Parched Meadows

Perfect weather for our Week 16 Butterfly transect at Trumpington Meadows yesterday lunchtime - sunny 25 degrees with gentle breeze. Lots of bees around including these two Cuckoo bees Bombus rupestris - a very large impressive orange-tailed bee (host ?Bombus lapidarius)  and Bombus campestris (host mainly Carder Bee). Butterflies looking a bit worn but still finding nectar in the sparse flower heads. Usual ID problems of distant Brown Argus and Common Blues plus quite wide ranging Small Blues. Also found an impressive Wasp Spider in the hedgerow.

Macro Session at Paxton

The sky was cloudless on Thursday morning for our macro photography session at Paxton so I decided to go for dramatic portraits and therefore  look for situations where the subject was lit against darker backgrounds (normally I would be looking for even lighting to bring out as many details as possible for identification!). The Jade Hopper is always one of my favourite subjects (except it is very small!!). There were plenty of Grasshoppers/Crickets and other Hoppers though the Wasp Spider was catching as many as it could. Close ups of  Darters and Norfolk Hawker faces gave some good macro practice as they rested on sunlit branches.

Summer Leys Spiders and Insects

 A very  enjoyable day at Summer Leys with members of the RPS Nature Group photographing the large number of Wasp Spiders with 4-Spot Orb,  Nursery Web and Garden Spiders. Trying the Migrant hawkers in flight occupied an hour or more plus a Willow Emerald and several other insects.

Paxton Photogroup: Island Pit Path

A walk along a track through long grass produced quite a variety of species. It was too hot for a formal session but I suggested the group looked for subjects where the backgrounds were far enough away to not distract as with the Hairy Shieldbug about to take off or where they added to the scene as with the Brown Argus. The Hairy Bug is one of those 'nearly' shots - great action shot but the front of head is not sharp. Crickets are always difficult to photograph as deep in the vegetation. Amused to find a very large Wasp Spider on the path  and a minute Zebra Spider (back at the Centre). ID sheet at end.

 

Rainy Morning at Sharpenhoe

We decided to continue with our RPS Nature Group outing to Sharpenhoe despite a pessimistic forecast. In fact, the light rain didn't prevent us finding and photographing insects etc and by the afternoon it had stopped. Here some Male and Female Chalkhill Blues found roosting among the vegetation, a very fine Wasp Spider with its Grasshopper prey and some of the mating Burnet moths.