On Saturday
(23rd May) my son joined me for a joint visit to the
Strawberry Banks reserve of the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust. My first visit was last year (see
viewtopic.php?f=29&t=7459&start=60#p84647) when I was delighted to find several Lesser Butterfly Orchids (
Platanthera bifolia), as well as good numbers of Marsh Fritillaries. This return visit proved equally successful - excellent weather with plentiful orchids and butterflies.
I decided to trust to using the Olympus OM-D and left my heavy Nikon kit behind. Last year, I had found it quite a struggle, climbing over the stiles at the end of the day, but no problems with the lightweight kit! Although I still have a few minor irritations with handling the Olympus, it is proving to be an excellent performer. I took several shots with my trusty old Tamron 90mm macro but the results showed that the Olympus 12-50 Macro is more than a match, within its magnification range, especially in terms of image contrast.
Quite a few visitors were enjoying the spectacle of huge numbers of
Marsh Fritillaries skimming over the slopes, along with many other species, including
Dingy Skipper, Green Hairstreak, Common Blue, and
Peacock. At one moment a long line of Marsh Fritillaries and Peacocks were chasing each other across the slope!
![DingySkipper.jpg (154.42 KiB) Viewed 475 times Strawberry Banks, Glos.- 23rd May 2015<br />Olympus OM-D E-M5 with 40-150mm lens - 1/320s@f/6.3 ISO400](./files/thumb_11310_b45c40d71a15d5fc7ce38ced35586f07)
- Strawberry Banks, Glos.- 23rd May 2015
Olympus OM-D E-M5 with 40-150mm lens - 1/320s@f/6.3 ISO400
![MarshFrit1.jpg (181.11 KiB) Viewed 475 times Strawberry Banks, Glos.- 23rd May 2015<br />Olympus OM-D E-M5 with 40-150mm lens - 1/400s@f/6.3 ISO400](./files/thumb_11310_2615a0cca9e44388439b7245a3964824)
- Strawberry Banks, Glos.- 23rd May 2015
Olympus OM-D E-M5 with 40-150mm lens - 1/400s@f/6.3 ISO400
![CommonBlue.jpg (155.67 KiB) Viewed 475 times Strawberry Banks, Glos.- 23rd May 2015<br />Olympus OM-D E-M5 with 40-150mm lens - 1/1000s@f/10 ISO400](./files/thumb_11310_fbe94f9b8f22262020ceabc7f8babbe0)
- Strawberry Banks, Glos.- 23rd May 2015
Olympus OM-D E-M5 with 40-150mm lens - 1/1000s@f/10 ISO400
The Olympus 12-50mm lens proved extremely versatile. When I found a mating pair of
Marsh Fritillaries on a
Lesser Butterfly Orchid, I experimented for some time with various different camera settings. Apart from 'regular' macro shots, I also used the wide angle end of the zoom, to set both the butterflies and plants into the context of the site:
![LsrButflyO+MarshFrit.jpg (186.31 KiB) Viewed 475 times Strawberry Banks, Glos.- 23rd May 2015<br />Olympus OM-D E-M5 with 12-50mm lens - 1/320s@f/7.1 ISO400](./files/thumb_11310_cfc854e0f2e68aa47b1cc6f3e84207b6)
- Strawberry Banks, Glos.- 23rd May 2015
Olympus OM-D E-M5 with 12-50mm lens - 1/320s@f/7.1 ISO400
The same lens, in macro mode, captured a more detailed view of the mating pair:
![MarshF_pair.jpg (154.88 KiB) Viewed 475 times Strawberry Banks, Glos.- 23rd May 2015<br />Olympus OM-D E-M5 with 12-50mm Macro lens - 1/400s@f/10 ISO400](./files/thumb_11310_8f823673699746f604bf6ebcb7310613)
- Strawberry Banks, Glos.- 23rd May 2015
Olympus OM-D E-M5 with 12-50mm Macro lens - 1/400s@f/10 ISO400
It seems a pity that the Marsh Fritillaries are so small, as most of their delicate patterning can only be seen in photos or through binoculars. Visually, they are quite similar to the
Small Heaths, which were also plentiful:
![SmHeath.jpg (176.68 KiB) Viewed 475 times Strawberry Banks, Glos.- 23rd May 2015<br />Olympus OM-D E-M5 with 40-150mm lens - 1/320s@f/14 ISO400](./files/thumb_11310_26419e9c4b5f88e5299a479f1b86e63a)
- Strawberry Banks, Glos.- 23rd May 2015
Olympus OM-D E-M5 with 40-150mm lens - 1/320s@f/14 ISO400
The Marshies themselves were very variable; the following example shows a dark band across the trailing edge of the hind-wing:
![MarshFrit2.jpg (172.18 KiB) Viewed 475 times Strawberry Banks, Glos.- 23rd May 2015<br />Olympus OM-D E-M5 with 12-50mm lens - 1/125s@f/7.1 ISO400](./files/thumb_11310_fb3fcd26a2c0b485bd630af65909e156)
- Strawberry Banks, Glos.- 23rd May 2015
Olympus OM-D E-M5 with 12-50mm lens - 1/125s@f/7.1 ISO400
There were also large numbers of a small white moth, busily laying eggs. Are these Grass Rivulet (
Perizoma albulata)? Visually, they appeared almost pure white. Unfortunately, my shot of ovipositing was none too sharp but the following was taken a moment later:
![WhiteMoth.jpg (133.2 KiB) Viewed 475 times Strawberry Banks, Glos.- 23rd May 2015<br />Olympus OM-D E-M5 with 40-150mm lens - 1/250s@f/5.6 ISO400](./files/thumb_11310_b37c58625c9a50086c8948191f2aba4f)
- Strawberry Banks, Glos.- 23rd May 2015
Olympus OM-D E-M5 with 40-150mm lens - 1/250s@f/5.6 ISO400
A more spectacular moth find was this Eyed Hawk-moth (
Smerinthus ocellata), looking exactly like a dead leaf as it roosted in the grass:
![EyedHawkM.jpg (197.5 KiB) Viewed 475 times Strawberry Banks, Glos.- 23rd May 2015<br />Olympus OM-D E-M5 with 12-50mm Macro lens - 1/320s@f/10 ISO400](./files/thumb_11310_aea50aeb3b53831534bbc3d317451c27)
- Strawberry Banks, Glos.- 23rd May 2015
Olympus OM-D E-M5 with 12-50mm Macro lens - 1/320s@f/10 ISO400
A short visit to
Hailey Wood, near Cirencester, showed that the
Pearl-bordered Fritillaries were still active. Whereas, on my previous visit, they were busily seeking mates, they were now more concerned with nectaring from the many Bugle flowers.
![PBF_Hailey.jpg (178.54 KiB) Viewed 475 times Hailey Wood, Cirencester - 23rd May 2015<br />Olympus OM-D E-M5 with 40-150mm lens - 1/500s@f/7.1 ISO400](./files/thumb_11310_c9c2e02fbb7bba6882318e2bc9c83aa1)
- Hailey Wood, Cirencester - 23rd May 2015
Olympus OM-D E-M5 with 40-150mm lens - 1/500s@f/7.1 ISO400
All in all, an excellent day's butterflying in good weather and delightful surroundings.
Mike