Dragonflies at Paxton Pits

A visit to Cobham Hide followed by a walk up the Haul Road at Paxton Pits produced a sizeable list of Dragonflies and Damsels etc. The star was definitely the Southern Migrant Hawker, a fairly newly listed species for the UK and my first sighting of one. Otherwise while Brown Hawker (egg laying), Emerald  Damsel, Common Blue Damsel, Ruddy Darter and Banded Demoiselle are still in prime condition, some other species are coming to the end of their brief lives like the Four-spot Chaser and Emperor Dragonfly

Snapshot of Toft Garden Insects

Over the last week, there have been some periods in the garden where all the insects are active for an hour or so as the day warms up or the cloud that has been with us in the morning clears. At times there have been literally thousands of insects of very many families and genera competing for food giving ample opportunites for photography. Here are a few close ups from 5 minutes shooting just the Knapweed and Carrot heads outside the front door! - ID sheet at the end 

Walk at Trumpington Meadows

A very enjoyable walk at Trumpington Meadows with sharp-eyed friends so we managed to find several Small Blues, some mating and laying for a second brood, Gatekeepers along with some Meadow Browns (mated pair) and Brown Argus and Burnet Moths everywhere, again often coupled. We also had brief views of two migrant visitors - Clouded Yellow and Painted Lady. The last two are images are of two of the many spiders - Misumena  vatia and Enoplognatha ovata. The bee took my eye as being different but the conclusion seems to be that it is too worn and faded to be identified!! Update - as Ann T had a good face shot, it is now identified as Bombus ruderatus

Ely in Monochrome

 The clouds when we met up in Ely Marketplace streaked across the whole sky - ideal subjects for the pocket-sized Sony RX100 that I had converted to infrared some years ago. By the time we walking through the Park to the river for lunch, the clouds had cleared and the vegetation was very bright with the amount of IR being omitted.

Ely Multiexposures

We spent an enjoyable few hours in Ely photographing with fellow Camera Club Members - a wonderfully laid back city (Free Parking!) dominated by the Cathedral which still has some Xmas decorations around - spot the Christmas Pudding. We had some tasks but I didn't get further than 1. 'Double Take: Any technique can be used to produce an image that comprises two or more separate elements' and 2. 'Monochrome' - to follow.  The last two images are straight shots where copper-stained water has created mini-cityscapes.