CCC Outing to Grantchester

Eighteen members of our camera club met up for a walk along the river in Grantchester. I travelled light with just my X100V compact and a closeup filter. I wanted to capture the abundant Banded Demoiselles and Mayflies in their habitat as with images 3-5 but I also took some at wide aperture that needed focus stacking to complete. 

As the Fuji does complicated multiexposure, I also played around with that using different blending modes and some intentional camera movement.

 

Paxton Pits Dragons and Damsels

Paxton Pits now has a well-established colony of Norfolk Hawkers- a very attractive green-eyed dragonfly. The exuvia is probably a Norfolk Hawker though there are also Hairy Dragonfles (4) around at the moment. another speciality is the Scarce Hawker (5, exuvia - 6). As usual I had to revise the differences between the three common 'blue' damselflies. So in order they are Azure, Variable and common Blue plus Blue-tailed Damselfly.

 

Damselfly Bonanza

The warmer weather for last week has resulted in a mass emergence of Damselflies in our area. They are now busy mating and laying eggs in our pond - so far identified  Large Red and Azure Damselflies. At one time, I counted more than a dozen pairs jostling for position on the lily pads and weed. 

Starling Disputes

We still have at least two families of starlings disputing best position on our bird feeders. They can get very aggressive though so far no damage done to each other. Now trying to think how to disguise the back fence in the photos when zoomed out far enough to get all the action

Cambridge on a Sunny June Morning

Coe Fen and the River were still very quiet mid morning on Tuesday. Here a few images of people enjoying the area for recreation or just a quiet read or chat in the shade.

 

Starlings in Afternoon Light

We still have a least two starling families visiting our feeders. Here some images from a late afternoon session when the light is very contrasty. Not enough shutterspeed and/or depth of field in most but gives a feel of the very noisy arguments that ensure over the prize positions on the perches.