I Revisit a Park Just North of the A421

          I headed across the A421 to visit the woods beyond. Once parked, I took the soft case from my LUMIX FZ10002, leaving it behind in the car’s boot, and hung the camera around my neck. On this occasion I am travelling light, very light! Not even my monopod. Locking up the car, I take to the long dark tunnel of trees into the open air beyond, occasionally stopping to capture images along the way that caught my eye.
          Currently, the weather seems somewhat unsettled, and slightly less clearly season defined, but I did find metallic green flies, at least three species of butterflies, Red Admiral, Meadow Brown, and some others that I could not immediately identify. Variegated leaf colouring and backlit leaves also attracted my interest, as did a fair number of small, or simply young hoverflies. Beyond the woods, in the open area of the park, the wind had picked up, and despite taking several of the paths in hope of further interest, I was disappointed, as nothing much caught my eye, and therefore my camera — the rest of my walk yielded only fair weather clouds, the green winding paths and one long, lightly leaved and bowing branch framing the curving metalled path.
          I had gained the exercise, enjoyed the fresh air, and was impressed yet again by just how versatile this small camera is and fully justifies my decision to purchase it — it does not replace my more expensive kit, but when travelling light, fully earns its place amongst my heavier and pricier cameras.

Yet Another Garden Visit

            Good Day to whoever is visiting at present, I apologise for the hiatus in publishing anything to the blog; it is that I have been down to Goodwood for a splendid day with my elder daughter, courtesy of Lord March for whom, many moons ago, had sought help from his retouchers, The Colour Company, with whom I shared space in Clerkenwell and doubled as their salesman, and provider of their Delivery and Collection service!
            Charles March had asked the partners, Tony and John, for Photoshop and Mac Help, to which they owned that that would be the ‘Blind leading the Blind’, and suggested he contact me, whom he had often noted being in and out of their premises on his visits. The rest is as they say: History! — as Charles kindly asked whether I would mind coming down to Goodwood House to stay the night, and be ready after Breakfast to then sit down and lead him through the intricacies of the program. The response was prompt and positive on my part, and not only did I leave with a cheque that evening, upon learning of my keen interest in Motor Racing, (as at that time I was the Deputy Chief Pit Marshal for BRSCC at Brands Hatch) — I have been the recipient of invitations each year, since then!
            However, the reason this gallery is so late in arriving on my blog is that Life supervened, in that it’s preparation gave way for my visit to Goodwood, for which the gallery has yet to be even started! I shall begin in a couple of days, in the meantime, please enjoy the colour and life that abounds when looking close up within a garden.

Afternoon at Stewartby Woods and Lake

               I had spotted an entry to the woods with a broken gate, now open wide. I parked on the opposite side of the road to investigate further, but soon spotted something of interest in the nearby hedge — some three examples of the industrious work of Labyrinth spiders. Perhaps because of the consistent noise of passing vehicles, these seemed less shy of my bringing my camera to bear to capture shots of the makers of their homes and the means of regular food provision at the front entrance to their homes!

               Having taken two of my cameras from the car, I locked it, and crossed the road with them, and followed the path into the woods. I found that the path around the lake has been carefully improved to provide what will ultimately circle the entire lake; currently the reason the path circling the lake is incomplete is because of construction work on the forthcoming Rookery South power station. Upon my entry to the woods, it was not long before I spotted one of my personal favourite insects, hoverfly.

               I have no idea, since this was my first introduction to these woods, how frequented these woods are, but in the short walk along the path, I was very disappointed by the number of discarded poo bags were in evidence, and other examples of ill-disciplined human litterbugs with carelessly discarded crisp packs. Why is it so much bother to retain food packaging and dispose of it upon return from a pleasant walk in the woods? During my visit, I saw very few people, yet had I counted the bottles, cans, doggy poo bags and the like discarded, the numbers of such detritus far exceeded the number of human individuals I encountered, which is a really sad statement of how we treat our environment. Many people now have few personal spaces around their homes, so these Public Spaces are really valuable areas for recreation and relaxation, and should be treasured.

               Bedfordshire is a lucky county, in that the past scars on the landscape caused by the extraction of clay have been reclaimed as lakes and woodland for the enjoyment and relaxation for everyone. Just a little thought by everyone for how much enjoyment can be had in these places would mean all visitors who come here to walk, play and relax could be rewarded by the sights and sounds to be found in these places. Rant over — enjoy the shots of spiders, bees, butterflies, hoverflies, wildflowers, tree-lined avenues, and lake views.

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

Brogborough Lake Path Walk

Since the Lake is not open for Windsurfing or Angling currently, I parked to one side of the gate to avoid blocking access, and entered the path that encircles the lake along with my currently ever-present LUMIX camera, ironically in the hope of capturing this year’s Dragonflies, but although they were around, they rarely settled, or hovered awhile, and also rarely came close, whereas the damselflies were numerous and were even to be found In the field margins.

There were spiders either hanging around or very busy linking up several different branches or leaf groups. I also noted a strange winged insect with long tails, but my first interesting bird was a distant Wagtail which, as I quietly manoeuvred closer would loop past me to hop around the same distance from me, but on the other side of me! I moved closer to it, but even more slowly, and have relied on cropping the images to use at a fair size. It kept me busy for a while, as it was rarely still for long, and they are interesting birds. I did get some shots of one Dragonfly, but at one stage the reed he was on fell into the water, and wet its wings, so when I spotted that it had become partially submerged, I got a small branch, and lifted the reed out of the water, so that it’s wings could dry out, and after five minutes, was relieved to witness him dry enough to flap his wings, and moments later take to the air. I was mightily relieved, and it lifted my spirits in realising I had likely saved its life.

Two Geese families soon appeared slowly from the right of me as the respective parents carefully watched me to see if I represented a danger, the appraisal lasted a couple of minutes, then both the Greylag and Canada Geese families slowly brought their charges gingerly past. They had judged that I was not a danger, and both sets of parents kept their young close as they passed by; so they were still taking no chances.

I had thought that the Dog Roses would soon have finished flowering since I had seen the first of them quite some time back, but they were still making a good showing as I continued walking further around the lake. The still waters on this trip meant that it the bottom of the lake clearly showed the origins of their past life as the numerous bricks were evidence of where they had been unceremoniously dumped if they were damaged or otherwise sub-standard. At least now the large planting of trees and expanse of water coloured by the reflection of extensive blue sky and high thin clouds made a most attractive sight, which once the current Lock Down becomes a distant memory will return to, become the background to joyous human activity for Windsurfers, Hydrofoilers, Paddle-boarders and Swimmers, not forgetting the Swans, Ducks and Geese that call this expanse of water their home too.

On this trip, I spotted later a gap in the bushes where a small makeshift bridge had been built over the stream, and decided to risk crossing over, and found myself on a raised bank, with a path bathed in shafts of light from gaps in the cover of leaves which attracted the flying of hoverflies. I decided here was an interesting challenge for this camera, to try to capture then in flight, or possibly static on the back of my hand, but this is one activity that is hard to master using a mirrorless camera, but I do like a challenge, and I spent fully half an hour in attempting to capture at least one, in flight. It was not going to be a great shot, but that was no reason not to make the attempt! They do not match the quality of the rest of the images, but it occupied my brain hand and arms, and I hoped the hoverflies might take a leaf out of the lone fly’s book, by realising I meant no harm.

My last two shots were of the shadows cast by shafts of sunlight through the trees that silhouetted some of the taller weeds in the wide verge.

Floral Interlude – Marston Moretaine

With some time to kill, and the need to remain close by, I take my camera and wander along the pavement capturing some of the flowers bathed in warm sunshine, that are displayed in many of the front gardens bordering Station Road.

And occasionally I take a closer look in some of the many tubs that add colour to some of the roads that join the main road. I find that among these shots there are often useful backgrounds for creating greetings cards for relatives and friends to carry messages of good wishes for birthdays and other anniversaries.

On this occasion, sadly I found that one of my lenses is in need of a service as the focussing did not work every time , so after only the first couple of shots, I had to return to swap it for another, so sadly that is another bill to pay! I returned to the task in hand and continued up Station Road, looking for suitable shots that could be taken from the pavement.

I also take such opportunities to capture bees, hoverflies and butterflies, but on this occasion I saw no bees or butterflies, and considering the buddies are now in blossom, I am surprised that I only saw a Cabbage White, and only flies and overflies, so this gallery is almost entirely of flowers.

Marston Moretaine — Life in the Hedges

Every day people stroll, run or cycle along roads with rarely a glance to the right or left, often in worlds of their own, with scant regard for the small creatures that abound in the hedges, along the low walls, or in the grass alongside the pavements. Yes, many will admire some of the brightly coloured flowers, or the neatly trimmed lawns, but when cars or bikes are passing, there are often sounds to be heard; obviously birdsong, but at lower levels there can be the gentle hum of bees. Even without those sounds, there is activity a-plenty.

I had spotted the bees, as I walked to the Post Office and back, so I broke off from what I had planned and took out a camera and over two short sorties with two different lenses set out to capture what was there in just a short stretch of the main road.

There were bees, tiny moths, a ladybird, spiders, one minuscule pale insect I had never seen, hoverflies — some were too agile and shy for me to capture.   We rely on many yet give them barely a passing thought but, when you look closer at some, you would see that many of these creatures have bodies of incredible complexity, and possess skills we can only dream of possessing. I can highly recommend stopping by a hedgerow in the early evening of a warm summer day when you see a hoverfly, and just watch their flying skills, as they lift off from a leaf perform darting swoops, the stop, hover a moment, often swing through ninety degrees at the same spot, then climb vertically, and stop again. I have found that in areas of mixed light and shade, they will often hover in the sunlit spot, then get mobbed by other hoverflies who then take over the same point in space.

On this occasion it was too early for that behaviour, and one hoverfly simply relaxed, preened itself with its long legs, then poohed! The tiny moth I spotted was barely two millimetres in diameter, and way too energetic for me to capture. And the ladybird simply burrowed deeper in the hedge, and never reappeared. Gerald Durrell, author of ‘My Family and Other Animals’ had far more exotic ‘mini-beasts’ on Corfu, but English hedgerows are far from bereft of tiny insects that are interesting to study. I would highly recommend some words from WH Davies — ‘What is this Life, if full of Care, we ne’er have Time to Stop and Stare’. A day or so back I took some shots of water boatmen — these are tiny creatures that can be found on streams and lakes, who can walk on water, and they skip along the surface with incredible agility.

When I photograph flowers, I very often try to capture insects that either pollinate those flowers or search for smaller prey who feed therein. There is a world of life within a hedge, and I gain much personal satisfaction in taking photos of this world; it is endlessly fascinating, and highly therapeutic.

A Small Lake near Bromham

I have been looking for possible locations reasonably close by that have kingfishers and dragonflies, and are suited to being frequently visited by either, and preferably less frequented by other humans, especially those out to exercise their dogs by throwing sticks and balls; not that I bear them any malice, simply that the groups do not sit well together. I spotted a small sign to this particular lake and it was designated of Special Scientific Interest, and at first sight did not look too promising, but fortunately I spotted a lady returning from a bridge at the end of this lane with her dog, and on questioning her, found that it would probably be worth my while taking a look.

Sadly, I did not gain the impression that it would definitely be what I sought, so decided to investigate on foot, sans camera. This proved my undoing – for at the end of a comparatively short walk, I found a very promising spot, so I now had to return to the car and collect my camera, and I was now very much less fresh than before. To further compound my misjudgment, I failed to take the same route, and I had travelled twice the distance along the wrong path and had to return almost the distance back to my car before setting off in the correct direction.

I was now almost completely soaked through due to my exertions, and to compound my woes, met my nemesis – a mother and early-teen daughter with canine accompaniment and a seemingly unending stock of twigs and the desire to ensure maximum exercise for her ageing four-legged friend. I was also fortuitously completely unable to do anything more than use the time to gather my strength, whilst drinking copiously from my small bottle of lightly flavoured cold orange-juice. I bore them no ill-will, the situation was of my own making, but they had lessened my chances of further visiting wildlife, but I was in no rush to seek out a different location as in the prevailing heat, I simply had insufficient energy to travel deeper on this occasion.

A few dragonflies did return, but fleetingly, however instead I was rewarded by some hoverflies, which have long been a personal favourite due to their flying skills often offering me the chance for in-flight images. I had already in the trek to this spot seen numerous butterflies, but only two close by where I placed my camera and tripod; a cabbage white that only opened its wings when flying, and the far more interesting Speckled Wood, but once it landed was little inclined to fly elsewhere offering me little ongoing interest, being as I was, more interested in the prospect of dragonflies. I was though, pleasantly distracted by some energetic water boatmen, and lucky enough to capture one at the moment of leaping from the surface.

I had also to consider returning as I was later going to meet up with Catherine, my elder daughter and her twin daughters midway between Cambridge and myself at Ashwell, and I needed definitely to shower for the second time that day! What I had not allowed for was the onset of the visual symptoms of a migraine attack, and whilst resting my eyes after the shower rose to find I had slept for an hour, and the time of my arrival had now become to time of my departure, I had not allowed for a mother of teenage daughters though, since whilst apologising, I learned they were only just setting off! We did have a lovely evening!!

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.

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.

A Second Delve into the Verbena

There is another world when kneel close to a garden bed of Verbena, or move in close to the florettes of a Budliea; when you are close to the Verbena on a warm afternoon like Saturday, you can hear an almost continuous hum from the bees as they move speedily around the tiny flowers, never staying for even as long as a second, since the flowers themselves are far too small. But for the hoverflies and other tiny insects the flowers do offer an advantage to linger, but mostly on this afternoon, a full second was generous to me.

This is a small window in which to move in, focus, and fire, but at least shooting digitally, I can rid myself of my failures in fairly short order. The sun was in and out as if it were a strobe light, which meant a constant re-assessment of my ISO setting, but at least from my last session, I had concluded that setting the Auto correction for the ambient lighting to minus a stop and a third, and the on-camera flash to plus a stop was a good baseline from which to work. I did a fair amount of ‘chimping’ to keep abreast of how I was faring, and I was careful to ensure that the flash was not being shielded by intervening leaves.

I was determined to see whether I could get in ever closer so I could capture the activity of the insects be they butterflies, hoverflies or or a lone ladybird. In this way I was able to note that in the absence of any aphids, the ladybird was not averse to sneaking pollen from the tiny Verbena flowers for a change in diet.

Hoverflies and Other Budliea Pollinators

It seemed cooler outside than in, so lunchtime took me outside with the Canon 7D and the Canon 100mm Macro with its onboard flash. The sun was in and out of cloud cover making it as difficult as possible for me to keep adjusting both the ISO and Aperture to take this gallery of images mainly of the hoverflies, of which I saw at least three different species, and within any specific group there were different ages.

Because some were half the size of the largest, I took a control shot of my thumbnail against a single flower head of the Verbena as most were found feeding on its pollen, with fewer going for the florettes of the Budliea whose size was easier to judge.

The most striking variety was a bright yellow that I had not come across before, and one looked very like a bee. I was lucky to get a few shots where the insect was still in flight, but a couple had just taken off and remained in frame from when I was taking a shot whilst they were static.

I started off with the flash set to one third over exposure and the ambient set to one third under, but eventually I set the flash to a full stop over and the ambient one and a third under with a few changes of ISO from 1600 down to 250 when the sun was fully out and I was shooting around the edges of the verbena clump.

I was reasonably happy with the end result considering how few were around despite the warmth.

Stockwood Discovery Gardens Visit

Having not visited the gardens at the Stockwood Discovery Centre for some weeks I felt that given the time I would pay a visit as the light seemed reasonable and I felt the chances of finding numerous images was good.

Upon entering the sounds of children filled the air, as I strolled beyond the Play Area and entered the gardens. At first there seemed an abundance of green, but not a lot of colour, but this proved to be deceptive, once I could see and hear the destruction of the old diamond-shaped Fountain, I then spotted the wonderful length of Lavender, and the occasional colour of a tall flower to the right.

I took a few preliminary shots then sought out the gardener, Jan and soon spotted her beyond the strewn cuttings of the hedge she was trimming at the far end wall. We chatted a while as she continued to level the top of the hedge, and then she asked whether I wanted to take a look inside the greenhouse.

I learned that it now had a young robin visiting and also a frog. I later did spot the robin, which seemed to lack its customary red breast, but I never saw the frog. I did however find much to photograph in there, and I was soon sweating profusely in the moist heat despite almost the entire length had its windows open. Once I had worked my way to the far end there was a welcoming pleasant breeze.

Once I had locked the greenhouse behind me and walked around in the fresh air, I soon dried, leaving my shirt with a white salt tide mark! I headed for the vegetable area and the lavender to get a few shots of hoverflies and bees, before heading for other sections and leaving. I was pleasantly surprised by the number of images I managed to find.

Island of Flowers – Caddington

In front of the Village Post Office and a couple of Sandwich bars lies a recently rebuilt traffic Island, edged with stone blocks heralding from China, which apparently are extremely durable, and were chosen for this and their increased height to protect the flower beds from being wrecked by careless drivers. This is currently an island of flowers, and it is in full bloom.

For their position, I believe less would have been more; more appropriate, and more attractive ultimately, allowing individual flowers to flourish, and naturally less expensive. That said however, they do add a glorious splash of colour to the otherwise functional area.

It was because of my observation that they were generally at their peak I decided I would go back for a camera, and record them for posterity, or at least to serve as possible images for cards, and give me yet another chance to focus on the amazing sophistication of some of the common pollinators of our flowers, in this instance mainly the hoverflies. To collect some thirty acceptable images from my short sojourn on my knees, precariously close to parking cars is a testament to their beauty.

Stockwood Discovery Centre Pollinators

Having visited Luton Hoo's Walled Garden and found that the pollinators had at long last arrived in force, I decided to pay a visit to the Stockwood Discovery Centre where I hoped similar conditions would prevail. I was not disappointed, but I noted there seemed to be fewer different bees; but that was not a scientific assessment, simply a personal observation, and I do not profess any knowledge of the subject.

I did notice a couple of bees that appeared to have wallowed in pollen, hence the header picture, and on one there was a tiny insect, and though I did wonder whether this was the dreaded varroa mite, upon checking images on Google it was very different, so no cause for alarm, especially since it was not a honey bee.

There seemed to be just three or four species of butterfly, Peacocks, comma and two white varieties, one of which was likely Cabbage White, which were as nervous as ever of landing for more than three nanoseconds, so do not appear in my gallery. The hoverflies seemed smaller than I remember, but that may simply be a matter of maturity, but their flight was more amenable to my capture.

Of fruit, there were a few figs coming along, and I find the shape of their leaves fascinating.

Speaking briefly to Jan, one of the gardeners, I heard that she had seen a dragonfly in the gardens a while back, and so far this year I have only briefly glimpsed two both close to reservoirs, but I have photographed precisely none, which disappoints me greatly. However, I do now know a location that has at least three, and I did manage to grab a couple of poor photographs of them, at Ashridge by a stagnant pool. I vow to return!

Luton Hoo Walled Garden – the Pollinators

The place was buzzing – and it was not only visitors taking a look around – the flowers were out in all their glory and the pollinators were hard at work, there were three distinct types of bees that I spotted, though I have no doubt there were more than that. There were wasps, there were hoverflies, various flies, and butterflies.

I soon learned that the white butterflies loved the purple flowers, and they spent more time on each flower head than I had generally come to expect, so for a change I was able to focus accurately in the time allowed!

Also there was a pleasant breeze so I was not drenched in sweat as I concentrated on getting the shots. I did have a distraction though somehow a tiny insect had got above the ground glass screen and whilst I was trying to focus on say, a bee, it was gently strolling across my field of view and in focus! I also spotted a melon leaf and flower trying to escape the greenhouse!

My Own Garden Pollinators

I was at the kitchen window washing up when I spotted the telltale flight patterns of hoverflies – the very first I had seen this year, and as often noted in the past, the spots where the hovering was taking place were repetitive, and the fly hovering would be mobbed by another, then both would fly off, and one or other would return to the same point in space.

For a moment I wondered should I be tempted to try capturing them in flight, then I dried my hands, gathered up a card popped the 100mm Macro on the Canon 7D, and went out into the sunshine and slightly gusty breeze. There were several different hoverflies around, the predominant ones were furry, not the smooth and sleek wasp-like ones of summer, these wore winter coats! At first tried to be near the common spot in space, but it seemed like my presence modified their airspace, so the hovered elsewhere. So, I thought I would make life a little easier and simply attempt to get close when they were static, resting for ablutions on leaves bathed in sunshine or the warmth of a terracotta pot.

It was at this time I spotted a very different insect, one that not only hovered, but was wedge-shaped and with a long proboscis, I described it to myself as a hummingbird hoverfly, something I had never before seen. Later courtesy of Google and a Utah Wildlife site, I learned it was a bee fly, and as I had suspected was a Spring pollinator. It flew slightly slower, and so as I was still wearing ‘L-plates’ this was nature making it easier for me to get up to scratch! What was not quite so useful was there only seemed to be one of this species and it had a habit of hiding, so not everything was stacked in my favour! Here was my challenge – catch it sipping nectar, and then withdrawing and moving to the next flower, and I got lucky. I managed to get one of the more abundant furry hoverflies away from the bushes and close to the daisies in the grass, and then when it landed on one for a wash ’n’ brush up. I also spotted one tiny bee disappear down a tiny hole between flagstones, and on closer inspection realised there were numerous small holes excavated, that most likely were the homes of my other flying friends.

I did a quick check in the front garden, which was normally a very good hoverfly hunting ground, but not today, but I did spot the bud of a lone tulip, took some quick shots before going to the back again and finishing my shoot. I felt like very like Gerald Durrell in ‘My Family and Other Animals’, with my pre-occupation with macro photography of insects, but it really is a whole new world when you are up close, and the aerobatics of hoverflies is endlessly fascinating.

Luton Hoo Visit 26-7-11

Wednesdays are volunteer days at the Walled Garden Project at Luton Hoo, and the morning started very grey and cloudy, so I worked in the morning and only went over there once the sun was shining, because I had heard that a humming bird hawkmoth had been seen in the gardens a fortnight back, and I knew they needed bright sunshine to appear.

However, I was to be disappointed, there was no sign of it. I was told that I should take a look in at the Cactus house as there was a splendid flowering of no less than five heads from one. The gardeners tending this had never witnessed such a display in over thirty years of working with cacti. The blooms last for no longer than a couple of days, so I was indeed honoured and lucky that it should occur on a Wednesday.

I was also delighted to see large numbers of hoverflies who were equally excited, which gave me further chances of capturing them in flight amidst such colour. It was not just in the greenhouses that they abounded, there was a profusion in the garden as well, so I did not miss the opportunities. There were many bees, but few honeybees, and there were also several wasps. A few cabbage white butterflies could be seen, but only one Peacock that I could see.

Weekend Hoverflies

As I write this I am reminded of my father who as a member of the Royal Auxillary Air Force just prior to the Second World War was a ‘Weekend Pilot’. He was with 603 University of Edinburgh Squadron, and it was from this squadron that a pilot shot the first German aircraft over the North Sea.

I never cease to be amazed by the incredible control exercised by hoverflies in gusty wind; they manage to hold their own despite the violence of the gusts, and once I begun taking photos of them, I found their structure incredible for such a small insect. When viewed at a distance they seem to possess no colour but when up close the yellow and black pattern of their bodies is striking, as are the enormous  reddy brown multiple lens eyes. Beneath their wings lies the secret of their flight success, miniature mass dampers in pale yellow, and at the wing roots, the body is very reminiscent of a helicopter. The more I try to capture them in flight, the more I realise that there are different species.

Through my reading I have learnt that when the eyes are clearly separate in the middle, I am looking at a female, and from colleagues I have learnt that they will happily land on an outstretched hand.

Over this weekend with little sun, they have been less in evidence, but every so often the sun did come out, so I took my chances and used the Canon EOS 7D with a Sigma 1.4 Converter and the 550 EX Speedlite to capture the shots shown in the gallery.