Paxton 'Dragons', 'Damsels' and 'Scorpions'

 Although overcast and fairly chilly Paxton Pits was alive with Damselflies (Common, Variable and Blue-tailed plus Banded Demoiselles) and Scorpion Flies plus the occasional Dragonfly (Four-spotted Chaser). I decided to use just the 300 mm lens (with 1.4 converter) as I need to practise finding things in the view finder etc.

Garden Spiders etc

 Lots of Spiders in the garden yesterday including Xysticus cristatus, Jumping spider Salticus scenicus, Cucumber spider, Labyrinth Spider and nursery Spider. Also photographed Dark Bush Cricket, Wasp Beetle and Spectacle Moth

Cadwell Park Historic Racing Car Event

On Sunday, I visited Cadwell Park with Phil for the Historic Racing Cars event. Brought back many memories of going to Brands hatch in the 1950s opnwards as a child. The weather was perfect for walking round the wooded and very attractive site though a bit bright and contrasty for photographing shiny cars! or for really slow panning. I varied the panning rate and found that the very small and very fast SuperKarts gave a real challenge (1/400th). For the comparatively slow Formula Ford cars it was around 1/320th and for the Sports Cars etc right down to 1/125th. Obviously head-on shots required 1/2000th and above

Burgh on Bain Lincs Insects

We spent the weekend in a very comfortable AirBNB at Burgh on Bain in Lincolnshire which had large areas of wet meadows that I explored in the early morning. Here a few dew-covered creatures

Very Wet Thursday

 Yesterday was the monthly walk at Paxton Pits and, unsurprisingly, only a small group ventured round the reserve. We did manage to record 37 bird species including Garden warbler, Chiffchaff, Common Terns hopefully nesting on the rafts,  adult Cormorant ?teaching young about fishing and Great Crested Grebe pair. Back in the garden in the afternoon, many insects were sheltering on leaves and flowers while the spiders continued to monitor their webs.