Gothic_dreams

Gothic_dreams · Post by **Gothic_dreams** » Sat Jun 30, 2012 7:04 pm

Babbs Mill - 30/06/12

With the afternoon being very windy but sunny and warm I decided to take a wander over Babbs Mill after work to join up with the father who was already over their. The wind made it very difficult conditions for taking decent photos but managed to see a good selection of things fluttering through the long grass in the meadows. Amongst the things seen were 4 Ringlets, 5 Large Skippers, a Speckled Wood, and 3 Red Admirals.

: Ringlet underside

: Ringlet

: Famale Large Skipper

: Male Speckled Wood

: Red Admiral

Also fluttering about in the wind were a mixture of Common Blue Damselfly, Azure Damselfly, and Blue-tailed Damselfly.

: Common Blue Damselfly

: Azure Damselfly

: Blue-tailed Damselfly

A very enjoyable afternoons walk

Chris

Pauline · Post by **Pauline** » Sat Jun 30, 2012 7:13 pm

Your damselfly photos are lovely Chris - really sharp and beautifully posed. Well done! Are you sure you haven't been doing this for years

Gothic_dreams · Post by **Gothic_dreams** » Sat Jun 30, 2012 7:23 pm

Thank you Pauline I appreciate the kind comments

Today was only my 3rd time but luckily my dad has passed on some good tips to me, but hopefully I shall be doing it for years to come

Chris

Gothic_dreams · Post by **Gothic_dreams** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 9:40 pm

This is the first time I have had chance to update my diary for a while due to work commitments, so I will start with a trip I had last Wednesday.

Prees Heath and Whixall Moss - Wednesday 04/07/12

Me and the father both booked the day off work and decided to have a look at Prees Heath and Whixall Moss.
I wont talk too much about these places as my dad described them well in his entries a few days back, but what we half expected to be a bit of a wash out turned out to be a wonderful trip.
We started at Prees Heath, and then went onto Whixall before ending the day back at Prees Heath.

I will start with photos from the 2 visits to Prees Heath

: Underside - Male Silver-Studded Blue

: Small Heath

: Male Silver-Studded Blue

: Underside - Female Silver-Studded Blue

: Underside - Male Silver-Studded Blue

: Male Silver-Studded Blue

: Male Silver-Studded blue invading a mating pair of Burnet Moths

: Male Meadow Brown

: Male Silver-Studded Blue

: Male Silver-Studded Blue

: Underside - Male Silver-Studded Blue

: Peacock caterpillars

: Male Silver-Studded Blue

: Male Silver-Studded Blue

: Mating pair of Silver-Studded Blue

: Female Silver-Studded Blue

: Mullein moth caterpillar

: Female Silver-Studded Blue

: Male Silver-Studded Blue

: Underside Male Silver-Studded Blue

: Male Silver-Studded Blue

: Small Heath

And now for the visit we took to Whixall Moss

: Small Tortoiseshell

: Meadow Brown underside

: Large Heath

: Large Heath

: Large Heath

: Female Meadow Brown

: Ringlet underside

: Ringlet underside

Gothic_dreams · Post by **Gothic_dreams** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 9:43 pm

(Prees Heath and Whixall Moss - Wednesday 04/07/12 continued)

: Ringlet

And to finish with, 3 Damselflies at Whixall moss, a Large Red Damselfly and 2 Emerald Damselflies

: Large red Damselfly

: Emerald Damselfly

: Emerald Damselfly

More to come soon

Chris

Wurzel · Post by **Wurzel** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 9:54 pm

Cracking shots Chris

Can you get "the father" to pass on some of those tips to me?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Gothic_dreams · Post by **Gothic_dreams** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 10:01 pm

Thank you Wurzel im glad you enjoyed them

to be honest most of my technical side is point, click and hope for the best, the camera does most the work and co-operative butterflies help

Chris

David M · Post by **David M** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 10:16 pm

Good work with the Large Heath davus. They are stunning (surely the finest in Europe).

Gothic_dreams · Post by **Gothic_dreams** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 10:28 pm

Thank you David, we got lucky with the Large Heath as a couple landed right by us on the path

Chris

David M · Post by **David M** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 10:31 pm

Gothic_dreams wrote:Thank you David, we got lucky with the Large Heath as a couple landed right by us on the path

Matters not - you captured them on film better than I've ever seen them before. Davus is by far the most striking Large Heath ssp, and it's range is fairly restricted compared to polydama and scotica. Probably, Whixhall Moss is the best place on earth to see it.

I went there last year but I don't remember any of the dozen or so I saw being SO heavily marked.

Gothic_dreams · Post by **Gothic_dreams** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 10:58 pm

Thank you for the kind comments David, I agree with you that the markings on them are lovely, being the first time I have seen this butterfly it was a treat to see them at good quality

Chris

feralkitten · Post by **feralkitten** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 11:11 pm

wow there some ace photo i hope i can get that good

. i mostly worked on kids and landscaps so i'm really new to wild life photos

Gothic_dreams · Post by **Gothic_dreams** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 11:20 pm

Thank you feralkitten

Like you i am also fairly new to taking wildlife photos. I have never done photography before in the past, this being my first year at it and the most recent photos only being my 4th attempt, starting to pick it up and get the nack of it tho

Chris

feralkitten · Post by **feralkitten** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 11:30 pm

i been doing wildlife a weak lol . i needed to try it for my portfolo for college and i found i really liked it . i found i liked taken photos of old castles and stuff to they look really cool when turn black and white . kinda into the creepy gothic look

Neil Freeman · Post by **Neil Freeman** » Fri Jul 13, 2012 5:59 pm

Wurzel wrote:Cracking shots Chris Can you get "the father" to pass on some of those tips to me?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

I don't know that I have actually given him any tips other than;

1 - Don't muck about with the camera settings too much.
2 - Try and think about the background when you take your shot.

I have picked up most of my 'tips' from people on here. I think the most valuable was to set the exposure setting to -2/3 on my Lumix, more perhaps for whites or a particularly sunny day.

As Chris says, our cameras are remarkably easy to get good photos with

The Father (Neil)

philm63 · Post by **philm63** » Fri Jul 13, 2012 7:00 pm

Chris

Great shots, all are equally good despite the different species and challenges presented.

Phil

MikeOxon · Post by **MikeOxon** » Fri Jul 13, 2012 9:26 pm

Gothic_dreams wrote:Prees Heath and Whixall Moss - Wednesday 04/07/12

A splendid series of photos! I notice that one of your Large Heaths (P1070398) has an elongated 'spot' typical of Ab. lanceolata. You have some very nice damselfly photos as well!

Mike

Gothic_dreams · Post by **Gothic_dreams** » Fri Jul 13, 2012 10:58 pm

Thank you for the kind comments Phil

And thank you Mike im glad you enjoyed them, and i agree with the Large Heath photo you mentioned

Im glad you like the damselfly photos too, im becoming quite a fan of them, i never really noticed how nice they could before i started taking photos of them.

Chris

Gothic_dreams · Post by **Gothic_dreams** » Fri Jul 13, 2012 11:20 pm

Babbs Mill - Thursday 12/07/12

As it was a sunny afternoon, very rare these days, I decided to have a look over Babbs Mill on the way home from work to see what was out and about.

I was pleased to see that the number of things fluttering around had increased since my last visit, most being very active due to the warm and sunny day. Amongst the things out and about I spotted a lot of Ringlets, I counted at least 30, 2 Red Admiral, 5 Small Tortoiseshell, 2 Meadow Brown, and 5 Large Skipper. The highlight of the visit being 2 mating pairs of Small Tortoiseshell