Orchids, Moths etc at Buxton Heath

Buxton Heath outing was one of the highlights of this year for me with its wide variety of specialized heathland species many of which we managed to see. Here the Marsh Helleborine with its abundant  population of small insects, Southern Marsh Orchids, Beautiful Yellow Underwing caterpillar, Fox Moth caterpillar and Rusty Tussock moth flightless female egg laying. Final three Hoverfly Eristalinus sepulchre, Five-spot Burnet and the Bog Cricket

Garden Activity Increases with Temperatures

There was a definite increase in activity among the mini-wildlife in the garden yesterday with the warmer temperatures at last. The Red Mason bees were found coupled in various areas, while this is the first time I have recorded mating Pardosa spiders. I am always happy to photograph the wonderfully spotty/stripey Speckled Bush Cricket nymphs with lots of other species including several Shield and other Bugs (Parent, Birch Catkin Bug, Green, Hairy). Lots of Large Red Damselflies and the first Azure Damselfly.

Infrared View of Hardwick Wood

We are very lucky during this Lockdown to have Hardwick Wood in our walking area. It has many mature trees with the Ivy stems creating magical shapes and lots of spring flowers, including several extensive areas of Wild Garlic. I didn't see the little cricket on the Celandine when I took the photo - it obviously doesn't absorb any infrared through its chitinous outer skin. Canon 1D MkI converted to infrared, 50 mm lens at 2.2mm.

180mm Macro Trial

Thanks for the loan of the 180mm Sigma Macro Bryan. Have done a few images with it. I like the shallow depth of field for the more pictorial shots like the Hoverfly but do find it limiting for general macro work - I tried all combinations of shutterspeed and ISO versus small aperture to try and get enough depth of field for the entire Speckled Bush Cricket..