Pauline

[Neil Freeman]

I love your PE shot Pauline, captures the character of the butterfly and a nice composition across the diagonal.

Cheers,

Neil F.

[Pauline]

I would like to say a huge thank you to all of you who are taking time to read my diary. It would be lovely to know who more of you are. I especially appreciate the comments which I am finding immensely helpful and supportive (in fact it is like having a network of good friends that I just haven't met yet!) and I hope my experiences and mistakes might be of help to other novices.

To Philip I would say that with your camera and lens you should be able to get a much better shot than I managed with my PE tho' he was at the top of a very high tree. I tried to take a photo of the tree to put it in context but I just couldn't get it all in the shot.

I love it that you are checking up on me Mike The thought of me having saved all that money (not to mention the weight) with my little £100 camera off Ebay has really cheered me up . Thanks must go to Neil who recommended it to me - and many others (he should be on commission ).

Thank you Jenks. I shall keep my fingers crossed that you find what you want at Bentley Wood. The weather here at the moment isn't great but the forecast for later looks good.

Thank you again Phil. I am enjoying your diary too - it has a very unique quality about it and you have a talent for writing. Just as an aside I have had 57 species of birds in the garden (including Turtle Dove and Yellowhammer mentioned earlier in diary).

Thank you for the complement Nick - you know I value your opinion.

Thank you too Neil - it is very generous of you to say so as it was impossible for me to get a clearer shot. I am hoping that this week I might be lucky enough to get a bit closer. In the meantime I shall just post a few pics that I have collected over recent days including my first Comma of the season:

[Debbie]

Having been a little under the weather, I have not had chance to catch up much lately. But as always a delight and great pictures. I did despite feeling rotten ( the fresh air did do me good ) take a couple of pictures which I will post in July. Debbie x

[Pauline]

Thank you Debbie. I hope you are feeling right as rain now. I see you have changed your ISO to 400 from 1600 and the resulting Ringlet photos are much better for it. You could probably even use 200 in sunny weather and I think you might be experimenting with the exposure compensation. Well done.

Alice Holt complex certainly seemed to be THE venue to be at yesterday. I spent a lovely morning in the company of Mark (Tuts)- who found me my first ever adder! - and we bumped into Ashley (Whitlock) whom I haven't seen in ages. I met Wurzel for the first time (nice to meet you Wurzel) and was re-acquainted with Phil(zoid), both accompanied by their very well behaved daughters. The highlight of the visit was the sheer numbers of SWF. The Straits was awash with them, each thistle head along the main track being adorned by gold. It would be no overestimate to say that there were at least 150 flanking the main track, including many fresh females, which is more than I have ever seen, even on a good year. A splendid sight! After a couple of hours back at home at lunchtime to attend to the animals I was tempted to return to make the most of the sunshine. I had just arrived when Alan Thornbury turned up and not long after Neil (Kipper) put in a surprise appearance. It is just a pity that there was no sign yet of PE but the excellent company was compensation enough. A few SWF from today.

[Pauline]

Apologies to Colin Baker and anyone else whose name I missed off the above list but there was an awful lot of 'regulars' there yesterday (and I was half asleep this morning ). Good to see you again Colin.

[Pauline]

The weather defeated me yesterday and it was my turn to stay in and look at rain streaked windows - well, through them actually at the masses of birds which visit the garden. At one point I looked up only to see the Sparrowhawk yet again with a young Great Tit in its talons. A young Greater Spotted Woodpecker was about 18" away on a peanut feeder, completely still and flat against the feeder, terrified. I appreciate that visits by the Sparrowhawk indicate a healthy bird population but these Sparrowhawks come daily and I have seen as many as 8 birds (from Tits to Doves) taken in a single day. I find it traumatic to watch the process as the larger species can take up to 20 minutes to be killed. A few photos from yesterday and some earlier photos, none of which are very good (taken from my kitchen window) but may be of interest to some of the birders in the absence of any butterflies.

[MikeOxon]

You have some good Sprawk photos! I expect you have a pair nesting nearby. The much smaller male bird tends to go for the small birds, such as Tits, while the female takes Doves and Pigeons. They can be very approachable when on their prey; I have taken photos of them in my garden using a macro lens! It can be distressing when they don't kill their prey immediately but I have never found a way of shooing them off a squawking Starling - they just take their prey somewhere else if you try.

The increase in the larger birds of prey in recent years has been remarkable. In my Oxfordshire garden, I have regular Sprawks, while Red Kites circle overhead and, when the chafers are flying, Hobbies come hunting in the late evening!

Mike

[Philzoid]

Hi Pauline
Just like to say it was nice meeting up the other day. Twas a great day and here's hoping we get more like it .

I really like the second picture of the female Silver-washed Fritillary on WHITE thistle....was there a lot of patience involved in getting that shot

You birdfeeder is of more benefit to the Sparrowhawks than the garden birds .... provides the, with a nice little buffet selection to choose from . If you are concerned about decimating your local population of birds you may find this link of some use http://www.rspb.org.uk/advice/gardening ... hawks.aspx
(sorry I don't know how to make it live )

BTW I once inadvertently surprised a female sparrowhawk carrying a feral pigeon, or at least trying to carry it. As I tried to take a photo the sparrowhawk flew off leaving its prey behind. I went over to the unfortunate motionless bird, turned it over and it suddenly came round and flew off I suppose it take some time to dispatch prey more than half it's size?

EDIT: looks like the link is live in preview pane

Phil

[Pauline]

Thanks Mike. They do indeed breed near here and frequently bring their young, one of which landed inadvertently between 2 Woodpigeons on the apple tree last year. I can only describe the look of all 3 of them as pure astonishment and my only regret is I didn't have the camera to hand. Can I swop you for your Red Kites Mike? I have only ever seen them twice and think they are beautiful. And Hobbies! Wow!!

Thank you for the link Phil but the Sparrowhawks have been here for years now and the local cat population has a much worse effect on the bird population. I know your views on animals (both domestic and wild) but I get a great deal of pleasure from my 5 bird tables and see at close hand birds that I would have difficulty seeing otherwise, eg Redpoll, Treecreeper, Goldcrest, Turtle Dove, Yellowhammer, Siskin, Brambling, Marsh Tit etc etc. Likewise in feeding the wild animal population I get to see and photograph creatures on my doorstep (literally) including the beautiful white badger of last year.

Yes, it was a good day on Sunday Phil and you know how many Fritillaries there were! They were on every thistle and getting those shots was easy. Wish I'd gone back there yesterday but chose Oaken Wood instead where by comparison there were few butterflies despite a lovely morning. Managed to get a few Comma shots as several looked very fresh:

[Pauline]

The more I learn about photography the more it seems as if everything is a compromise, a trade off between different requirements, and the skill is getting the best balance bewteen them for any particular situation, eg increase the ISO to get faster shutter speed but increase the noise. Having had problems with depth of field (the smallest aperture setting on my camera is F8), I set about exploring whether the focal length and zoom faciltiy could give me a greater depth of field. It would seem not. Although I do not fully understand the maths yet I have had diagrams drawn for me to explain this concept and it would appear that the only way I can improve the depth of field is to stand back when taking the photo (which means taking off the close up lens), don't use the zoom and then crop on the computer. The disadvantage of this is that I lose some quality on the photo - and that was the reason I bought the close up lens in the first place! I am beginning to wonder if I have met the first constraint of my little camera.

The other challenge I am facing is changing the way I actually take photos, eg. using a monopod, using the viewfinder (which I now find most helpful and wonder how I ever managed with the screen). Shooting in raw to get a truer, better quality image is something else I forget to do (or choose not to as it takes so long to download on my very slow pc). I have picked up a lot of tips along the way that I do put into practice and once this butterfly season is over I shall continue to learn and to practice so that hopefully next season ............

In the meantime a few photos from a very cold, wet and windy Old Winchester Hill:

[dilettante]

I set about exploring whether the focal length and zoom faciltiy could give me a greater depth of field. It would seem not.

Fundamentally, depth of field is a function of (optical) magnification: the greater the magnification, the less the DoF. So if a butterfly fills, say, 50% of the frame, it doesn't matter whether you achieve that by zooming from a long distance, or getting up close - the magnification is the same. (But that choice will affect the field of view, and therefore the nature of the background). This is why compacts can sometime get better results than DSLRs: their smaller sensors mean the magnification is less, and DoF is greater. (But greater DoF makes it harder to achieve smooth out of focus backgrounds). Standing back and cropping reduces magnification, and also reduces the effect of camera or subject movement, but of course loses resolution.

Shooting in raw to get a truer, better quality image is something else I forget to do (or choose not to as it takes so long to download on my very slow pc).

Raw only gets better quality images if you are skilled at processing them yourself. I like using raw to give me the flexibility, and to recover highlight detail that might be otherwise be lost, but often I suspect the camera could do a better job than I manage!

[MikeOxon]

I am beginning to wonder if I have met the first constraint of my little camera.

Dilettante has explained depth of field very well so, in fact, far from being a constraint, your little camera is better in this respect than a large-sensor DSLR! Conversely, it is more difficult to isolate a subject from its background with a compact.

Can I swop you for your Red Kites Mike?

Any time for your Redpoll, Treecreeper, Goldcrest, Turtle Dove, Yellowhammer, Siskin, Brambling, or Marsh Tit

Mike

[Cotswold Cockney]

Enjoyed seeing those Sparrow Hawk pictures. Thanks for putting them up. I occasionally get one in or through our garden and have seen them take Blackbirds now and again. Next day, there's another Blackbird in place of the lost one the previous day..... every time.

Now retired for two years, I spend a lot more time in my small back garden. Sometimes a Hawk would appear from some acute surprise angle at speed right in front of me. Once so close to my face I felt the wind from the wings. It, like me did not expect a very close encounter and I do not know who was the most surprised by this. It or me. Good to see though. I guess for years the bird has had access to my garden without any human presence as the family would be away for much of the day.

One of the most frequent visitors to my back garden are Lesser Black Backed Gulls. They breed on the roofs of local industrial estate units along with Herring Gulls. Hundreds of them across the City and surroundings. I don't think these could be called Sea Gulls now.. I wonder if all those local bred birds have ever seen the sea. It's all here for them in and around the city and surrounding countryside. I sometimes see fully grown young Gulls fresh out of the nest and simply walking about. They appear larger, maybe bulkier than the parent birds. When getting my car MoT-ed at a local industrial estate, a fully fledged young Gull wandered into the building whilst my car was being tested and had a look around... like it owned the place.

Rarely have the camera handy when the Hawks are around. Spotted this one in a close neighbour's tree as I walked by. When it flew off, right towards my face then quickly turned away at the last moment, I clearly saw it was carrying a male Blackbird :~


.

[Debbie]

Super pictures Pauline, and thank you I am much better. (just need a small op - but nothing serious - even better)

Debbie x

[Pauline]

Thank you Dilettante - that is a very clear explanation and I very much appreciate the fact that you have taken the time and trouble to explain it to me. Thank you - it is now much clearer.

Mike, I'd like to hang on to my birds if you don't mind but I'll swap you for any one (or more) of the 33 cats in this little lane!!!! (2 families have 7 each!!! ).

Lovely to hear from you Cotswold Cockney. I'm glad you liked my photos (might post more in due course) and I appreciate you letting me see your photo.

Hope the op goes well Debbie - keep in touch!

[Pauline]

The Chalkhill Blues emerge much earlier in Sussex than in my area but when I heard from Neil that they were out in considerable numbers at Amberley I knew it was time to check out Oxenbourne Down. I struggled to find more than a couple of freshley emerged males in the short time I had there this afternoon but with the weather set to improve next week I shall return. In the meantime a few pics from today:

[Pauline]

Oops! Forgot to include the open-winged shots from yesterday. Not sure how this background came to be black - others taken at only a slightly different angle were darkish green - but I like it because it is a bit different and complements the colouration of the butterfly whilst at the same time highlighting the stunning blue:

I'd like to wish everyone who may be searching for PE this weekend the very best of luck and I hope you have more success than I have had recently.

[dilettante]

That last one is just stunning. It looks like it was with open wings but not sunshine, so the colours and detail are superb.

[MikeOxon]

...and I like the first one! As you say, the contrast with the dark background makes the butterfly stand out superbly - super shot. It seems strange that we are into Chalkhill Blue flight time and Summer hasn't started yet - hopefully, it's now just around the corner

Mike

[Pete Eeles]

The last shot is just amazing! Well done Pauline! Every scale is visible and sharp! I'd be interested in knowing your settings (and setup)!

Cheers,

- Pete