Caterpillar-eating Spider

Photographed this small spider that had killed and was consuming an Atlas Moth caterpillar. The caterpillar is about 5 cm long so it was a very small spider. It was taken at the Stratford-upon-Avon Butterfly house.

Can anyone identify it for me?

Warwickshire Wood

Monday morning was pretty foggy in Alcester where I am staying at present, so I visited a local wood but it didn't have the simple stands of trees that I was hoping for. However, I do like this image of the oak canopy. The mist thinned quite quickly so I concentrated on the fungi - there were lots in the very damp wood.

I took the Birch Polypores (left) and the Jews Ear (right) with the 70-200 mm  lens which has given soft backgrounds

Derwent Water Woods in Rain

The rain really set in before lunch on Saturday but a brief dry spell tempted us to a walk in these magical woods.

The top image was taken with a 16-35 mm rectilinear lens and the lower one with the 15mm fisheye.

The contrast, colour rendition (both images brought to 6500) and detail are better with the 15mm lens as I suppose is to be expected with a prime lens.

Castlerigg

Four of us decided to go and photograph Castlerigg at dawn on Saturday and, after a rather grey start and rain showers, we were rewarded with shafts of sunlight on the hills followed by a rainbow. I took images from various positions but the closer view was the one that seemed to work best.

Trip to Blencathra Centre

It had rained most of the drive up from Cambridge but then driving along the A66 just approaching Keswick, the weather suddenly improved and for a few moments the scene was bathed in orange light.














We had a go before supper at multiflash technique with some varied result - this is one of best.

Insomnia

My Sony has a night setting so I thought I would see what it does when visiting the Guildhall backstage facilities - the result is a very strange vignetted monochrome and very noisy
image. It made me think of sleepless nights when a student at college - don't know why other than that the facilities in the Guildhall in Cambridge probably haven't been rennovated since the 1960s

Bengal Tiger

Pensive look from Blizzard the white Bengal tiger at Hamerton Wildlife Park.

Taken with 400mm lens so cage wires have been thrown out of focus but does gives a softness to the images that I like.

Wedding in Leicestershire

Beautiful day and venue for Cheryl and Neil's wedding at St James the Greater , Oaks in Charnwood and reception at Beaumanor Hall on Friday.
Photos are now ready for viewing - go to my website (link at top right) and sign in to the Client Area

Sexuality in Flowers

Some favourite images from our trip to the Cambridge Botanic Gardens. I was experimenting with very shallow depth of field using 50 macro lens with life size converter. This was forced on me as I went without the plate for the tripod so couldn't risk higher aperture settings. I particularly like the first image which is a member of the ginger plant family.

Bath city

Took short stroll up the hill to the park. Bath looked great in the evening light. Enlarged part of the scene to show test how sharp the photo was and am pleased with result.

Autumn at Westonbirt

There were more visitors than trees at Westonbirt this afternoon. The Acers are probably just about at their best with a combination of greens, yellows and reds.

The image below was done by placing the camera on the ground with the fish-eye looking upward at the canopy. I used the timer facility but I had to move quite quickly to get out of the picture.

Fungi in Epping

The recent rain has resulted in a 'bloom' of toadstools in Epping Forest. The Fly Agarics and the Porcelain Fungi are two of my favourite species so I was happy to spend a long while photographing them today. I even tried the Porcelain in infrared!

Sunset

Very impressive sunset this evening - impressed by the change in colour temperature within only 10 minutes as the sun went further below the horizon.

I then turned to photograph the full moon and did not realise that I had two birds flying across the face of the moon till I downloaded the image .

Common Blue Butterfly

Returned home today and was greeted in the garden by this beautiful and very obliging Common Blue butterfly on a matching Gallardia.

Toads instead of Toadstools

There may have been a lack of toadstools in Sheringham Woods today but the overnight rain brought out large numbers of toads (and frogs). Their camouflage in the autumn leaves is amazing. We only noticed them if they moved and often nearly trod on one.

Life of a Stink Horn

There are not many fungi about in the woods at the moment as it is so dry everywhere but we did find all the stages of stink horns. They start as a gelatinous egg from which the stink horn expands and reveals a cap covered with greenish foul-smelling slime. This is visited by flies who disperse the fluid containing spores on their feet. The final stage shows the stink horn when all the slime has been consumed.

Norfolk Trees

A few tree shots taken around our holiday cottage in Plumstead Green near Holt Norfolk. So far not finding Aperture as flexible for doing infrared monochrome conversion as Lightroom. I will do some new conversions of these files on the pc when I return.

Cromer in Infrared

We walked along from West Runton to Cromer today. Liked this shot of Peter and Ollie with Cromer in background.

I waited a long while for a van to move from front of the pier - by then the sky had clouded over but still gave an interesting IR shot - all the curved lines took my eye.

I also tried a lower viewpoint - needs a better monochrome conversion to give more contrast in the sky.

Barn Owls in Norfolk

Today I revisited the site where I saw a barn owl leave the barn yesterday evening. I went a bit earlier and was rewarded by the sight of the owl leaving the barn as I approached.

When I was there yesterday I went into the barn and saw the nesting box up in the eaves. I was aware that there were still noises coming from near it but thought at the time it was rats. Today I decided to have another look at the box and photograph it. Just as I raised my camera a second owl came out of the box . I didn't have a fast enough shutterspeed for a clear photo but was thrilled to see it so close. I left quickly, sat a little way away and the owls returned to the area.

September Summer Day at Wells

It was more like July than end of September in Norfolk today. A view of the beach at Wells-next-the-Sea. Another image for my Sky Reflects the Land series

We took Ollie for is first real taste of the sea and met up with Ruby and Millie (and El)