Southwark Cathedral

 It is many years since I visited Southwark Cathedral so took the opportunity while in the area on Saturday to take some interiors - all handheld. It was cloudy so the lighting was soft which suited the architecture.

Fritillary Hunt

 Gamlingay Woods felt more like a tropical rain forest yesterday with the temperature above 30 degrees and humidity very high. I had gone to see and photograph the Silver Washed Fritillaries. Certainly there were lots of them in every sunlit glade but they are an incredibly active butterfly - I managed just three images in as many hours but the other species made up for it. Brown Hawkers and other Dragonflies also patrolled the clearings - usually seen off by the Fritillaries. Lots of white butterflies - mainly Small and Large Whites (useful tip: no spot = small white male;one spot = large white male;two spots = small white female;two spots and streak = large white female but difficult to always see the spots), Gatekeeper, Small Skipper and Speckled Wood. I hope the images give the feel of being deep in a sunlit summer wood.

The Subway Movement

Quite a lot of the Southbank is boarded up as they as working on the buildings above so ample opportunity on our walk from Westminster Bridge to Tower Bridge to try some slow shutterspeed images. I like the way modern shorts and leggings and T-shirts are transformed into classy flowing skirts, barebacks and chiffon tops.

Southbank London

A cloudy cooler day for our trip to London was very welcome though not so good for photography. A few scenes to start with. Others to follow.

Grantchester River Walk

The  Cam at Grantchester was alive with Banded Demoiselles and Brown Hawkers this morning. After nearly three hours frustration, I ended up with some images that I like. The Banded males seem to take aggression a bit far and attack females as well as males. The females in contrast seem happy to lay together.

Burwash Sightings

 Visited Burwash Manor Farm on Wednesday afternoon. Very hot and all the same species in flight and egg laying including the Black-Tailed Skimmer seen coupled here. There was also a single Brown Hawker and lots of Green-Veined Whites congregating on the muddy patches.

Another Evening with the Marbled Whites

 The images in the previous post were taken with the Sony RX100 so decided to visit the wood with the Canon 5D III and macro lens. Rewarded by lots of roosting butterflies including Small Heath, small skipper and 30 plus Marbled Whites.  Some of these were taken with 3200 or 4000 iso showing the big advantage of this camera. Amazing cloud formations and even included a half moon without realizing.

Marbled White are Back

 Very pleased to see the Marbled Whites are back  in our local meadow area and in larger number than previously. They were all settling down to roost when I walked round. Meadow Browns and Small skippers were also present in large numbers and a few Small Heaths.

Warwick University PAGB Finals

We attended the PAGB  PDI championships in Warwick University yesterday on what was officially  the hottest day of the year (31.5) and it felt it. The air conditioning was definitely not up to the job of cooling a theatre crammed with people. Cambridge CC did not do as well as recent years(somewhere mid-table) but that is not surprising as it is difficult in a general interest club to get enough range of excellent images to compete every year with the more competitive clubs.  So any CCC members out there, we very much  need some new images. Good pictorial natural history, sport, simple design and limited colour evocative landscapes and any images that include interesting backgrounds and people, whether composites or travel/street did well yesterday.