A Return Visit to Biddenham

            A visit to Biddenham; the first on my part for some time and, although in the village itself, there were several groups and individuals, once I entered the woods, although I heard voices from elsewhere than the path I had chosen, I only occasionally came across others in my meander through the woods themselves. Early in my walk past the larger houses, I had encountered unusual choices of hedge vegetation species, found more commonly as individual trees; my assumption for the choice was the tall, dense privacy they offered.
            Every so often there were breaks in the enclosing boundaries to the paths, and I was puzzled in one of these gaps, by observing what appeared to be a concreted area that may have been the foundations of an earlier building, but with no indications of walls. Occasionally I would break out into more open areas, and another observation puzzled me — here there was an approximately circular grassy area, suggestive of a golf course’s green, but I spotted no indication of a hole for a flag. I returned to the taking of smaller subjects, such as a ladybirds, small berries, and poppies, then bright and healthy apples.
            In amongst the shafts of dappled sunshine, I found the enticing textures of fresh young leaves, and the early signs of ripening blackberries. I am always attracted to the rippled textures of fresh young leaves, and the symmetries and textures of differing leaf structures. The cast shadows on one hanging branch of leaves suggestive of a squirrel caught my eye, as did a bee on a white-petalled flower, which had been repeatedly damaged by an upturned sharp stick remnant piercing two of the petals numerous times in the breeze with the extra weight of visiting pollinators! I also liked another of the white blooms attempting to be seen beyond the spherical bloom of a Chrysanthemum-like pink flower like the rising sun.

            In the warmth of the sun, bees were making the most of the bonanza of fresh blooms, and I was doing the best to do my own capturing of textures and colours, such as the golden toffee of holly leaves and their rich red stems. If the abundance of red berries is accurate in foretelling harsh winters then I also found that strong message clinging to a mortared stone wall. I was amused by the determined ivy escaping from the fence to reach the life-giving warmth of the sunshine, and I soon spotted its cousin succeeding in its journey to the same life force, framed by the evidence of past adherence to the fence. I felt honoured by the generous lighting I was offered in the capture of the textures and sheen on nearby leaves.
            My observations were not confined to the natural world around me. I spotted a slip-up from a human in a spelling mistake by humans in the preparation of a map for this location — Greay! As I was about to leave this map a couple appeared to view the same notice, so I passed on my discovery; rather than simply keep it to myself! I closed the gallery with the high fair weather clouds, and blue sky, I hope the images encourage others to visit and enjoy this enticing park area.

Stewartby Lake Nature Trail

Stewartby — The Season is Still Progressing

As Lockdown eases, the weather makes it easier to keep the crowds from yearning to be in the Great Outdoors, which imposes a limited restriction to the numbers of people going out, although it is less enticing for photography. Summer is fast approaching, and then the desire to be outside and involved more intimately with our families becomes irresistible – but we must be patient. Over the last months, taking photographs has been a blessing for my wellbeing; in fact, I do not think It is an exaggeration to say it has been a ‘blessing’ because were it not for the opportunities offered by the taking of photographs to be outside, I would not have been as calm about the enforced separation from all the members of my family.

As I have mentioned in the narrative of my blog, the taking of photographs is still as important as ever, and still very much a challenge. The camera most in my hands of late has been the LUMIX FZ10002, and I still feel there is more to be learned about how to handle it to best advantage; it is very capable, but has its quirks; what I need to do is configure some of the various controls very specifically for my personal needs, but so far I am wary to set these up, in case I manage to screw things up, so I am hoping that with isolation relaxing, I will be able to contact someone to guide me through setting up some speedy access to specific controls for my way of working.

I am eternally grateful for going to this year’s only major Photo Show and meeting up with Steve Scrase. Fortuitously he awaited my arrival at the stand he was at — the Panasonic stand. When we met up, he told me that a colleague of his had bought a LUMIX camera, with which he was most impressed, so much so that Steve convinced me that I should take a look. It was not long before I had the Mark II version of the model his friend had praised so highly. It did not take long handling the MkII version for me to be convinced that this camera which could not be described as ‘Professional’, since it was not weather-sealed in any way, definitely lived up to the praise of its image quality. I had a play and also had put a card of my own in, so that I could look in even greater detail later. Looking closely at the images, it took only a matter of moments to check out its price and decide it was worth a punt. After the Show and a day’s use, I then ordered a charger and a second battery, and it has become the camera of choice during this time when using my fully professional kit would likely be frowned-upon.

This camera is very capable and versatile and lives up to its early promise, but has its quirks, and is still challenging; there always seems to be one parameter missing when you need to finesse something swiftly, and that is a needed conversation with someone at Panasonic. The shots in these two pages were all taken using this camera, some with the addition of a closeup ring — I needed the exercise for body and soul, I hope they give someone some pleasure. It is difficult to believe, but every shot in this gallery has been captured with this camera, sometimes assisted by a single 1-dioptre close-up ring for a few shots. As a result of my experience with its results, it now is kept within the soft neoprene cover for when it might come in handy. A note to Panasonic; please provide more metadata from the camera to be embedded, in particular, orientation if that is possible.

Stewartby — The Small World

I have been using an interesting small Camera, since a colleague of mine mentioned how impressed a friend of his had been with it when he had bought the first incarnation of the LUMIX FZ 1000. We were at the only Photo Show in London this year, and fortuitously we arranged to meet where he was at that moment— the Panasonic stand. I had gone to the show with no intentions of purchasing anything, but simply to keep myself up to date with what was happening, and meet ‘friends of long-standing’ (thus avoiding saying I was meeting ‘Old Friends’!) I played with it awhile and after numerous inspections of the images zoomed in tightly, I was equally impressed as my colleague’s friend had been who had bought the earlier version (without the Flip ‘n’ Tilt Screen!)

It was an almost instant over-secretion of the Want Glands, as I could see immediately the potential of a ‘take everywhere’ small camera with an impressively long range zoom lens. I was fully aware that it boasted no weather-sealing whatsoever, but at the weight, price and image quality, it could be seriously useful, and way more usable than a phone camera. This is a serious camera, not a toy, but excellent value when I took into account the ‘Show Price’.

Having played with it seriously for a couple of days after the show, and seen only one snag, the maze of (to me) surfeit of different controls to master to get what I needed, I purchased the essential ‘extras’ a spare battery and a separate charger. It is now always to hand, and has proved its worth during the Worlwdwide Lockdown that followed — it does not attract attention compared to had I gone out with my long-lensed camera and heavy tripod — I am just any other bloke with a small camera! An absolute Godsend!

This last trip out was with one small addition, a supplementary Close-up ring, one of the set of four that I have just purchased from the small UK company —  SRB Griturn — every image in this gallery was taken within close-up ring permanently attached, it was the least power one, which proved excellent, with no downsides whatever. They come from this small friendly company I have known and bought from over many years. This particular ring will handily fit a plastic holder I already had, and will stay in my camera’s soft case permanently making the camera even more versatile!

This gallery contains only insects and the plants upon which they either land upon or feed from, I had hoped for sightings of the rabbits that live in this small wood, but no such luck on this occasion.

Green bottle fly, butterflies, damselflies, ladybirds, bees, hoverflies, Stewartby, opposite to Lakes

Station Road, Marston Moretaine—Flowers

A Walk with a Camera Along Station Road proves worthwhile. The bees were active, especially along an entire front garden wall of Heather, and this was true on both sides of the main road, it also tends to attract the owners’ attention, and when that occurs, I often find I am shown their back gardens, or at least allowed to step into the front garden to get closer, or better angles.

Most of the time the sun was out, but on a few occasions, the clouds passed across the sun. When that happened, and the ideal viewpoint really needed the sunlight, either to highlight my particular subject, or put shadow beyond, I would have to be patient, and stop and wait awhile. Fortunately, on this afternoon trip, I was fairly lucky. On occasion some compositions needed for the breeze to die down, so I could take a shot with a flower without others  partially obscuring the main flower, or grouping.

Capturing bees either in flight, or bees on a particular flower can sometimes be difficult, especially when they alight, for mere fractions of a second. Sometimes, I found myself poised on a particular flower, and waiting for a bee to land, only to have the breeze to pick up, and dislodge the bee, or blow a leave across the bee just as I am ready to take the shot! However overall, on this short trip, I was reasonably fortunate.

Further EOS R Testing

 

I keep taking every opportunity to test how best to set up the EOS R for the various scenarios I encounter, and on this afternoon, it was general handling, and using my go to general lens, the 24-70mm with its macro facility.

The main road that my house borders on one side in Marston Moretaine provides numerous front gardens with at this time of year in bright sunshine provides full use of this lens. The first was a hedge of Heather, that the local bees love, and there were opportunities a-plenty to get attractive compositions of flowers, that could one day become backgrounds for shots that I can use to carry greetings messages to family and friends.

The bees on this occasion were not very compliant, staying only brief nanoseconds on any one flower, making grabbing a meaningful image composition almost impossible, and surprisingly on this visit numbers were down compared to an afternoon earlier in the week when the numbers were far higher. This time I spotted possibly half a dozen individuals, earlier there had been literally scores, which was what had prompted me to find time to take a camera out to capture this lavender bonanza.

I did visit a few more gardens bordering the main road, but ended by shooting a beautifully renovated house front which in the sunshine cried out to be recorded.

This coming weekend will provide the opportunity to check out fast moving subjects, and for this, I also checked out a lighter long lens, the Tamron 160-600mm, which I am hoping to use in earnest when coupled to the EOS R.

Visit to a Stewartby Field Path

Using an OS Map of the Stewartby area, I located a field on the outskirts of Stewartby, just beyond the Railway bridge along the road leading to the Ampthill Road, that appeared to show a series of lakes. There was a lay-by opposite the entrance, so initially I parked the car and decided to investigate on foot without any cameras. The field was full of wild flowers, and though there was an information board to the left of a navigable strip, it was barely accessible without a scythe!

I took the easy route and the path widened to  the left of a hawthorn hedge, with several newly planted trees, with a bank on the left that overlooked a stand of reeds, and I suspect that beyond were the series of small lakes that were designated on the map, though I could see no sign of water. Unencumbered with photographic gear, I strode along till I reached a bridge over a brook that led into the adjacent field; I did investigate this, but it held no interest and continued along the field margin to the left for a distance to check it out, then returned the way I had come.

On my return trip I spotted a small trio of rabbits, but they promptly disappeared back into the thicket as I approached, so I took note of the spot for my return later with a camera. I decided it was definitely worth setting up the camera, so collected EOS R with the 60-600mm Sigma and 1.4x Converter and mounted it on my medium heavy tripod with the Acratech Long lens head and leveller which I could heft without too much strain. Access was very muddy, so I lifted the tripod over the gate and stood it on the solid concrete beyond then navigated to path avoiding the worst of the mud more easily unencumbered, then collected it once beyond and continued along the path. It was very muggy and when I stopped to capture some of the bees at work, I had to keep wiping my steamed-up glasses. I made my way slowly to the corner spot where earlier I had spied the rabbits, and did not have too long a wait before one broke cover gingerly, I waited patiently and was eventually rewarded by the appearance of two more. After a few shots from that spot, I moved a few steps closer over about fifteen minutes, before they decided I had come too close, and they took cover.

After that I took a few more shots before departing, I managed to get a shot of a butterfly and some bees, but I will return when the sun is out, and I will investigate the reeds to see whether there is water beyond, but in more suitable footwear.

Brief Marston Lake – Spring Flowers

The newly- AA-assisted boost to my flattened Car Battery, was very welcome, but due to the delay, I was unable to make the longer distance travel to pastures new. I chose to make the most of the time whilst my running engine was recharging to at least be somewhere close with possibilities of capturing either some of the wildlife, or at least the fresh young growth in the woods enclosing Marston Lake.

It meant that I could leave the car at tickover in the knowledge it was safe, whilst I was able to capture some of the burgeoning new growth that surrounds the lake, and I was lucky to spot some water lilies on the far side, with the bonus of a damselfly or two alight on the  brand leaves, as if they were ‘helipads, insects for the use of’ – in RAF-parlance!

Since speed was of the essence, I decided to forego a tripod, in favour of the monopod, and this was prompted in part by two appearances of a rabbit breaking cover, but my presence, made it decide not to risk further exposure, so my patience on this occasion was not rewarded. So I returned to taking shots of some of the local blossom and the insects that were assisting their pollination, somewhat warily in the presence of wasps!

By the lily pads I had hoped to capture the damselflies in flight, but they seemed happy and secure just afloat on the leaves basking in the warm sunshine, barely disturbed by the rippling water swirling their islands.

I hoped that finally my battery would have sufficient charge to call a halt to the wasting of valuable fuel, and turned off the engine  allowing me to lock the car and wander around in the hope of finding other subjects, but was out of luck if I was hoping for activity such as Grebe on the lake, or woodpeckers in the surrounding trees.

Since it was the end of the week, the anglers were arriving presumably to spend the night under canvas for an early start on Saturday, and so I headed back, hoping the car would start; it did, and so I left the lake to its natural owners, and their hopes.

Stockwood Discovery Centre Visit

 

I had finished processing shots taken at Brogbourgh and the gallery of images had been posted, so now the next venue was the gardens at the Stockwood Discovery Centre on the outskirts of Luton. I had not visited for some time and I have two Birthday Cards to create by the end of the week so a couple of fresh leaves or flowers would come in handy. I phoned a couple of friends in Luton, one of whom must have been on holiday, and the second person did answer, but was going out, so my trip would have just the single purpose.

I would however take advantage of the slightly discounted fuel before the return journey. On this occasion I would be travelling somewhat lighter, since on this occasion I really only needed the one lens on the EOS 5D MkIII, the 90mm Tamron Macro, though should I need others, the camera bag held a couple of alternatives.

On my arrival, it was fairly evident that the School holidays had begun, as few spaces were left in the Car Park, and once inside, it was also evident that this was an ideal venue for young mothers to bring their young and to socialise! However, most stayed close to the Café and play area, or sat in groups on the lawns or in the shade of the trees. My venue were the gardens and the greenhouse. The clouds that greeted me originally, began slowly to dissipate, but on a couple of occasions when I did want sunshine, I had to be patient till the sun came back from behind the clouds. I spotted a lone butterfly and a few bees, to add to the leaves and flowers.

Although the dry spell had taken its toll of some of the plants, and many of the flowers had had their day, I still found ample subjects for the camera, and some will feature in cards, so my trip was fruitful and I was able to refuel as part and parcel of the journey.

Brogborough Lake’s non-human Inhabitants

 

After the intense winds of last week, only a mere gentle breeze disturbed the calm waters of the lake, and where earlier there was an abundance of very active dragonflies and damselflies, this Saturday had but a few, perhaps resting after the frantic searches for mates. Certainly the few dragonflies I caught sight of, possessed the distinct signs of wear on their fragile wings. In the case of damselflies whose numbers a week back far outstripped the dragonflies, I spotted very few unattached males, and just a couple paired up.

There were three different types of bees still collecting nectar from the wild flowers that were along the field side of the bushes that line the banks, and only a very few hoverflies. Initially, I walked along without a camera in case it was not even worth setting one up, but I soon found that there were a few spots being visited by dragonflies which were the real target I sought, so after this recce trip, I decided that a handheld camera with a macro lens was the desired combination.

 Ideally, I should have considered bringing the 100mm, but the 90mm Tamron was what I had packed, so that was what I was going to have to use, which meant I was going to have to get rather closer, and rely to a degree on cropping the frame when post-processing, but since I was using the 5D MkIII, the crop corresponded to the 7D MkII using the same lens, so not a great loss. Had I brought the 100mm I would have had the luxury of not moving so close to my potential targets which would probably have improved the success rate. The foreshore is somewhat rugged, so trying to move in close with subtlety was a tall order, especially as I am not as nimble as I would like.

I spent sometime waiting or moving from one spot to another, but ended up with several quite nice shots, so the afternoon I deemed a success. It was very muggy, and trying to keep still and often trying to lean forward with camera held in front proved to be more energetic, so my shirt was soon soaked through, because trying to keep still whilst extended is actually hard work, but satisfying.

By Stagsden Pond – Alive with Life

 

 

I had decided that it might well be worth paying Stagsden a visit with a longer lens than when on my last visit to the Pond that lies to the side of a new Industrial Park there.

Perhaps the long lens scared the inhabitants off, since just as I was setting up the tripod close to pond edge reeds, there was a loud explosion of flapping from the trees, and a Heron and Red Kite made a rapid exit, before I had a chance to remove the camera and lens from the unset up tripod, I had but a few seconds to at least record their departure! They were never to return, sad to report.

I decided to mount the Benbo tripod as low as possible, so that I was no higher than the pond-side reeds, and this took time as the sloping edge was difficult to find a sound support at a height that accommodated the central column, and I was determined to keep as quiet as possible in the hope that the two birds might return.

I had hoped that I might capture some of the dragonflies that flew along the reed tops, but they never followed a standard routine that I might plan where I might catch them in flight; they spent most of their time in the air, and in chasing each other, leaving only those in the far distance, which was out of reasonable capture range, despite my best efforts.

I spotted a grassy cut path off to my left, and decided this might prove more profitable, but only once did I briefly spot a dragonfly venture here, but one of my favourites from the insect kingdom were to be found – the hoverfly, and a few bees, and numerous wild flowers, so for a while I concentrated my efforts on these, and wandered the path’s length till it came out at the fields’ edge, but except for the start, there was no extra part of the pond to be found accessible.

The afternoon was not wasted, but neither was it what I had hoped I might find to satisfy my intention of taking shots of dragonflies in flight, and they barely even feature! I did however get to use the 1.4 Converter and begin to understand how best to use it, as it limits the positioning of the focus point for auto-focus immovably in the centre of the screen.

Forest Centre Late Spring Cycle Ride

The Forest Centre at this time is filled with Dog Roses and the many denizens of English Woodland flora, pollinators such as bees abound, and I took along the EOS 7D MkII and just the one lens, the 24-70mm with its built-in Macro switch, on occasion I did wish for something longer, especially when I turned a corner only to see the vanishing white bobtails of numerous rabbits, or distant small birds that sang all around me.

There was a lone foxglove and a single dragonfly, I briefly caught sight of hoverflies and a couple of butterflies, but much smaller insects were around in greater numbers. I spotted a pair of ladybirds, but disappointingly they were not our native species, and the pair  I found were intent on increasing their population.

The single tall Wind Turbine could be seen occasionally above the bushes and trees, and every so often its gentle whirring could be heard, as could a vehicle working on the nearby railway line. In the time I was there I saw only one train pass, and heard another. In this area it would be good to have a better service, but the nearby Millbrook Station has a paltry amount of space for the parking of cars, so is of little benefit, and the location is hardly a secure one. I spotted a notice nearby of some intended work, but there was no mention of any possibility of acquiring enough land to make this a possibility in the future, which is a shame for the numerous new homes being built in this area.

I had not really expected to be rewarded with a large number of images, so to find enough to fill two gallery pages was not too shameful, and several will make greetings cards at some stage in the future, and I needed the exercise.

Buzzing Ivy by Moretaine Manor

I knew there was only a slim chance of windsurfing activity at Brogborough as there had been a big event over the weekend on the South Coast, so I put minimal camera gear onto my bike, so that the journey might at least serve as exercise, and any way I could check out signs of insect activity lakeside, then choose a different location thereafter. On arrival there was no action, so spotting that some of the windsurfing wetsuits had blown from the line, I did my bit and rehung them on the line to give them a chance to dry. Before cycling back, I cycled past the club area and headed to Lidlington, where a single pink rose swayed in the breeze with an ichneumon wasp resting on it, there were also a few what I took to be red wild roses, and a short distance away a tree laden with crab apples.

I took a few shots here, one of which was a giant concrete Lego Brick; an increasingly frequent sight in this neck of the woods due to the nefarious parking of itinerant travellers’ vehicles who seem to delight in wrecking any available green space that they can find before the authorities can muster the paperwork to evict them. I then returned to take a wander close by Moretaine Manor, which is now a hotel.

At the entrance is a large ivy bush, and it was alive to the silent activity of late pollinators, so my journey was undoubtedly not wasted. I put the Canon 7D and 100mm Macro to use capturing them and was there for a reasonable time before cycling back to create another gallery of images. The majority of the pollinators appeared to prefer the shade to the sunlit side of the bush, which meant having to operate at 1000 to 1600 ISO making it difficult to freeze them when in flight, and I am certain that if I were not there with a camera they’d have been in the warmth of the sunny side! I am convinced that all wildlife is fully aware of photographers’ kit, as when I take a long lens to a kingfisher spot, they perch close by me knowing that I cannot focus so close, or they sit on a branch at a reasonable distance from me, but shielded by a thicket of intervening branches and leaves.

But my trip did provide both exercise and some images, so it was an hour well-spent, and provided me with some card imagery as well as fresh air, now I need a piece of kit called Printer Potty ordered from the Internet to arrive so that I can put my printer back together, as it is taking up valuable space in the kitchen, stripped right back to its chassis! For anyone facing an overflowing ink reservoir on their printer, I cannot recommend the man selling this item, enough; he is absolutely charming, exceedingly helpful, and the product receives excellent reviews.

Brogborough Becalmed, But Full of Life…

Brogborough Lake is alive with insect and plant life, so on a warm afternoon with barely a zephyr to ripple the waters of the lake, there seems little chance of a windsurfer, which is disappointing for Sam Barnes who eagerly awaits the second chance to take to the water with his Hydrofoil Windsurfer. In case that might be the case, I chose to be around should the wind appear, though I was  there to capture whatever I could of the ‘little beasties’ and the leaves and flowers that formed their habitat.

There were a few dragonflies, and there were bees, damselflies and hoverflies, a golden Shield bug, and one or two insects for whom I had no name, or were species I had not seen before, so armed with the 100mm and 1.4 Converter on the EOS7D MkII and the 24-70mm with Macro on the EOS5D MkIII, I set about recording what I found. I spotted others, but failed to be quick enough to capture them, but nevertheless, it was still a very worthwhile haul for a gallery of eighty images, so not a waste.

A Mentoring Session at Stockwood

Jan Tysoe has been an Important Gardener at the Discovery Centre in Luton for some years, and recently retired. During the time I have been visiting she has helped me by showing me some of the plants she has tended, and often rescued. I made a special visit to the gardens to help her when she came, not to labour, but to take photographs with her newly-acquired digital SLR camera and lens – I was here to return the favour.

Jan texted me to say that she was by the Water Feature, so on arrival, I headed there wending my way through the throngs of families by the cafeteria and the play area. She had a friend with her sitting on the nearby bench, I joined them and hand Jan a small card device I had made specially to get across the idea of Reciprocity; the way to maintain the same Exposure, by balancing the size of the Aperture against the length of Time the shutter was open for any given amount of Brightness in the image. I then explained why she might wish to choose a particular Aperture so as to define the Depth of Field, and use this to make the subject of her photograph stand out from its background.

I had created two strips which could be moved in tandem for any given exposure to display a pairing of Shutter Speed and Apertures and explained why she might choose a wide aperture such as f/2.8 for a narrow depth or f/22 for a wider depth, I only touched lightly upon the limitations of the shutter speed for the freezing of any motion. I gave her the device to work with later. I did however move to some nearby blooms to explain how for any focussed distance the aperture chosen defines a depth that extends slightly further behind than in front of the focussed point. At this juncture I also explained that for this exercise setting Aperture Priority was important and set the camera for around f/8 and to give her a good chance of successes, I left the ISO speed at 1600˚ which was where I found it, but did say in passing that was a tad high for the camera body I had given her a while earlier, a Canon 10D and might result in some noise in the pictures.

I also tried to impress her the importance of framing her picture and using half-pressure on the shutter button to acquire focus from the centre, then place the subject within the frame. To get this message across, I asked her to place the flower first on the right of the frame, then the left and explained how this might be important for composition and possibly later to add some text for say, a greetings card.

After this, we began strolling around the gardens, with my occasionally giving further suggestions as to viewpoint and backgrounds, or when she was intent on a particular picture grabbing a few of my own and sometimes showing how and why I had taken the individual frame.

The time we spent was all too short, but hopefully helpful, and I look forward to her results; meantime here is the small gallery I created at the time.

Waddesdon in Sun & Showers

I was invited by my daughter to visit Waddesdon with her two children for a Day with Scooters, and naturally another visit to the splendid setting of house and gardens, the first this year was an opportunity I was not going to miss. They now have a car park area in the lower part of the park, and one then takes a coach to the fountain roundabout that is the start of the main drive to the front of the house, one of several houses belonging to the Rothschild Banking dynasty. The guide we met was bubbly, helpful and on seeing the scooters, she said if we hand these to the driver, he will stow them in the front of the coach, and after taking the ticket from us we boarded, with the two children heading straight for the back seats!

Soon the coach filled with other families, but on that coach we were the only ones with scooters, and seemingly we were early as when we reached the drop-off point we only saw a couple of others with scooters in the distance by the house. We headed for the small tent to get our maps for the ‘Tour de France’ trail and chat to further, friendly volunteer guides – you are made to feel warmly welcomed at every turn.

My daughter had prepared lunch for us all, so we headed for a bench and whilst she prepared everything the two children happily scooted back and forth along the path, eventually coming to sit down to eat and drink, then we consulted the maps and began the trail, after the first stop which had been reasonably level, the path sloped more steeply and the boy’s brake on the rear wheel proved difficult to slow down safely, so for a spell he had to walk (not what he had hoped), but we were not killjoys: we had already had minor spills and with thin summer clothes, knees and elbows are easily grazed.

Every so often I took opportunities to take photographs, though generally close at hand should mishaps occur. The two of them found a den that appealed and later when the rain came all of us found welcome shelter there.

We broke for tea where we did have a minor disaster with our little girl whilst trying to sit on the chain between heavy iron barriers managed to pull one over on herself, which did open the floodgates for tears, but fortunately though she did receive a bump, it was mainly the shock that caused her to sob.

As we collected or drinks and both children had ice creams, it began to rain and we sat down at the front of the house, with both children seeking temporary shelter beneath a table! We donned wet weather gear and headed for the children’s ‘base’ before heading back to the trail after the rain, and soon the sun returned.

On completing the trail we headed once more to the tent for the collection of their trophies. It was while we were there we noticed the three step plinth, on which some parents were placing their children for photos – one inventive father placed his child on the top step, then dived his head beneath her legs and carried the child off on his shoulders! I was impressed by his lateral thinking!

We left after a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon. The gallery of images has flowers, leaves, butterflies, bees, landscapes, and colour.

Dull Day, and Tiniest of Butterflies

At Lunchtime, I put out some washing and spotted three of the tiniest of butterflies, or maybe moths, I now have the task of learning just which?

Certainly the eye structures would possibly point to some sort of day-flying moth, but either way I had never seen such colourful butterflies of that small size before, so when I also consider the wing structures maybe this is another pointer towards moths. With the camera out, when they disappeared, I concentrated on a few bees instead, until they returned. When one settled on the wall, it was no larger with wings open, than the mortar between the bricks!

In case anyone reading this happens to know, I would be most grateful to learn; it was certainly good practice at trying to shoot such energetic and small insects, and in the end, I was grateful that the camera body was the 7D MkII as this has flash, and being so dull, this at least gave me a slight chance of seeing what they looked like close up. I did try without using a high ISO, but the success rate was poor.

A postscript – The tiny moths are Mint Moths, which is confirmed by where I found them – close by a patch of Mint!

Insects that caught my attention…

I have spent time using Google to try to find out what the weird insect (in positions 30 and 31 in the gallery) was that looked so fearsome with this tall antenna with the red stripes, and wondered just what its purpose was. So far I have been unable to find anything close, but since many of the times  I have put up galleries of images from this macro world that I find so interesting seem to have appealed to the readers of this blog judging by the visitor numbers when they have appeared, I am genuinely interested to know just what its name is and why it has this ‘mast’ aloft? It seems at once ungainly, and threatening.

 The two very flat butterflies/moths were flying around in the shadows of the thicket then landing and lying absolutely flat on the leaves. I did catch sight of other butterflies but they were far to restless and unpredictable for me to get any shots, and I was lucky to catch the cricket/grasshopper at all as he was bounding for cover and only stopped for a second or two. At least the ladybird was decent enough to keep out in the open, and though he momentarily took to the air, it was only to another nearby thistle.

For all the abundance of insect life, what was surprising was the lack of birdsong; I rarely saw any birds, and in the two or three instances they were fleeting trips across the pathway and at a good distance, I did however hear the call of the woodpigeon just the once – “My toe hurts Betty”, but no reassuring return call from Betty.

A light aircraft was in an oval loop presumably doing occasional ‘circuit and bumps’ and every so often cutting his engine to be able to understand how to restart should any emergency occur in the future. When I hear an engine die, it always grabs my attention, as my heart misses a beat!

During the entire ride and when I stopped, I never saw another human, though there were frequent reminders of the passage of horses. I wish they would at least have the courtesy to move to the edges when the call of nature beckoned, as to avoid these hazards I invariably had to navigate potholes or loose gravel. My human fellow travellers might also have taken their cans and bottles back with them as it makes it harder for authorities to fund these paths when also having to pay for, or find volunteers to carry out the task later.

I did wonder whether there might be a lack of variety, or a poor choice of vegetation in this landscape that accounted for the distinct lack of birds – I have more birds and greater variety in my pocket handkerchief back garden. Starlings in abundance, Jackdaws, Magpies, Sparrows, Pigeons, Bluetits on occasion, Blackbirds, surely this is down to what has been seeded in this obviously reclaimed land?

Brogborough Lake – Abundant Insects

It was seriously hot, and impossible to work inside without air conditioning, or even a fan, so in the afternoon I took myself off to Brogborough Lake, expressly to try to capture Dragonflies, in flight – it was not to be, despite numerous failed attempts as they were out in great numbers, and from my untutored observations, they were mainly seeking mating partners, and few seemed to bother to hover, speed and interaction seemed the order of the day – some would have repeat patterns of flight, but these loops would vary in height, so there was no easy way to synchronise my panning. I settled for spotting those that took a break from flying and settled on reeds or the foreshore.

Two men took to the water with paddles, one of those with a young son aboard for the trip. The water was generally still and very clear and in the narrow channels between discarded bricks and paving stones streams of small fish darted by first in one direction then turn about and back in the other, and despite not using a polariser I was able to capture this activity with comparative ease.

Damselflies also abound here, but I was less interested in them than their larger cousins, and there seemed to be two discrete sizes, the larger being slightly less in number. There were a few butterflies, but they rarely settled for more than half a second, and the few bees that were around also spent very brief spells on any one flower.

I initially used the 100mm Canon Macro on the 7D MkII, but soon swapped to the 300mm with 1.4 Converter, and both were well-suited for what I intended, but I think an earlier visit would prove more fruitful as with the afternoon heat these dragonflies had abundant energy to keep flying, rarely settling for longer than a few seconds. Just before leaving a small breeze came for a minute or so, and I just stopped and let it waft by as I stood with arms stretched to attempt to dry out. One of the nearby preening swans seemingly felt the selfsame urge; one or other had discarded a pristine feather which had two water droplets and was also moved by the small zephyr, so I took a couple of shots in case they might one day be used in a card.

A brief Afternoon Visit to the Forest Centre

I felt sweating in front of a computer screen on one of the hottest and certainly muggiest afternoons in a long while was not the most productive way, nor the most comfortable, so a short trip in an air-conditioned car then sweating whilst trying to hand hold the 100-400mm lens steady on the 5D MkIII was preferable; the aim being to try to capture dragonflies in flight.

Foolishly I thought using a tripod was a good idea, but it really wasn’t and soon though I did use it on occasion as a monopod, it simply became a burden to carry with me! As I entered the steps to the reeds I spotted a tiny lizard, but I just watched it as it soon found a way to elude me, certainly well before I could have readied a camera! I carried on down to where I soon spotted a few dragonflies flitting and briefly hovering above shallow pools among the reeds. It took me fully a sweaty twenty minutes without ever reaching the point where I could press the shutter release, and during that period a couple from Windsor paid a short visit, which gave me a spotter, for the lady was able to point out a small red dragonfly stationary on a reed, so I got my first shot of the day, but I had my sights set on the larger species that were brightly coloured green and blue and hopefully hovering in flight long enough for me to focus and capture.

I persevered for some time and the couple continued further into the Reserve and later returned and in passing wish me success. Later another photographer came along and she mentioned there was a large family of rats below the bird feeder, so I decided to take a diversion from dragonflies and went along and took a few shots as the youngsters came out in the open for a while before being spooked and returning to cover. I then returned to my original spot as did the photographer and occasionally in the lulls between dragonfly visits we chatted, and on mentioning I enjoyed shooting kingfishers she told me her boyfriend chose the colours of a kingfisher for his canoe – I did wonder whether that platform might be successful in attracting our feathered friends, but I think not.

Eventually as the sun dipped further, I decided I might move to the reeds at the edge of the lake in front of the play area, and this proved marginally better and I did manage a couple of passably sharp shots of one in flight, but got some interesting compositions of one in the reeds, static. Then as I took a winding route back to the car I spotted another that alighted on a blackberry cluster and later still some bees among the flowers, so my journey was not wasted, so there was to be a gallery in the end, and it meant the perspiration had been worth enduring.

My Garden Insect Pollinators

Today was the day when those taking O-Level GCSEs get their results, and I was hoping to hear how my twin grandchildren had fared, and fortunately I did not have to wait too long and was both relieved and thrilled to learn just how well both had performed – I knew it was well-deserved as they had both worked extremely hard and now they can take things to the next stage with confidence and I wish them well. Catherine their mother should feel justly proud of their achievements considering she is also a hard-working teacher herself.

It was very hot and humid today and so when lunchtime came and I spotted a couple of Tortoiseshell butterflies at long last visiting my Buddliea, I knew I just had to grab the camera and take some shots since up till yesterday I had seen only a lone Cabbage White and the flowers are nearly all over now. It was a welcome sight, and they do make excellent images for birthday cards.

At one stage when looking to see whether any butterflies had gone to the very low branches resting on the grass, I spotted some colour close to the fence and thought at first it was a kiddy's toy, but on closer examination I was amazed – when I moved here, my two daughters had bought me a house-welcoming present of a plum tree, and despite being only a year in the ground it had produced two very healthy looking plums one with a large glob of sap coming from its skin. I who can kill the healthiest and sturdiest of plants had been given fruit on my plum tree in the first year! I shall check later to see whether they are actually ripe enough to eat, I immediately texted both daughters with the good news and a quick photo as evidence. One plum for two excellent results for my granddaughters.

I then grabbed a few more shots; enough for a small gallery and got back to the Sauna that is my office.