October 2014

[Jack Harrison]

Tobermory Isle of Mull 2nd October

Four Red Admiral sighting today to add to the two yesterday in a different location on the island.

Jack

[Allan.W.]

HI ,all,
Had a great day amongst the clouded yellows today ,we visited a good Small Copper site nearby(Brookland ,Kent),and yes, there were still a few about,along with
a few common Blue, Small Heath, Small tort, red ad, Small white,but the star butterfly today was the clouded yellow ,we counted 30,but I feel that there were many more
On a couple of occasions, we had 6 in view at one time, we found a fresh female ,that still appeared to be drying her wings, and was hassled non -stop by two amourous males .Making our way back to the car, another clouded yellow passed us ,this time a lot paler,it landed briefly,could have done with one or two of you top photographers to have been there as well! an immaculate "Helice" female Clouded Yellow. Regards Allan .W.

[Essex Bertie]

Hi Allan,
Yes, I saw three dozen Clouded Yellows on the Essex sea wall today, east of Burnham-on-Crouch. There's lucerne growing in some fields, which helps! All the ones I got close to looked very fresh. There were also 8 fresh Small Tortoiseshells - can't work out what brood they would be. Also 20 Red Admirals migrating south-west along the sea wall.

Rob

[Allan.W.]

Hi ,Rob,
Nice one,seems like you had a good day to ,seems that the clouded yellows have had a great breeding season ,other species also seem really plentiful around here
particularly Small Copper ,Small Heath and Common Blue ,like yourself I,m a bit confused how many broods some species have had!
Regards Allan.

[Essex Bertie]

Allan,
Second brood Small Copper was virtually non-existent. I don't think I saw any. But the past month has seen really good numbers and my top 4 transect counts over the past 6 years.

Cheers
Rob

[Ian Pratt]

I am lucky enough to be enjoying wonderful weather in Northern Spain at present and was hoping to see my first Camberwell beauty in the Spanish Pyrenees. My wish was granted last Wednesday. I remember the thrill when I saw my first swallowtail and my first purple emperor. This was equally exciting as the butterfly was in pristine condition. See photos at Community>forums>overseas>Spanish Pyrenees
Hopefully they may remind you of your first exciting new butterfly species!
Ian

[Jack Harrison]

7th October
GV White near Tobermory, Isle of Mull. It had been unusually cold overnight (for Tob) with temperature down to +2.6C. The day warmed up nicely in the autumn sunshine so maybe this butterfly had emerged "thinking" spring had arrived (see thread elsewhere about out-of-season emergences).

Jack

[Testudo Man]

5th of October(last Sunday) I saw several species on the wing, including- Speckled Wood, Red Admiral, Peacock, Comma, Large White, a probable Small Tortoiseshell, and whilst photographing a Small Copper, a fresh male Common Blue flew by. The Small Copper (and I) gave chase after the common blue, but lost sight of it, so no photos of that butterfly!
In the 1st week of October, i sighted a probable Holly Blue fly through my front garden, over the roof, and into my back garden, no photos of proof though, but Im 99.9% sure it was a Holly Blue.

9th of October, in the back garden, sighted/photographed fresh Red Admiral, sighted large White, Comma, Speckled Wood. Also, my garden Buddleia Bush is flowering for the 3rd time this year!

A couple of images of that Small Copper, and glad to add it to "Species on my hand" shots.

Location- Kent.

Cheers Paul.

Not a Butterfly, but several Common Darters were seen mating, here is a macro shot of the females head(and the males tail!).

[EricY]

This afternoon (Oct 11th) in Holme village Norfolk I had a mating pair of Wall Brown's, fresh female & male a little worn. Yesterday in Holme dunes a very fresh mating pair of Common Darters. Seems fresh females are still emerging after this good summer we have had. Eric

[Testudo Man]

12th of October, and i took a trip to Oare Marshes Nature Reserve in Kent.
I had read on a birding site, that several Clouded Yellows were still active there, so despite the unfavourable weather forecast, i set off in the hope of seeing some October Clouded Yellows!
What little sunshine we had in the morning, was all but gone within 15 minutes of arriving on site...perhaps i should have left earlier!
I made my way to one of the on site bird hides, an within seconds, 4 Clouded Yellows were on the wing! The trouble was, these butterflies were a long distance off, and the area where they were, is not open to the public. Photos at this distance was a waste of time!
So off i went, to the other side of the reserve, and whilst watching a pair of Rock Pipits(i think?!) a Clouded Yellow flew straight past me, down a bank and landed out of sight! A five minute careful search/scan of the area was needed, before i set eyes on the little beauty. It was tough to spot these butterflies, especially when they land on the green/yellow stems/flowers! I think these weeds/flowers are know as Ox Tongue Thistles, but im not sure?

Anyway, some photos, cheers Paul.

1st photo is from a distance, using Nikon D7100 with 70-300mm VR lens, then the other images were captured much much closer, using Panasonic FZ28 Bridge camera, with a Raynox 250 macro lens.

Also seen on site, was a Peacock, and 3 tatty Common Blues(2 females, 1 male)...Nice to sight 2 Common lizards(whilst i was searching for the butterflies!).


This is an uncropped photo of 1 of the females, which i coaxed onto my thumb.

And finally, on the way home, i checked in to look for any butterfly activity, at Bluebell Hill (Maidstone/Rochester) but wasnt expecting to see anything at all!...Just the one male common Blue was seen, and he is probably destined to have a very lonely short life!
He looks to be quite fresh, so i guess he is a 3rd brood?

This photo is not cropped at all.

[Allan.W.]

Hi,Paul,(Testudo man)
Great Clouded Yellow pics ! at Oare marshes Paul,what sort of distance were you from the butterflies to the lense, when you used your Raynox macro lense
also was the Common blue on your thumb, taken using the same set up ? .Again great shots!! regards Allan W.

[Testudo Man]

Hi,Paul,(Testudo man)
Great Clouded Yellow pics ! at Oare marshes Paul,what sort of distance were you from the butterflies to the lense, when you used your Raynox macro lense
also was the Common blue on your thumb, taken using the same set up ? .Again great shots!! regards Allan W.

Hi Allan, thanks for your comment.
When using the Raynox 250 macro lens(on my Panasonic FZ28) the "working distance to chosen subject" is very close indeed! certainly less than 6 inches, and probably getting down to approx 3 inches, for some of my images. Thats the trade off when using this Raynox 250, in order to make these types of close up shots, you have to get really really close to your chosen subjects. Hence why i use a DSLR as well...I shoot record/normal Butterfly images with the DSLR 1st, then move in with the Raynox/Bridge camera set up, to try for close up/macro shots. Having to get within 3 to 6 inches working distance, in order to make the shot, takes a little practice! because with subjects that have wings, more often than not, you miss the shot, because the butterfly takes flight! But thats what makes it worth while/challenging(in the end,after numerous attempts!) when you eventually capture these types of close up photos.

Yes, with the image of the female Common Blue perched on my thumb, i used my Panasonic FZ28 with the Raynox 250 macro lens. Apart from re-sizing down to 600 x 450 (for posting on this forum) that image has not been cropped at all.

I hope this helps/answers your questions Allan, cheers Paul.

[Allan.W.]

Hi Paul(Testudo man),
Thanks very much for the information ,i,ll tell you what ,I,d take my hat off (if I was wearing one!) to you, that you managed to get within 6 inches of a clouded yellow ! amazing! but I must say ,I may well invest in one of those lenses, and then ,practice,practice once again ,thanks for the help. regards Allan W.

[jonhd]

A word (or 2) of warning, Allan... Paul's steadiness of hand, and whole body control in general, must be pretty damned good. A movement of a few mm., either way, will destroy the point of focus, when using the DCR-250. It's usable down to *very* close - see https://www.flickr.com/photos/ixfe/3899550052/ for example, and is best used in focus stacking type of macro photography (i.e. not, generally, in the field).

I have both the 250 and the 150. I use the 150 in the field quite a lot, with my Panasonic FZ200 - with the zoom set to around 5x (i.e. not very much zoom), a Clouded Yellow fills the frame (at about 6-9 inches). Around 8x zoom, and a Common Blue is most of the frame.

One great advantage of these lenses, is that you can carry them around in a shirt pocket. I tend to use the camera 'as is' when looking for subjects, then quickly clip the DCR-150 on to the FZ200, if I think I can get close. As long as you're careful not to push the camera's lens barrel when attaching the lens, then you can carry on shooting without interruption. If you *do* disturb the barrel, the Panasonic pops up a message demanding that you switch the camera off/on

If you can stay awake long enough to read it, I posted about this technique, recently, here viewtopic.php?f=7&t=7825&p=89515&hilit=raynox#p89515

BR, Jon

[Allan.W.]

Hello All!
Hi Jon(Jonhd) Thanks very much,for the advice re.Raynox 250......150 lense I,ll have to give them both a try ,before purchasing and I,ll definitely check out the "view topic post, many thanks Allan W.


Watched at least 7 Red Admirals today,at lunchtime at my workplace (Ashford Kent)all happily feeding on the numerous flowering Ivy just outside the works gates ,I could only watch a small section of the Ivy,so there were probably a lot more present ,where the Ivy clumps disappear into fenced wasteground. The seasons not over yet!

[Testudo Man]

Hi Paul(Testudo man),
Thanks very much for the information ,i,ll tell you what ,I,d take my hat off (if I was wearing one!) to you, that you managed to get within 6 inches of a clouded yellow ! amazing! but I must say ,I may well invest in one of those lenses, and then ,practice,practice once again ,thanks for the help. regards Allan W.

Thanks once again Allan, and as you say, its all about practicing with these Raynox lenses, because the 250 is very unforgiving! If i was to give a beginner/novice some advice, I would say to start off with the 150 first, then once you get the hang of it, you may want to try the 250.
These Raynox lenses can be bought for less than £40 each, so its not a lot of money to spend, in order to get you into the world of macro/close up.

Here is a link to a macro shot of a Clouded Yellows eye, that I captured last year...I really pushed the boundaries with this shot too!

Cheers Paul. viewtopic.php?f=7&t=7237

[Testudo Man]

A word (or 2) of warning, Allan... Paul's steadiness of hand, and whole body control in general, must be pretty damned good. A movement of a few mm., either way, will destroy the point of focus, when using the DCR-250. It's usable down to *very* close - see https://www.flickr.com/photos/ixfe/3899550052/ for example, and is best used in focus stacking type of macro photography (i.e. not, generally, in the field).

I have both the 250 and the 150. I use the 150 in the field quite a lot, with my Panasonic FZ200 - with the zoom set to around 5x (i.e. not very much zoom), a Clouded Yellow fills the frame (at about 6-9 inches). Around 8x zoom, and a Common Blue is most of the frame.

One great advantage of these lenses, is that you can carry them around in a shirt pocket. I tend to use the camera 'as is' when looking for subjects, then quickly clip the DCR-150 on to the FZ200, if I think I can get close. As long as you're careful not to push the camera's lens barrel when attaching the lens, then you can carry on shooting without interruption. If you *do* disturb the barrel, the Panasonic pops up a message demanding that you switch the camera off/on

If you can stay awake long enough to read it, I posted about this technique, recently, here viewtopic.php?f=7&t=7825&p=89515&hilit=raynox#p89515

BR, Jon

You've raised some very good points in regards to using the Raynox 250 macro lens Jon

Whilst i only have the 250 at present, Im probably going to get the 150 as well, because although i find it relatively easy to use the 250 with my Bridge cameras, when it comes to attaching the 250 to my DSLR(via a macro 105mm 2.8D lens) its a whole different ball game indeed. Therefore i think the 150 would be easier to use on my D7100 with macro 105mm 2.8D lens.

I guess the reason i can "make" these types of shots using the 250, is because Ive spent a long time in the field, takings 1000's of images with this set up. I shoot handheld (i just dont think there is enough time for tripods) when it comes to close ups of Butterflies.
Ive never tried stacking/multiple images yet either, all of my photos are a single shot.
Another thing I changed recently is, rather than use the Raynox adapter/clip, Ive opted for a step up/step down ring, so the 250 is directly attached to the camera lens, which certainly gives better control, and less vignetting at lower optical zoom. The only draw back to this is, that you cant remove the 250 fast, so thats why i have at least one more camera at the ready...this really works for me out in the field.

I keep thinking about upgrading to the FZ200, and Im sure I will one day, but my FZ28, FZ38, and FZ45 still capture half decent images, so I'll keep using them till they fail.

There is another Panasonic Bridge camera in the equation now though...The FZ1000?...which looks to be an interesting camera for sure, I wonder how that camera would perform with a macro raynox attached???

Cheers Paul.


Just to keep on subject, i sighted several butterflies at work today, Red Admirals and a Peacock.

[Lee Hurrell]

I had a very pleasant surprise in Ewell, near me in Surrey on Saturday.

Clouded Yellow, male, Howell Hill, Ewell, Surrey, 11th October 2014

Clouded Yellow, male, Howell Hill, Ewell, Surrey, 11th October 2014

[millerd]

Nice Clouded Yellow, Lee! There are odd ones and twos all over Southern England still (or were last weekend!).

Dave

[Lee Hurrell]

Thanks Dave!