www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Hi
Last year, as I recall, there was an ultimatley abortive attempt to arrange a meeting of list members at the Chequered Skipper pub.
I am planning my trips for this year, and have just pencilled in Sunday 17th June for Glapthorne Woods and the Black Hairstreak.
The Chequered Skipper Pub is only 4 miles up the road.
How about meeting at Glapthorne at, say, 10:00, BHing for a couple of hours, and then off for a jar at the Chq Skp!
Looking forward to putting some faces to some names.
Please reply to this post if you are interested.
Roger Harding

I'd love to Roger. Unfortunately I live in Lincolnshire

Hells Teeth.
I live in North Devon (240 miles)- you are practically next door!
Roger

Roger
You're probably aware that your chosen date coincides with a field visit to Glapthorne by the Beds and Northants Branch of B.C. so many of us 'locals' will be there anyway (and usually a few interested parties from other parts of the country). It would be great to see any other members of this forum who might manage to attend.
Alex

your chosen date coincides with a field visit to Glapthorne by the Beds and Northants Branch of B.C. so many of us 'locals' will be there anyway (and usually a few interested parties from other parts of the country).

Well,
You were right - it seemed that just about every lep' enthusiast in the country was there today, with a brief break in the weather allowing all of us some excellent views of BHs.
One even posed on a finger!
It was great to meet old friends again, put some faces to some names, and 'chimp' at everyone elses photos in the pub later.
I reckon that watchers outnmbered butterflies by about 15 to 1.
Great day.
Some talk of a meeting next season at a different site - Arnside Knott anyone?
Cheers
Roger Harding

Well Jack caught me 'cheating' after a BH landed on my finger. Here is a link to the picture that I took. Depsite slightly soft focus at the top of the image I'm pretty pleased with the result!

http://piccies.flybywire.org.uk/Butterf ... ckHS4b.jpg

Images are on my website already. I just need to finish updating the HTML so that you can see them! http://piccies.flybywire.org.uk/Butterf ... index.html will be where they will go.

Was great to meet everyone else there and at the Chequered Skipper pub. I hope our paths cross again at some point.

Cheers!

-Mike

Well Mike, I'm sure you told us that it "landed" on your finger after you just "happened" to put it very close to the butterfly :)

In fact, despite the warm sunshine, these Black Hairstreaks were very tame and easily approached. Made an interesting comparison to my unsuccessful attempts a few days earlier to get near to Large Heaths at Whixall.

Jack Harrison

Sorry I guess my brains were scrambled by work overload when I sent that post. It didn't land on me at all! We found it in the shade cold and not moving. After other people attempted and failed to move it I placed my finger near it and it happily crawled aboard. I tried to place it on bramble blossom but it turned away from them and seemed quite happy on my finger (warmth I guess). I held it up in the sun to warm up (and take great pics at the same time) and after a while it flew to a nearby flower to nectar.

Dunno what that brown blob was on my finger. I guess just a bit of dirty water I picked up when I put my finger near the butterfly.

My other pics are all up now. Enjoy!

-Mike

Jack
Looking again at your photo of the crowd of photographers around the BH.
Have you noticed that you have caught the flash going off on the camera.
The chances of that happening are extraordinary.
Perhaps my maths is a bit skewed here, but, suppose the duration of the flash is 5,000th of a second, and your shutter speed is 1,000th of a second, does that make a 5,000,000 to one chance of that happening?
Hope you bought a lottery ticket!
Roger Harding

I was using flash myself to fill in the shadows (not very succcesfully - it's still a very harsh picture). I probably triggered the slave flash on that other camera.

Jack

So how does that work then? Is there a detector on the slave flash that detects another flash about to go off? Is it possible you could trigger multiple slave flashes that way (like a chain reaction)? Will any camera set off a slave? Or does yours have a particular ability? Was wondering as he does look like he's taking a shot at the time.

Either way it enhances the appeal of the pic. Looks pretty cool even if I look dreadful in that shot.

-Mike

Well I have assumed that is what happened. As Roger pointed out, the odds of synchronous random flash is about the same as the odds of winning the lottery. I must say that the flash does appear on the other camera itself rather than on a supplementary unit.

Maybe I should follow Roger's advice and get a lottery ticket.

Mike. Have a look at a typical slave flash unit:
http://www.firstcall-photographic.co.uk ... _Unit.html

Jack

That was my camera and I don't have a slave flash, therefore your our lucky winner this week!
Well done Jack!
Kevin.