Completing Dorset Visit: Day 6 - Sabre Wasp

Preparing 2023 images for archiving, I realised that I never sorted and processed images from day 6 of our Dorset Trip when we visited Hook Woods - general insects to follow but here Rhyssa persuasoria, the Sabre Wasp, trying to locate a beetle larva in a fallen trunk. the male is much smaller shown at the end.

Spiders at Sunset Part 1

 So far dawn has not been suitable for macro photography by the fishing lakes as there have been strong winds but a couple of evenings have been great for sunset photography. Here a selection of spider images incorporating the sunset from Thursday evening. These were without flash fill in. Part 2 from Friday used fill-in flash.

June Full Moon - Dorset Extras

I have missed photographing all the recent Full Moons so thought I'd post this one from June in Dorset. The moon was photographed in the morning and the evening. I have also added a few more misty morning scenes at Higher Kingcombe - something very special about being able to get from bed to wandering rpund the lakes in minutes. We are already booked for next year!!

Dorset 18 Hooke Park - Final Location!

 Although not a great set of images as it was very windy and raining a bit so wide aperture/slow shutterspeed needed and no chance of focus stacking, this blog past records Hooke Park, close to Higher Kingcombe, as a great location for a future visit to Dorset. The Stilt Bug was definitely one of the strangest insect encountered during my 10 days!!

Dorset 17 When Camouflage Does Not Work

On the morning of our last full day in Kingcombe, we stayed around locally in the morning and were both delighted and dismayed to find a Peppered Moth (and a Lobster Moth) to photograph. Having recorded it on the window sill, I thought it would be good to show how well its camouflage worked on the wall but immediately a False Widow Spider shot out of a hole and in seconds had subdued it with venom and started to wrap it in silk. The fourth image is a focus stack at F22 which demonstrates what our eye sees and just how good the camouflage is. Rest of post shows a few more species recorded during the morning.