Evening Flying at Duxford

 Here a miscellany of shots from an Evening Flying show at Duxford which featured a pyrotechnics display by two motorised gliders. Some of the shots were taken by Phil on my camera as he didn't get his gear organised before leaving for work in the morning (used faster shutterspeed 1/640th for gliders) while I used a slow shutterspeed (up to 1.6secs) to accentuate the trails and shapes. The moon wasn't quite full but still impressive.

16th August Garden Cameos

Sometimes photos taken mainly for identification and record purposes turn out to be very attractive studies of light and colour - this Lasioglossum Bee just caught the sunlight in a shadier part of the garden. Good to have a new Dragonfly visitor this season as a Migrant Hawker dropped in and rested on a cane for a while (in-camera stacks). Otherwise Flower Spiders, Woundwort Shieldbugs and the plant bug Dicyphus epilobi were all present where expected on 'Flowers', Hedge Woundwort and Greater Willowherb as their names suggest!!

RPSB Sandy on the Hottest Day

We  visited RSPB Sandy on the hottest day so far of the year - my car registered 34 degrees on a hunt for Bee-wolf Wasps and other interesting insects. After a fairly long wait (fortunately in the shade) a Beewolf arrived carrying its honeybee prey but was unable to locate the exact position of burrow making many repeat visits so we had opportunities to photograph it over half an hour. The other bee-catching wasp, the Ornate Digger Wasp was found nectaring on Fennel along with several other attractive species including Cinnamon Bug, Ant Damsel Bug and Western Conifer Bug, species that are rapidly spreading north with global warming. There were dragonflies in the air so not surprised to photograph a Hobby hunting in the distance.

 

Early Morning Sharpenhoe

I was interested in the effect of shade, cloud and direct sunlight on the colours and appeal of images. Clouds covered the sun when we arrived at Sharpenhoe yesterday morning but these cleared as the sun came above the ridge. All single shots except image 10 which is a focus stack of 10 images.

Sharpenhoe 11th August

Although nowhere near as many as on bumper years, we were pleased to find a good number of Chalkhill male and female butterflies along with Burnet moths. I was trying to anticipate flight shots and achieved a few I like including a Burnet Moth and Knapweed amd the Carpenter Bee approaching a Harebell.