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Babbs Mill - 30/06/12

With the afternoon being very windy but sunny and warm I decided to take a wander over Babbs Mill after work to join up with the father who was already over their. The wind made it very difficult conditions for taking decent photos but managed to see a good selection of things fluttering through the long grass in the meadows. Amongst the things seen were 4 Ringlets, 5 Large Skippers, a Speckled Wood, and 3 Red Admirals.

Also fluttering about in the wind were a mixture of Common Blue Damselfly, Azure Damselfly, and Blue-tailed Damselfly.

A very enjoyable afternoons walk

Chris

Your damselfly photos are lovely Chris - really sharp and beautifully posed. Well done! Are you sure you haven't been doing this for years

Thank you Pauline I appreciate the kind comments Today was only my 3rd time but luckily my dad has passed on some good tips to me, but hopefully I shall be doing it for years to come

Chris

This is the first time I have had chance to update my diary for a while due to work commitments, so I will start with a trip I had last Wednesday.

Prees Heath and Whixall Moss - Wednesday 04/07/12

Me and the father both booked the day off work and decided to have a look at Prees Heath and Whixall Moss.
I wont talk too much about these places as my dad described them well in his entries a few days back, but what we half expected to be a bit of a wash out turned out to be a wonderful trip.
We started at Prees Heath, and then went onto Whixall before ending the day back at Prees Heath.

I will start with photos from the 2 visits to Prees Heath
And now for the visit we took to Whixall Moss

(Prees Heath and Whixall Moss - Wednesday 04/07/12 continued)
And to finish with, 3 Damselflies at Whixall moss, a Large Red Damselfly and 2 Emerald Damselflies
More to come soon

Chris

Cracking shots Chris Can you get "the father" to pass on some of those tips to me?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Thank you Wurzel im glad you enjoyed them to be honest most of my technical side is point, click and hope for the best, the camera does most the work and co-operative butterflies help

Chris

Good work with the Large Heath davus. They are stunning (surely the finest in Europe).

Thank you David, we got lucky with the Large Heath as a couple landed right by us on the path

Chris

Gothic_dreams wrote:Thank you David, we got lucky with the Large Heath as a couple landed right by us on the path

Matters not - you captured them on film better than I've ever seen them before. Davus is by far the most striking Large Heath ssp, and it's range is fairly restricted compared to polydama and scotica. Probably, Whixhall Moss is the best place on earth to see it.

I went there last year but I don't remember any of the dozen or so I saw being SO heavily marked.

Thank you for the kind comments David, I agree with you that the markings on them are lovely, being the first time I have seen this butterfly it was a treat to see them at good quality

Chris

wow there some ace photo i hope i can get that good . i mostly worked on kids and landscaps so i'm really new to wild life photos

Thank you feralkitten Like you i am also fairly new to taking wildlife photos. I have never done photography before in the past, this being my first year at it and the most recent photos only being my 4th attempt, starting to pick it up and get the nack of it tho

Chris

i been doing wildlife a weak lol . i needed to try it for my portfolo for college and i found i really liked it . i found i liked taken photos of old castles and stuff to they look really cool when turn black and white . kinda into the creepy gothic look

Wurzel wrote:Cracking shots Chris Can you get "the father" to pass on some of those tips to me?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

I don't know that I have actually given him any tips other than;

1 - Don't muck about with the camera settings too much.
2 - Try and think about the background when you take your shot.

I have picked up most of my 'tips' from people on here. I think the most valuable was to set the exposure setting to -2/3 on my Lumix, more perhaps for whites or a particularly sunny day.

As Chris says, our cameras are remarkably easy to get good photos with

The Father (Neil)

Chris

Great shots, all are equally good despite the different species and challenges presented.

Phil

Gothic_dreams wrote:Prees Heath and Whixall Moss - Wednesday 04/07/12

A splendid series of photos! I notice that one of your Large Heaths (P1070398) has an elongated 'spot' typical of Ab. lanceolata. You have some very nice damselfly photos as well!

Mike

Thank you for the kind comments Phil

And thank you Mike im glad you enjoyed them, and i agree with the Large Heath photo you mentioned Im glad you like the damselfly photos too, im becoming quite a fan of them, i never really noticed how nice they could before i started taking photos of them.

Chris

Babbs Mill - Thursday 12/07/12

As it was a sunny afternoon, very rare these days, I decided to have a look over Babbs Mill on the way home from work to see what was out and about.

I was pleased to see that the number of things fluttering around had increased since my last visit, most being very active due to the warm and sunny day. Amongst the things out and about I spotted a lot of Ringlets, I counted at least 30, 2 Red Admiral, 5 Small Tortoiseshell, 2 Meadow Brown, and 5 Large Skipper. The highlight of the visit being 2 mating pairs of Small Tortoiseshell
Also spotted was a Banded Demoiselle and many Damselfly.
A very enjoyable afternoons walk and nice to see pleanty about in the rare good weather

Chris

More great shots and good to see more than a single Small Tortoiseshell reported

Have a goodun

Wurzel