Cambridge Mosque Fish-eye View

 Some images from today's visit to Cambridge Mosque taken with a 15mm fisheye equivalent (7.5mm on Olympus body). Wonderful place - last visited in 2019 when it was still being completed inside - all details about its construction are there

Ann Miles Blog: Cambridge Central Mosque

Ann Miles Blog: Details from the Cambridge Mosque

Paxton Flowers

A few flowers from a walk at Paxton Pits. We have a couple of Saturday public walks at the reserve (31st May/28th June) that involve the wild flowers that can be found growing there so a bit of homework on species (and practice photographing them, which is surprisingly difficult!).

Rutland Water

We visited Rutland Water today with 10 photographers from the RPS Nature Group. The conditions were difficult with a very strong wind which kept a lot of birds on the ground or water. We did see a very occasional Hobby pass very quickly and certainly had a very enjoyable time at the reserve with enough birds to keep the cameras clicking. The fields of buttercups are at their best. The Damselflies and Dragonflies were staying close to the shelter of vegetation.There were more butterflies than expected - Speckled Wood, Tortoiseshell, Red Admiral, 3 types of White, Brimstone and Peacock all on the wing.

 

Very Low Butterfly Numbers

 Today we were doing the monthly Butterfly and Dragonfly counts at Paxton Pits and I only saw single Speckled Wood and single Red Admiral. Damselflies and Demoiselles were more abundant and there were several Scarce Chasers, one Hairy, several Norfolk Hawkers and one Emperor on the wing. The weather was warm but strong breeze and mostly overcast. Smaller insects didn't mind the conditions - in fact it looked like it was very conducive to start the next generation for Leaf Weevils, Marsh Hoverflies, Scarlet Tigers and Harlequin Ladybirds!

Elephant Hawkmoth

Last year, we had a lot of Elephant Hawkmoth caterpillars on our Greater Willowherb and I kept one chrysalis over the winter. Yesterday, it emerged as this beautiful moth. I released it in the morning back onto Greater Willowherb and it remained completely stationary hoping its camouflage would protect it. It flew off during the night.