RPS Nature Group Outing in an Autumnal Day

The Covid Regulation group of six braved the wind and dull light to photograph a variety of insects and fungi at Paxton on Sunday. Our finds included this very sleepy Hornet, a Lassioglossum bee, Male Chironomid midge with the amazing antennae, a jade-green Leafhopper, Wasp with prey, Greenbottle and several fungi including Shaggy Pholiota and a stemmed Puffball. I was experimenting to see whether flash or no flash worked best with shiny insects - overall I prefer the no flash but with light as bad as Sunday the flash did help keep the ISO down - as it was some were shot as high as ISO12800

Paxton Pits Surveys

I have spent most of today sorting out all my survey records from Paxton Pits for the last couple of years and thought I would record this in my Blog for future reference. This was a survey done in July and August this year. There are still a few gaps in IDs to be completed. Always interesting to compare from month to month, year to year  and area to area which species have appeared and which disappeared. We are missing this year's surveys from March to June due to Lockdown - hope next year we can get a complete set. 

Welney Wildlife 2. Spiders and Snails

This time of year is always great for spiders and Welney vegetation teemed with different types. Not yet identified them, but did enjoy the antics of the male spiders in trying to get close to the females in the first two shots. As it had been raining there were also lots of snails on the move. 

Great Variety of Wildlife at Welney 1. Insects

Having rained hard all night, it stayed dry during our visit to Welney and the banks were teeming with insects, spiders and snails. Here some of my favourite insects including a hoverfly lookalike, Stomorhina lunata and a beautifully illuminated Marmadale Hoverfly. A small orange fly (Scathophaga) was enjoying a Chironomid midge for lunch, and numerous others including an elegant Willow Emerald Damselfly, a 22-Spot Ladybird, an Angleshade Moth, a Cereal Leaf Beetle, a Green Tortoise Beetle, and a Dung Fly complete the cast.

Sunflowers in Early Morning Light

We have a few small fields in Toft of sunflowers sown together with Flax and Millet, presumably as game bird feed. I photographed them yesterday morning in bright sunlight. Taken at various apertures etc all with the 23mm lens on the X100V compact. The last couple are using the most powerful of the inbuilt HDR modes 

My 3000th Post - Migrant Hawkers and Hornets

This is my 3000th post since I started a blog in September 2008 - it works out at around 250 per year so not  one a day but pleased to have reached a milestone.These were taken at Fenstanton RSPB reserve . As well as the Migrant Hawkers, I photographed Willow Emerald Damselflies and Hornets.