Dorset 1: Welcome to Kingcombe

A bit of a wet start to our stay in Dorset but the snails are happy. Great to walk in the flower-filled meadows and find orchids in large numbers.

Orchid Pollination

This Swollen-thighed female beetle has collected a large number of pollinia during its visit to Twayblade orchids and is having distinct trouble holding its head up! Also photographed at a local reserve -  Common Spotted Orchids, Roman snail and Tortoiseshell butterfly

 

Studio Macro Session at Pitsford

A few images from a studio macro session on Wednesday. I particularly liked the first two, taken with the Fuji X100V (23mm lens plus close-up filter); rest with 80mm macro. The moths are Poplar Hawkmoth, Spectacled, Hebrew Character and Brindled Beauty 

Garden Life through Infrared

I started a session with my infrared camera intending to photograph flowers but, as usual, the insects  on the plants soon took my attention. Some of these are taken in my spinach plot which is alive with snails and shield bugs at the moment (very crunchy in a salad!!) and shows very high UV reflective properties, revealing normally camouflaged green bugs and spiders!

Welney Wildlife 2. Spiders and Snails

This time of year is always great for spiders and Welney vegetation teemed with different types. Not yet identified them, but did enjoy the antics of the male spiders in trying to get close to the females in the first two shots. As it had been raining there were also lots of snails on the move. 

After the Rain at Sharpenhoe

I was hoping to find roosting butterflies on Sunday knowing there were large numbers of Chalkhill blues etc sheltering somewhere - no luck with that but lots of other insects and spiders either resting up or continuing to feed etc in the wet conditions. These tiny brilliant-green-eyed flies on a Cirsium thistle (Terellia serratulae, a Gall fly) were my favourites of the day.