Flies in a Cambridgeshire Garden

One of my too-many obsessions is recording hoverflies, which I post to the National Recording Group. I thought I would share four of the attractive ones that have visited the garden this year together with some other Diptera that asked to be photographed in the garden. Most hoverflies only have Latin names but the first is the Hornet Hoverfly as it mimics Hornets (which we also have in the garden!)

Shuttleworth Heritage Day

With the House, Swiss Gardens and the afternoon Air Show, there is plenty to occupy a day at Shuttleworth on their Heritage Day. Unlike last year, yesterday was very warm, bright sunshine and light winds which helped with getting good light for the display. Just a few images to give the flavour of the show.

 

Wrest Park Infrared 2. Grounds

A second set from yesterday's visit to Wrest Park - this time of a few of the buildings,trees and views in the extensive grounds

 

Wrest Park Bedfordshire Infrared 1. The House

I took my converted Canon 1D mkII for an outing to Wrest Park on a very sunny morning. Mostly the pictures work best converted to B/W ( RAW converter with foliage darkened as far as possible) but a few worked well in the original colour after applying custom profile.

Autumn Lady's Tresses

Although very small, the white flowers of the Autumn Lady's Tresses are miniature versions of the showy cultivated orchids that are sold in garden centres everywhere. The flowers spiral round the stem, hence its Latin name Spiranthes spiralis. First image with 280mm lens length 5.6 aperture and focus bracketed with 10 shots, stacked with Zerene. Next two show the extremes of the stack - not quite enough depth as info for next attempt! The camera was flat on the ground shooting through the foliage to give the soft foreground. The rest are with the 50mm macro.  The first a stack of 15 images 2.8 aperture, then single images at F16 and F8. Thanks Richard for showing us these very small orchids on a hillside in Bedfordshire. 

Bat Safari in Cambridge

Fortunately, our Bat Safari  was booked for Saturday night, the only dry evening in the last three. We were lucky with a soft sunset giving great light on the water, rising mist on the river and then an orange full moon rose over Grantchester Meadows. We saw and/or heard with the detectors lots of bats of several species.