISO400

The next photo shows rather more of the upper wing surface than usual because the fore-wing is distorted - probably as the result of damage on emergence from the pupa. I've noticed that these hairstreaks often seem to 'writhe' their hind-wings up and down when resting but I have no idea of possible reasons for this behaviour.

Linkey Down, Oxon - 16th April 2014
Nikon D300s with 300/4lens + 1.4X TC - 1/180s@f/11 ISO400

Finally, the M40 cutting is well-known as a place to see Red Kites circling overhead. This one seemsto be checking its position on the road sign

Red Kite over M40 - 16th April 2014
Nikon D300s with 300/4lens + 1.4X TC - 1/1000s@f/5.6 ISO400

Mike

[Wurzel]

That is a stunningly marked Greenstreak Mike, a real cracker of a shot I reckon the Red Kite is trying to work out how to get back to Wales

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[MikeOxon]

That is a stunningly marked Greenstreak Mike

I agree, especially after comparing this one with others that I've photographed in previous years. I suspect it was freshly emerged but had, unfortunately, some wing damage that made it less 'flighty' than others.

Mike

[MikeOxon]

Today, I made a return visit to Linkey Down, as Ring Ouzels were still reported to be passing through. No luck and the weather was distinctly cooler than on Wednesday, so I didn't find any Green Hairstreaks either. I was, however, pleased to spot a Grizzled Skipper as it flew up from the ground onto a bare branch, where I suspect it stayed to roost for the night (it was about 4.30pm when I saw it first). Initially, its wings were open but then a band of cloud came over and it quickly folded its wings and dropped its antennae. Click on the images to see the fine detail.

Linkey Down, Oxon - 18th April 2014
Nikon D300s with 90mm Tamron macro - 1/500s@f/11 ISO800

I waited until the cloud passed and watched as the antennae rose and the wings started slowly opening again.

Linkey Down, Oxon - 18th April 2014
Nikon D300s with 90mm Tamron macro - 1/350s@f/13 ISO800

Unlike my last visit, I did have my macro lens with me but decided to experiment by taking a comparative shot with my 300mm tele.

Linkey Down, Oxon - 18th April 2014
Nikon D300s with 300f4 lens - 1/350s@f/9.5 ISO400

The different perspective is apparent but there is little difference in the quality of the two images. Of course, the bright sunlight meant that both lenses were well stopped down, so this was not a tough test. It interests me to see how even this butterfly shows some iridescent colour, which varies according to the angle of view - compare the bright reddish area on the left fore-wing in the last two shots.

Mike