Rainbow at the End of the Day; A Visit to Schwarzsee, Austria

A very enjoyable day walking to and around the Schwarzsee concluded with a spectacular rainbow over Kitzbuhel town and valley. The lake is a dark colour from the underlying peat soil; this contributes to its warm water - 24 degrees when Peter swam in it yesterday It was a cooler day with showers so we found lots of insects in the grass too cold to move fast including Damselflies and this beautiful Dragonfly (IDs to follow). 

Alpine Flowers - Experiments in Focus Stacking etc

I spent all of Wednesday on a hillside on Hahnenkamm photographing the various species using different techniques to try to get an image sharp throughout but standing away from the background. These included Focus stacking (first Common Spotted Orchid, Moss seed heads), artificial backdrop (second orchid etc), aperture control to get as wide depth of field as possible with light conditions (third orchid etc) and long lens (fourth etc; 200mm equivalent). All methods had their successes and failures (more of the latter than the former). The Hare Bells and Butterwort are both stacked images. Also shown White Orchid and Bearded Bell flower.

Kitzhorn on a Very hot Day - Scenery, Flora and Fauna

On Monday, we decided to revisit the Kitzhorn and explore the Alpine Garden. The Kitzhorn is 2000 metres so not as high as the  Wengen area where I have previously photographed flowers so many of the species were already in seed but there are plenty still in flower. Orchids are particularly prolific at the moment. It was very hot (33 degrees) and bright so not ideal for flower photography but here are a few images, including one of the numerous grasshoppers and a spider enjoying his lunch

Insects Around Kitzbuhel Austria

After rain in the morning it cleared yesterday afternoon so we went up to the top of the Kitzhorn where I spent a happy of couple of hours with the insects -  - three butterfly species Alpine Heath and ?Alpine Blue and attractive brown and orange species; a couple of moths and various flies, grasshoppers and beetles

Solstice Bonfires in the Tirol

The Summer Solstice brings very special solstice celebrations to towns and villages throughout Tirol. After sunset, bonfires are lit on mountaintops all over the country. Dating back to the Middle Ages, different traditions to celebrate this special occasion have emerged in different Tirolean regions and towns.
We were delayed getting to the top of the mountain by a thunderstorm so by the time we got there it was a bit too dark but here a few images of the dramatic skies and the bonfire.