Autumn Fruitfulness

This year is proving a bumpy one for all types of fruits and Toft wood is no exception with plenty of berries and the apple trees there in full fruit. The plant galls also seem to have flourished in the warmer weather.

Ivy Flower Visitors Close Up

This time of year is always great for insect photography as the ivy flowers attract a large number of visitors. I am still working on close-up shots in the field. I particularly like the monochrome close up of a hoverfly eye and the Black ant (Lasius niger). The minute metallic blue gall wasp also pleased me. It is Ormyrus nitidulus; although these gall wasps are often recorded in association with plant galls, they don't cause the galls but are parasites of the insect larvae that formed the galls. The last image is the Ivy bee - a species first recorded in Toft briefly in 2016 but increasingly common since then having only arrived in the UK in 2001.

Experiments in Panning Snetterton Classic Racing

Enjoyed a few hours experimenting with different shutterspeeds for panning at the classic Car Racing at Snetterton - something that would have been financially impossible in film days as wastage is enormous. Here a selection in shutterspeed order (1/250 (1), 1/125th (2,3), 1/100th (4-6), 1/60th (7,8) and 1/15th (9,10))

Nature Awakes on Dawn Walk

I managed to find a Small White roosting in the grass at the side of a field and a Green-veined White in Toft wood. I used a telephoto for the first of the g.v.whites and the X100V for the others using apertures of 4.5, 5.6 and 13 in the g.v.w. series. The Red Admiral and Long-tailed Tit were using the early sun to warm up while the winter wheat sparkled still with overnight dew.

  

Golden Dawn in Toft

I went for an early walk this morning and watched the sun rise behind a large oak tree. The moon was still quite high in the sky and the surface looked spectacular through my telephoto lens. Other views from the highest point on my walk and our gate as I returned home. Another set of closer views to follow!