Hickling Broad

A very enjoyable day at Hickling Broad yesterday - amazingly we must have seen around 20 different Swallowtails and only one other butterfly - a Speckled Wood. Emperor moth caterpillars were every where together with Wooly Bear (caterpillars of Garden? Tiger moths. Lots of other insects and also birds including flying Bitterns and Cranes.

Dorset 14. Studland Beach and Nature Reserve

We visited Studland Nature Trust Nature reserve last Thursday on a really hot day and, after a morning recording some of the wildlife speicalities of the area, had lunch on Shell Beach playing with slow shutterspeed and multiple exposure. The species shown are Raft Sspider, Emperor moth caterpillar, Meadow Grasshopper, Keeled Skimmer, Dune Robberfly, Red Wood Ant and Sundew

Stonechat Versus Emperor Moth and Bee

This female Stonechat appeared to call to the disinterested male before flying out and returning with an Emperor moth. She consumed this whole with some difficulty and then flew again and returned to a better position to photograph her swallowing bee!

Closeup on Moths

I have been trying various combinations of 50 mm macro lens with 25 mm tube and/or Life-size converter. I haven't completed the tests yet but thought I would post these rather splendid moth heads - Elephant Hawkmoth, Satin Moth and Peppered Moth

Peppered Moth

Very pleased to catch a Peppered Moth in my light trap last night as it was very much part of my biology teaching through the years. When first studied 200 years ago, all moths were like this one, pale and speckled and so hidden from predators on lichen-covered branches. With Industrialisation, lichens died out and trunks were generally soot covered. This led to the selection of the naturally occurring dark forms and predation of the light forms. The melanistic form predominated up to the second half of the 20th Century.

With the advent of smoke-free zones and the loss of heavy polluting industry, the light form is now reestablished.

Moth to be identified please

I have put the moth trap out during a few nights over the last month and have caught virtually no moths probably because it has been very cold with frosts on several nights. Last night I tried again and found lots of moths in the morning. I photographed quite a few before they took off and identified most (see my separate Moth blog) but haven't yet found this one - any ideas

Emperor Moth

I tried various methods in an attempt to photograph a Female Emperor Moth. The moths are on the wing from April onwards - this female has hatched from a pupa that was kept indoors over the winter (thanks Bryan!). It is a day-flying moth although the females do not fly much at all being quite content to sit on a twig, smelling nice and waiting for the males to flock in.
In our area the caterpillars feed on hawthorn, blackthorn, meadow sweet etc .
I like the first picture best though I know black backgrounds are generally frowned on. I placed some black paper against the window directly behind the moth so there is light coming through the wings. I used 1/32 power ring flash to slightly boost the colours. The second attempt has natural light through the wings and has picked up the green colours of the background. The one on the log is again a combination of very low power flash and natural light. All taken with 50 mm macro lens.