Jack Harrison

[Jack Harrison]

March 2016. Try this and offer corrections please.

Jack

[dave brown]

Jack,
I stand to be corrected but I think the bottom left is Clouded Drab. As mentioned previously some Northern/ Scottish moths are darker than the Southern versions, others are just variable. One thing I have learnt over the years is that identifying moths is not always easy. Some I leave unidentified whilst others I ask for confirmation.
Fascinating but at times frustrating subject.
Dave

[Jack Harrison]

Still only two butterflies seen up here this year, a Tortoiseshell and a Peacock.

But this was a nice "bedroom window" tick this morning - in the back garden.

Yellow Bunting aka Yellowhammer.

Jack

[Jack Harrison]

Dave Brown made a good comment

One thing I have learnt over the years is that identifying moths is not always easy. Some I leave unidentified...

Quite! When i get a Magpie moth or an Elephaant Hawk then I won't need to ask for help. But these little brown jobs......

Won't be running the trap tonight. Clear skies and cold. And in any case, the egg boxes are still damp.

Jack

[Neil Freeman]

Jack,
I stand to be corrected but I think the bottom left is Clouded Drab. As mentioned previously some Northern/ Scottish moths are darker than the Southern versions, others are just variable. One thing I have learnt over the years is that identifying moths is not always easy. Some I leave unidentified whilst others I ask for confirmation.
Fascinating but at times frustrating subject.
Dave

I would go for Clouded Drab as well. With this being only one of the four species I have so far had in my recently bought moth trap I have been looking at lots of photos of these. I can see myself posting lots of ID questions of my own as the season progresses.

Cheers,

Neil

[Jack Harrison]

6th June Ardersier (just north of Inverness airport)

The target was Dingy Skipper. But first I had to wait for the low cloud to disperse. I was checking the reports from the airport and when I saw the improving trend I set off. It reminded me of similar waits in the past when I was driving not a car but an airliner. Happy memories (almost 18 years since I retired). When the cloud did finally break, it was then clear blue skies.

I thought I had found a Dingy as I stepped out of the car. It turned out to be an absurdly worn clipped-wing Tortoiseshell. A distant white was not identified

Quite surprised to find this Painted Lady, albeit well worn, by the stony beach.



I suspect given the recent run of north easterly winds that it is an immigrant from Scandinavia or the Baltic rather than the usual (in south England) origin being France or the near continent.

A fresh Small Copper eluded the camera. Dingy Skippers were not to be seen until I wandered away from the beach into a little hollow.



The sea is on the left.

My goodness, they were real devils to follow. Certainly two (see sparring) but who knows how many. It took a good 40 minutes to get this shot.



Hard to tell from a photo and although the butterflies seemed fresh and not worn, they did give the impression of being paler than Southern English ones.

On return to the car, I found this little note.



I have to say it was difficult to locate the damage. It was trivial. But thank you Rebecca for being so honest.

On the drive back, the huge storm clouds well inland to the south west looked impressive (had been forecast).



Perhaps 60 kilomtres away – Fort Augustus area?

Jack

[Jack Harrison]

19th June Lethen near Nairn

I've been living here for almost a year. Some might recall that I said that my front and back gardens had been neglected for many years previously so I decided to attempt to create wild mini-meadows. I collcted wild seed locally and was sent some Yellow Rattle from one of our members, Reverdin.

Here we are today.



The plan is to leave most of the garden to grow quite long (some low cut winding paths) with a major cut planned for mid-August. Many more flowers in bud although surprisingly, several expecting plants, eg Cow Parsley (abundant locally) have simply not appeared. Very few thistles either. However the overall result so far is better than I dared hope for by this stage.

Not strictly a result of the "wilding" of the garden, but nice to see a juvenile G.S. Woodpecker on the fence.



Mum had been feeding it but unfortunately didn't manage to get a photo.

My wife Stella confidently identified a Small Copper in the garden a week or so ago. There is plenty of Sheep's Sorrel so you never know.

Jack

[Jack Harrison]

Wild garden

I scattered various native seeds last autumn and more again in the spring. Some nice surprises appearing.


Corncockle. The first of [hopefully] many more to flower. First time I have ever seen Corncockle - quitge gorgeous.

I presume it needs tall grass (in old days, tall corn) to support. I won't cut down the surrounds until it seeds but plan a bare area nearby in the hope this annual will spread.

But where are the Cornflowers I also sowed at the same time? Have some in pots but that's a cheat. Another lovely native flower.

Do any moths use these plants?

In the trap, I get two forms of White Ermine moth - the usual vanilla white form and this buff version.


I am sure it's not a Buff Ermine, merely one of the Scottish forms of White Ermine.

Jack

[selbypaul]

Hi Jack
In terms of your meadow, you need to decide which type of meadow you want. Do you want an Annual Meadow, or a Perennial Meadow?

I've had my own meadow 10 metre by 8 metre meadow in my garden for seven years now, and its not possible to easily grow both perennial wildflowers and annual wildflowers in the same meadow, unless you compartmentalise it into sections.

Basically flowers such as Corncockle need the ground completely disturbing in the spring. Whereas the perennial wildflowers need to remain undisturbed. The Yellow Rattle annual requires undisturbed ground in the spring too, together with grasses (as yellow rattle is a semi parasite). The grasses usually outcompete the other annuals!

Hope this helps
Paul

[David M]

Aah! Corncockle! What a wonderful flower, sadly all but absent from the UK these days.

Nice to see it making a comeback in one esteemed man's garden at least!

[Jack Harrison]

Paul

....not possible to easily grow both perennial wildflowers and annual wildflowers in the same meadow, unless you compartmentalise it into sections.

That is more or less what I have been planning without actually realising it. I need to mimimise the maintenance so it will basically be a perennial meadow but with some areas sown annually. The big success this first year is Yellow Rattle which was just broadcast onto lightly scraped parts of the existing rough grass. Perhaps larger scraped areas for seeding in the autumn this year would be a good idea.

Two areas, front and rear each around 8 x 10 metres.

Jack

[selbypaul]

Sounds good Jack.
I scarify my meadow in mid September, just after its annual mow. I then scatter new Yellow Rattle seed each year into the scarified patches. I've no idea whether I do need to re-seed each year, but the profusion of yellow rattle does keep the grass in check!
Paul

[Jack Harrison]

2nd July Nairn east beach dunes



Quite a surprise to find Ringlet in this habitat.



I had hoped for Small Blue but no luck despite masses of Kidney Vetch.

There was very little wind so I thought that distant shower to the west wouldn't move my way. It didn't but to my significant annoyance, it merely built up sideways directly over ME.
Now somebody (not going to seek a divorce over the matter) had left the passenger car window open. Fortunately with that lack of wind, the rain didn't blow in and the effect was minimal.

Jack

[Jack Harrison]

Mini-Meadow

My wild garden here in the north of Scotland is producing results: male Ringlet this morning 6th July. Hopefully Scotch Argus in a few weeks' time.

Wife had what seems to have been a reliable sighting of a Small Copper in June. Certainly, plenty of Sheep's Sorrel.

Jack

[selbypaul]

Scotch Argus in the garden really would be VERY impressive if it happens!

Best of luck Jack

[Jack Harrison]

Ringlet is apparently a recent colonist in this part of Scotland. However, Scotch Argus is widespread and common. Last year, the nearest sighting of Scotch Argus was just across the road so I would have anticipated that a garden Scotch Argus would be more likely than a Ringlet.

Southerners (and I used to be one) dream of Scotch Argus. But here and my previous residence of Mull, it's nothing special. But Comma, hardly a rarity in the south, would be exciting. Given its recent spread, it will occur this far north before too long. It's already been reported in the upper Spey Valley.

Jack

[Jack Harrison]

Thursday 7th July

Tracked down a good Ringlet colony about 500 metres from where I live ( Lethen, Nairn NH942517 )



Males [newly emerged] only so far. Quite pale and perhaps less brown that the more familiar English forms.



Habitat is roadside and nearby rough ground. Approx one seen per minute in cloudy weather so and doubt many were missed as the ones I did see remained settled for long periods. Perfect for photography.

Jack

[Goldie M]

I seemed to some how have missed your post Jack which you placed in Mike's post and I've just been checking out on his post's again and found it
My apologies, I've found it very interesting and descriptive but I'm still
in wonder at all the different points it gives, I think I've got my wires crossed because I will have to listen to it all a few times, it's not going in at present I get mixed up with shutter speeds etc, it's happen as well the weathers not too good here it will give me a chance to go through it all and get it to sink in before I use the camera again, thanks again Goldie

[Jack Harrison]

Try this Goldie:

http://digital-photography-school.com/l ... otography/

One bit of jargon that often confuses is aperture also known as F/stop or F number. A smaller aperture lets in less light - that's pretty obvious. However (for perfectly good technical reasons) a smaller aperture has a higher F/stop number. So - and as I say, the technicalities are in fact logical - F/8 is a smaller aperture than F/2. So despite intuition, F/8 lets in less light than f/2.

Another source of confusion can be shutter speed. 1/250 second is a shorter shutter speed (so lets in less light) that 1/30 second - but that is pretty obvious really.

So you can see that if you alter one parameter, eg F number, then shutter speed would need to be altered to achieve correct exposure. In automatic mode with modern cameras, this is all done for you.

ISO - the sensitivity of the "film" (nowadays the sensor in digital) does at least seem logical. ISO 200 is more sensitive than ISO 100

Again, if you change ISO, then shutter speed and/or F number also needs altering. This is the so-called exposure triangle where shutter speed, aperture and ISO are all inter-related.

Depth of field seems to have been a source of confusion. D of F is simply the distance between the nearest object that is rendered sharp to the most distant object that is sharp.
All other things being equal, a smaller aperture (and as already explained, a bigger F number) gives a greater depth of field. You might not want a large D of F as this could mean the background is annoyingly sharp. So many photographers deliberately restrict D of F to produce a nicely blurred non-distracting background: they would use a large aperture (small F number).

Jack

[Goldie M]

Hi! Jack, I think having watched and read the video and what you've said I've not been far out with what I've done ( practise makes perfect ) Except, I've been setting speed , ISO and f no, according to the triangle I really don't need to do this, if I set the right f no with the right ISO the camera should take care of the speed,
and vice versa .
My camera tells me when I go into the ISO that 100/200 is for daylight so that's what I've used, the camera also explains when you go into the f numbers that the smaller the f no the background is Blurred so I've used the f4 to f5/6 which I thought was right but I've set the speed which I don't think I needed to do?

These setting for ISO and the f 5/6 seem to to be okay on my 18-55mm lens because I can take shots really close up but on the 70-300mm lens it's very changeable , I can take shots from a distance and bring the BF up really close with out disturbing the BF, this seems to be where I've got confused into what to use.

Also with this lens you can't get too close or the camera just won't take the shot, so I've been trying different f no's with this lens and speeds, I think with this lens I should use the same ISO and maybe f8 instead for this lens, what do think? Goldie