Aug 052010
 

Not been much of note because I seem to have “nabbed” half-reasonable shots of most of the local native species. Two which have proven to be fairly elusive so far this year have been the Red admiral and the Cabbage white. The local Reds seem to not allow humans within 15 feet unless they’re feeding (the Reds, not the humans that is). And Cabbage whites are just so restless that they never seem to sit still long enough even for autofocus to work, let alone manual.

Remember I did manage to nab an underneath shot of a Red admiral before we went to Krakow. That one appeared very young and small. I think it grew a bit now and I managed to get another shot of it in the rotten fruit patch.

Red admiral, Vanessa atalanta

Red admiral, Vanessa atalanta

There’s another, larger one, that likes to hang out in the sunny corners of the garden. I managed to sneak up on that one as well today.

Red admiral, Vanessa atalanta

Red admiral, Vanessa atalanta


You can see the two are not the same one because the wing damage is different on each.

And just after doing that, I saw a couple of flashes of white on the apple tree. Two Cabbage whites courting, by the look of it. Well I managed three shots before I scared them off. 😀

Cabbage white, Pieris brassicae

Cabbage white, Pieris brassicae


I’ve also got a Common blue and a couple of interesting views of a small tortoiseshell to come. These were shote a few days ago but I’ve been trying to focus on other things this week. (Pun intended).

Jul 012010
 

Went for a walk by the stream yesterday and saw lots of tortoiseshell butterflies, cabbage whites, a couple of species I haven’t identified and several beautiful blue damselflies with dark blue wings. Oh, and a fox. 😎

Went back today with the camera. It was a bit cloudier and windier than yesterday. No fox, no damselflies, but still lots of tortoiseshell, a female cabbage white and a small fly-like insect I’ve never seen before. I also saw two buzzards, but they were too distant to even attempt a shot.

Tortoiseshell

Female Cabbage White

Scorpionfly - female

After I posted the last pic on a forum, someone told me it’s a scorpionfly. Looked it up and it looks right. I am astonished though, that the available shots on the web are mostly of very poor quality, making my shot, with which I was disappointed due to poor depth of field, look quite good.