Paxton Pits Macro Day

Although a warm and humid day, the sun never quite broke through the cloud and, as a result, there were few dragons or damselflies around at Paxton. A dozen members of the Cambridge Camera Club  amused ourselves with various red-eyed flies, leafhoppers (Cicadella viridis), squash bugs (Coreus marginatus), assorted spiders, pond snails and grasshoppers. We failed to locate the reported Wasp Spider so that will be a future quest. 

Lark Rise Farm

Summer returned today with sunshine and light winds so we decided on the 'Butterfly' walk at Lark Rise Farm (http://www.countrysiderestorationtrust.com/LarkRiseFarm2.php) and were rewarded with three fairly unusual species, the Small Copper, Small Heath and Brown Argus. Also recorded Long-Horned Grasshopper, Garden Spider and Dock Bug, Coreus marginatus

The Babraham Institute

 Babraham Institute held an Open afternoon to take photos for a competition run by the BBSRC. A very informative visit though photographically quite a challenge. These are some of the basic photos that I took. Manipulation is allowed so I will see what emerges!

Quiet time at Wicken Fen

We spent a day at Wicken Fen yesterday and these four photos are the total for the day! Very few birds (other than ducks in eclipse) were seen and those we did were in full moult like this Blue Tit. Not many butterflies (Brimstones mainly) but hundreds of dragonflies - have all the Hobbies left we wondered. 

Brittany Butterflies

We were hoping for a lot more species and certainly numbers of butterflies during our recent holiday in Brittany. The weather was as in England, cool, blustery and showery so it was no surprise that butterflies were thin on the ground. We did manage two new species for us - the Map, here in its second brood form (have yet to work out  the evolutionary advantage of two different forms during the year) and the Grayling, beautifully disguised on lichen-covered rocks. We also photographed very pristine Walls, a very tatty Silver-washed Fritillary, Holly Blue, Common Blue and Clouded Yellow.

Museum of Cambridge II

A second visit to photograph objects and rooms at the Folk Museum in Cambridge. This time I took a shift lens which helped the perspective in the small display rooms and gave very sharp images.