Orchids at Kingston Reserve, Cambridgeshire

The orchids are at their best at the moment with dozens of Pyramidal and Common Spotted Orchids, some of them white. There are also a few Bee Orchids hiding in the longer vegetation together with Twayblades. Insects are a bit more numerous now; the Great Pied Hoverfly (Volucella pellucens) was the most common hoverfly and the smallest identified insect was a Picture-winged Fly, Chaetorellia jaceae. Orchids taken with either 100-400mm lens or the Zeiss 50mm at different apertures to try to get enough depth of field for the flower without too distracting background.

Raptor Portraits from Sunday's Photography Day

Forgot that when using an SLR rather than Compact system camera you don't get exposure simulation so had a whole series of overexposed Goshawk images but like the results so sharing them here with other portraits from the day.

Raptor Photography Day at English School of Falconry Bedfordshire

Members of CCC joined other Camera Clubs on a photography day at the new home of the Falconry School, previously at the Shuttleworth Collection. An enjoyable day though the new site leaves a lot to be desired in the surroundings - very small garden area, no wood or lake as previously. The static shots (to follow) were pretty uninteresting.  I was also disappointed in the birds that they flew - the following three, Red Kite, young Bald Eagle and Barn Owl (plus Eagle Owl) were the only ones that really did any sort of display. I think we suffered from being the last display of a busy week.

Alcudia Old Town Majorca

Matt and Ellie fell in love with Alcudia and so here a few images to remind them of the streets and setting up the market

Port d'Alcudia Pinewalk and Beach, Majorca

We saw this beach from our first boat trip and decided to investigate, hoping for some sand - no luck on this but spent an interesting morning walking to a cove where a Sardinian Warbler, Great Cormorant and Emperor (?) Dragonfly entertained us.