Frog Blog'11 - Part 5 - All croaked out

Activity of spawning continues in the pond as I type this on Tuesday night, but it has tailed off now.  There are still about ten pairs at it, and there are now over thirty clumps of spawn.  I guess it really will be a bumper year.

Checking out the pond last night with the torch, the Smooth Newts are very active now, and I will be checking out for their eggs very soon, now I know where and how to look for them, having done an Amphibian Surveying Course last weekend with the Warwickshire Wildlife Trust

Here are a quick couple of images that I took with the new 5Dmk2 and Canon 180 f3.5L - a really stunning combination of quality and sharpness.  I am really looking forward to this years 'close up' season.

You can see the fruits of his labours just in front of him just under the water surface

Martin

The Butterflies are still around

Last weekend saw Comma, Large White, Small White, Peacock, Meadow Brown and Common Blue still coming into the garden.  It will be interesting to see when the last records of each of these will be this year.

I got a few of the Common Blue to share with you, and use these examples to show a technique that I use a lot, and that I have mentioned before.

Get your first shot in while you are not anything like as close as you want to be.

Then get a bit closer and get a couple more, then do the same and then the same again.

You never know when you are going to scare your subject so a gradual approach means you slowly get an improving shot.

What this also shows in the wider shot is the habitat - in this case Birds Foot Trefoil, with both flower and seed heads.  Now the first is very messy, but the approach I have used shows that you can work your background, and of course the closer you get, the better the depth of fields effects become, throwing more of the clutter out of focus for a more pleasing perspective.

Both taken with the 5D and Canon 180 f3.5L macro.......as usual

Martin

More garden babies

OK so not specifically hatched in my garden, but this newly emerged juvenile Southern Hawker came into the garden a couple of weeks back and took up refuge on one of the hedgerow plants sunning itself while it was getting its full flight strength.

With female Southern Hawkers egg laying last year and this year, and with the nymphs taking two to three years to hatch, I am hoping that we see our own emerge from next year or the year after.  I am already expecting Broad Bodied Chasers to emerge next year as I have seen them scurrying around in the pond.

Both images with the 7D and Canon 180 f2.5L macro lens, handheld.

Martin

Pond Life Part 6 - Egg laying

Last year, back in September, I shared images from the pond showing Southern Hawkers egg laying.

So it was with some surprise that I watched another one back in July this year doing the same.

Here she is, on the same log as the one used  last year in the middle of the pond. I watched from quite a distance to begin with, but she was clearly occupied and very comfortable with my presence around her.

I got quite a few shots on various poses.  This one with the 7D and Canon 180 macro, at ISO1600 with f9 and 1/320 sec shutter speed, taken hand held laying on the ground.  Image is full frame.

This time from above to show the wing spread. Back down to ISO400, full frame

Finally right in close.  Now I normally really don't like these type of tight crops, with limited depth of field, but I am pretty happy with this as a study of the fascinating compound eye that these wonderful creatures have.  Again full frame, but with f14, and 1/160 sec this time.

Martin

Butterfly Week and a bit of catch up

In my last post I mentioned it was Big Butterfly Count Week.  Well by way of linking to that post and also catching up with some of the images I took back in June, I thought I would share these with you for a little inspiration for you to get out there and join in the count.....well maybe.

Meadow Brown

Male Common Blue

Marbled White

Copulating 5 spot Burnet moths with exuvia

Copulating 5 Spot Burnet Moths on Common Spotted orchid

All with 5D and Canon 180 macro, handheld or supported on bean bag on the late evening sunlight at a location about three miles from my home in Warwickshire

Martin

Local Patch - catching up 2

A short while after we got back from North Uist, we went down to the River Avon in Stratford as I expected to see Banded Demoiselle.  We went disappointed - there were hundreds of them, along with Blue and Azure Damsels.

The male Banded Demoiselles were the easiest to see initially, as there wing patches 'strobed' as they flew,  It was still quite warm at the time, and so it wasn't that easy to get settled subjects.

The females are also beautifully coloured, but without the black wing patches.  I caught this one eating an unlucky Mayfly.

 

A few seconds later and no wings left on the supper

All taken handheld with the 5D and Canon 180 f3.5L macro lens.

The first image looks a little soft at small size so it is worth a click to see at full size

Martin

Local Patch - Common Blue Butterflies

In my post yesterday, I mentioned that it was early June when the Common Blue had just taken to the wing.  Well I was only a month out - those images were taking a month after they had really taken to the wing, and were in full mating mode.  Today's pictures were the ones I got when they had first emerged and were taken before we went to North Uist at the beginning of May.

These images were of a number of different individuals, but wanted to share a photographic study of different compositions, plants and angles.

These were among the first images I took on the new 'old' 5D and with the fabulous Canon 180f3.5L macro lens.  Let us know which if the styles shown here you like best and why?

Martin

Local Patch - catching up

May, June and July have been very busy months for me photographically.  As you will have seen by my posts these days, macro or at least close up photography, to be more technically accurate, is one of my favourite genres.  These last three months have been wonderful in the garden, around the pond and at my local patch.  So much so, that I have many blog posts worth of images that I haven't shared with you.

So going back to the start of June, Jac and I took a trip to our local patch to check out the progress of the various orchids there, and had some great sightings of moths and butterflies when we were there.

On a warm and still evening, we timed it to perfection as it had clearly been the turn of the Common Blue butterflies to take to the wing.  I gave up counting when I got to 100, and being very fresh, they were not inclined to clear off when you got too close to them.

Common Blue (female)

Common Blue pair (male on top)

Burnet Moth Caterpillar

Cinnabar Moth

Dingy Skipper Butterfly

Lattice Heath Moth

All of these were taken with the 5D and Canon 180 f3.5L macro lens, generally with a bean bag or hand held.

I do miss the live view and self cleaning sensor on the 'old' model, but do love the full frame DOF effects that you get compared to the 1.6 or 1.3 crop bodies.  

Maybe I should have stock sale and get the newer 5Dmk2, before they go and bring out a new one and ramp the price up disproportionately.....again.

Martin

Local Patch - Orchid Progress

As promised a couple of days back, I said I would bring you some orchid images.  At my local patch where I reported that the Bee Orchids got decimated last year, it is great to see that the mowers have stayed away.  The only difficulty that brings is with all the long grass it can be difficult to get clean shots.

The first of the Common Spotted started to appear with stems at the end of May.  This first image below was taken on June 2nd

Many have been in the open, but a few hide quite nicely in the deeper growth of wild flowers.

It is still early days for many of them as you can see here.  So I reckon they will be at their best this weekend and next week for the Spotteds (The 2nd, 3rd and 4th images were all taken this past weekend)

The Spotted, i.e the Dactylorhiza forms do a lot of cross breeding and hybridisation, and so you see many forms and colour variations.  As you can see from this previous image, it is quite different from the one before it.

It has been great to see many of the Bee Orchids  Ophrys apifera coming up.  Last year there were also some bi colour forms present but there are currently none in that area, but I will check again soon.

This stem is probably the most advanced at the site, with plenty of others just coming up such as this next one.

I also checked out the Pyramidals too, Anacamptis pyramidalis.   There are quite a few coming up in their very early stages.

This is probably the most advanced stem I found.  So again I will be following their progress and getting a further set of images.

I did check out another location where Wasp Orchids are also recorded each year but there was no sign at all.  So I will keep my fingers crossed and take another look at the weekend.

All images were taken with the new 'old' 5D and the Canon 180 macro lens.  I really do love that macro lens, and I also love working with the 5D again.  Full frame is very nice, and as Dave mentioned recently, the DOF effects are really quite excellent without a crop sensor.  I think a 5Dmk2 beckons.

As I type this blogpost on Tuesday evening for posting tomorrow, I have just switched on my moth trap.  I mentioned back here that this was a forthcoming project,  Well I got the electronics last week, built it over the weekend and finished it off tonight.  It seems like a good evening weather wise for it, so I will see what we can bring in.  I will do a more detailed blog with construction pictures, and share some of the pitfalls and share a few tips if you want to have a go at this yourselves.

Finally, check back in later this evening as I will update this with some Southern Marsh Orchid images that have come out at work, so I will get some images at lunchtime, and upload them for you to see.

Update:  As promised a couple more images for you, fresh out the camera from this lunchtime.

One of 92 stems I found of Southern Marsh Orchid at my work site.  I am sure I missed a few others as well.

One in 100.

Ok I know it is "another" Common Spotted, but this single stem was growing on its own as a species with the hundred Southern Marsh orchids I saw today, so I thought it right to include it.  Tricky bright harsh midday sun but an A4 pad used as a reflector helped balance out the exposure a little.

Martin.

A quick one from the Garden

A few weeks ago, I posted this blog with a female Orange Tip on Bluebells in the garden.

Well we have had  a few Orange Tips through this year although the males have been less inclined to set down.

While I didn't get much time with my cameras over the weekend, I did manage to get this little lady who set down on an emerging Red Campion flower.

Again it was quite windy, and I had to use the technique I first described last year with using AI servo for macro work.  This was a bit more of a challenge that the shot last year as I used the 5D and 180 macro - a not very fast focussing camera, and a slow focussing lens too.  But it came up pretty reasonably so cannot complain.

Martin

Trip Report - Fungi in Warwickshire Part 1

OK don't fall off your chairs, I have been out using my camera.

I took a trip yesterday morning to one of my favourite fungi sites so thought it was time to share a few images as it has been a bit of a photo drought for me with one thing and another.

Fungi this year has been very late due to the dry autumn, but it has come out in abundance at my usual spot in probably the last couple of weeks, as there is a lot that is past it's best, but I managed to find some good specimens, which I will share today.

I got a few that were going over that I quite like that I will post in part 2 later in the week.

Among my favourite species are the Mycena group. It is not difficult to find lovely individual samples, but also fabulous family groups so here are some of each.

With two flash heads

Flash heads in slightly different locations giving better foreground lighting

Natural lighting

With two reflectors overhead and wide angle flash from above and too right

For all these shots, I used the 1Dmk3, Canon 180 f3.5L macro, live view, hanging from inverted centre post on tripod, self timer, STE-2 wireless flash trigger, and one or two Canon 580 flashheads, both with Stofen diffusers fitted.

Just wish I had got the two moss fronds sharp on the first two images - didn't pay enough attention to that critical elements.

Some different species and techniques in part 2, plus a short view on rechargeable flash batteries.

Martin

Trip Report - Mothing at Monkwood, Worcestershire, Part 1

OK - hot off the press today, following my trip to Monkwood today with fellow members of Smethwick Photographic Society Natural History Group, I thought I would post some images.

As I mentioned here, last night was National Moth night, so with many thanks to Chris Betts for hosting us, and other members of the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust, we turned up at his garden to inspect the findings from the moth trap.

With ID's confirmed by Chris, although only reviewed on the LCD on the back of the camera. All taken with the Canon 1Dmk3, plus Canon 180 f3.5L macro, except the Frosted Orange that had the Canon 100mmf2.8 macro.

Light Emerald

The Satellite

Frosted Orange

Blotched Emerald

September Thorn

I did get some butterflies as well, once the sun was up and warm and will post those in Part 2 of this trip report

Update: The first moth I had as a Pale Emerald is in fact a Light Emerald - many thanks for that Chris

Martin

Local Patch - Back in the Garden

Having had a couple of half days off this week, I found a little bit of time in between jobs to get a few photos taken at last. Having seen Common Darter, a male this time, and a female Southern Hawker this afternoon, thought it was time to dust off the camera.

The Hawker was great to watch, as she was busy egg laying all over the small log in the image. She even landed on my shoe as I sat cross legged by the pond, and tried to lay some on there too. It was great to see the compound eyes at such close quarters, and see the transparent outer layer.

Both of these are first in the garden, so again I am pleased with the work I put in last year digging out the pond.

I even had a few frogs pop up and say hello while watching too.

Common Darter (male)

Southern Hawker egg laying (female)

All shot with Canon 1Dmk3, plus Canon 180f3.5L macro. 580 EX flash for fill on the second image

Martin