Cracking good year for Butterflies!

As you might have guessed I've taken a bit of a break from blogging of late ... no real and present reason, just general 'busyness', being going through a serious music phase with the new combo and my recruitment for YWT has been hectic too with numerous summer shows, but hey I'm still out there, the camera is still seeing action, so here's a quick post!

Took myself off on a mini tour of a selected few South Yorkshire reserves a few weeks back, including Brockadale and Blacka Moor (nr Sheffield). The most noticeable thing for me recently has been the number of butterflies on the wing lately. I suspect and hope it's been a good year for them after last year's wash out and by all accounts (mainly from the keen lepidopterists from Askham Bog) this does seem to have been the case. I hope you've seen plenty in your garden and not just the common white variety!

Here's a nice Marbled White for starters.


That was one of several I saw at Brockadale nature reserve nr Pontefract and an absolute haven for butterflies at the moment.

Same location and not really butterflies there were hundreds of these Burnett Moths in the fields around the reserve.

Burnett Moths on Field Scabious

 

OOk, here's a proper butterfly and one that really does seem to have done well this year ... its a Comma, been very noticeable these beauties and I have some cracking pics of some at Askham Bog but not developed yet so here's one at good old Brockadale.

Comma

There's been some Purple Hairstreak's at Askham Bog, rare butterflies indeed and I hope to get some pics soon if they stick around but here's my contribution to scarce butterflies ... a Dark Green Fritillary I spotted and captured nearby Ladybower Resevoir in the Peak District

Dark Green Fritillary

Closer to home here's a couple of recent ones from Askham Bog ... a nice Brimstone and a rather scarce Large Skipper (really tricky to see, let alone photograph!)

Brimstone on Purple Loosestrife



Large Skipper

Ok, I'm going to leave you with a beautiful Small Tortoiseshell, another butterfly that has surely done well this year. This one was shot near Stannage Edge, Sheffield but I've seen 'em everywhere this year!

Small Tortoiseshell

Yup, been a great year so far for Butterflies .... what have you seen?

Still plenty about folks so check out you're nearest natural hay meadow and get flutterby hunting!
 

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Catch up time ....3 great birds, 3 great photo shoots

It seems to have been a real busy time over here for the past few weeks ... our band 'Beyond the Gap' have been practising almost non stop trying to get Mark (our bassist) up to speed with a full set before we set off on our Summer tour in aid of Cancer Support France (full article in the pipeline). I've had my mate (also called Mark) over for a week and for the past 2 weeks I've been fulfilling my Open University duties and marking student assignments (that's 3 Marks!).

Hardly full time 9 to 5 of course and I'm not complaining but certainly I've not posted a huge amount on here recently so here I am sat in bed at 1.00 in the morning posting something of a catch up.

A while back me and Mark were walking around the forested part of the Etang de Beauvour when we heard the distinctive trilling of a Wood Warbler, a good bird to have anytime, anyplace, except perhaps on an aeroplane sipping martini (the older generation will get that!). Anyway, we did a bit of stalking and crept as close as we could to where it was singing. In the end we just sat down against a couple tree trunks and waited for it come back to us, which it did and treated us with some splendidly close views ... he was so close in fact that on occasion I couldn't focus the camera! You'll see what I mean by this selection of photographs ....

On the same day I managed to get this reasonable close up shot of a 4 Spotted Chaser (pic below).... not sure whether this is classed as a dragonfly or a damselfly but nice detail and you can easily see the 4 spots (1 on each wing) and this is a female because of the yellowy brown body as a pose to the grey males ..... thanks
google!








On another occasion we were out on one of my regular treks and we came across a couple of very handsome Red Backed Shrikes, the male in particular was in tip top breeding condition and sitting very proud. Problem was when I got in to position to take what I thought was going to be 'gripper' of a shot there was no memory card in the camera ... doh! To add insult to injury a while later we had an equally lovely Melodious Warbler singing it's heart out less than 10 metres away (I could almost hear the memory card laughing at me from its cosy little socket back home in my laptop!)

Well I don't like to be laughed at by my digital devices so with the memory card rounded up I paid a later visit and as I suspected this was a nesting pair and still in the same place. As with the Wood Warbler there was plenty of stalking, creeping around and waiting to be done and whilst these birds weren't nearly as fearless my patience was rewarded by these lovely shots....

So there we go, a couple of great photo shoots of 2 splendid birds from the past couple of weeks and I must be on something of a hot (shot) streak because yesterday morning I managed to get these cracking shots of a Nightingale singing. Most people are aware that Nightingales have a beautiful song but how many of you have actually heard one or seen one? They're actually very common throughout mainland Europe but scarce and declining in the UK (a few pairs nest on Thorne Moor, S Yorks but pretty much absent further North). I usually see a flash of russet red tail feathers as they dart in and out of dense undergrowth from where they usually sing but this was my lucky day .... a gap in the trees, a decent lens and hey presto!

Looking at that singing Nightingale I'm thinking it's a shame you can't hear it so I'm going to try and post either a video (it will be of a bush!) or a sound clip to go with the above.

There we go, caught up a bit, just need to finish off and post part 2 of our trip to Moeze / Oleron and I'll be almost up to speed!

Mad and Merry May!!

Back in the Vienne after a brief 2 weeks in the UK and, although it would have been magic to have come back with my darling fiancee Gabz, at least I've come back to warmth after such dismal weather in the UK!

So, 'tis the merry month of May and on all fronts, what passes for action around here is about to kick off!

'Beyond the Gap' have a summer tour to finalise and for any bar / campsite owners in southern France reading this ... you can still book us; we're playing for expenses only and any tips / money in the hat goes to Breast Cancer Research. Here's our promo clip again -

 
FUN is a big red word when we play...we love to entertain and get folk up and dancing. Wanna book us? Drop me a line on here or email us on beyondthegap@hotmail.com

Before that we have several visitors over from the UK this month to stay at the barn and on a personal note (F sharp maybe) ... I'm looking forward to joining up again with my mate Mark who's coming over for a couple of weeks for chat, wine, chill out time and a birding trip down to the Camargue. Just remembered I also have 15 Open University assignments to mark before the month end too ... pooh!!

Pink Campions by the river. Highly stylised but I like the effect!

It was a good morning for photographs today with weak sunshine and storm clouds brewing making for some good silvery light. Here's a nice selection of birds, flowers and a cracking damselfly from the past couple of days.

Goldfinch in the village ... where has he got that cotton wool from!

'Beautiful Demoiselle' .. yes that's this damselfly's English name and this one is a female of the species.

Singing Stonechat ... immature male

Orange Poppy? I'll come clean ... no idea what this is yet!

Getting down and dirty!

Well at long last my new lens has arrived .... all been a bit of a do to be honest and have to say that after placing my order on Feb 28th and paying an extra £30 for express delivery I'm less than impressed to be unwrapping my Canon EF 400mm lens some 6 weeks later and with a wapping 267 euros import / VAT tax to pay to boot!

Still getting to grips with it and trying not to compare it with the excellent results I got from my defunct Tamron big lens but early results are ok.

I seem to have got into photographing closer to hand subjects like flowers and butterflies of late, keeping my eyes trained less on the skies and more on the hedgerows; new lens or not, this habit seems to have stuck with me but hey the results have been good and already had several wild flower and butterfly pics accepted by stock sites.

New flowers coming up all the time at the moment of course and not being much of a botanist it's been a real challenge id'ing the flowers I photograph (thank you Google images!). So here's an opportunity to show off my new found knowledge ..... first off are some lovely Grape Hyacinths (left)








For me, getting good pics of wild flowers is all about 2 things - good light and interesting angles. Light I can usually gauge ok and can usually be rectified with any decent photographic software if necessary but as I have discovered the interesting angles usually involve some degree of getting horizontal .... in other words lying down and getting dirty on the earth!

Apart from getting grubby, thorned and nettled I also lost a mobile phone out of my jacket pocket taking some of these!

From top to bottom - Buttercups against the blue sky, early emerging Wood Anemones at eye level and Cuckoo Flowers (or lady's smock) against the river.

Whilst scrambling about like this in a local meadow recently I was lucky enough to spot a different looking butterfly flitting about which was quickly joined by another of the same kind. Swallowtails! Dashing and stunningly beautiful here's the best shot of one of them and although the second shot is out of focus I've included because it only very nearly captures the pair of them mating!

Swallowtails are just awesome and being relatively scarce even in these parts they certainly add a taste of the exotic to a morning walk in the early Springtime. A lot more common are the yellow Brimstones that have been out for a few weeks now - tricky to photograph as they never seem to settle but this one did rest a while on a Lungwort flower head, albeit with closed wings (pic right) producing a pleasing image, and to complete my little collection of April flutterbies here's what I believe is a Speckled Wood (below)

You never know what you might find when you're scrabbling around in the grass trying to get a decent photographic angle and this big beetle (sorry, but no idea what species) certainly seemed nosey so I snapped him with my macro lens!

Now then, before you all start thinking I've turned into an amateur botanist come bug hunter, although my eyes have spent more time than usual trained on the ground my main prey is always the birds and here's a couple with the new lens. First up is a nice female Blackcap (right), a returning Summer migrant and one of many that are singing from nearly every hedgerow at the moment, and pictured below are a couple of the best shots of a briefly glimpsed male Montague's Harrier.

Have to that so far I've not really noticed a huge amount of difference between the Canon and my old Tamron which at 500mm had more reach but I guess time will tell. I'm considering a 1.4 or even a 2 x converter for the Canon now (more expense!)

Spring at Long Last!

At long last I can stop feeding the log burner to stay in overnight, I can throw off the second duvet and I can stop walking around looking like Michelin man, shed the layers and get my T shirts out! It’s a far cry from minus15C, frozen water pipes and no running water but warm sunshine and temperature nudging 20C within 4 weeks is certainly very welcome. 

The flowers are beginning to emerge again in the hedgerows with Celandines and Snowdrops especially prominent from late Feb. Wild Daffodils and several other flowers that to be honest I can’t identify (will have to get the field guides out!). 

I tried to take some ‘artistic’ photographs of the Celandines recently and here are a couple of the best.

 
Feb 29^th was a particularly lovely day around here and I took the opportunity to grab my camera and binoculars and head for Le Bren. Highlights were a couple of splendid returning Marsh Harriers searching out a likely nesting site and several good butterflies including this Comma which was so obliging I'm sure it had just emerged from the pupae.

I shall be posting a bird report for Jan / February later this week and the Le Bren sightings will be included in that so I wont dwell on other avian highlights for the day.

Can't not mention this though - first Cuckoo of the year on March 8th (easily my earliest record) calling down by the river here at La Macherie.

A local singing Chiff Chaff on the 9th with 2 Blackcaps the following day were probably early returning birds rather than overwintering individuals and overhead Cranes have been wheeling North for the past 2 - 3 weeks along with Lapwings, Finches, Skylarks and a good passage of Golden Plover.

Shame I haven't been able to photograph any of these good birds. I've been trying to put a brave face on this and put it in perspective but for a photographer the sudden malfunctioning of your best lens is like watchmaker going blind! No need for the technical details but in brief, my 200-500ml Tamron lens decided one day last month to stop communicating with my camera and no end of cleaning of the electrical contacts and messing around will persuade it to start talking!

Not easy to take it back to the shop until I return to the UK but confident a repair will be forthcoming, at which point I'll be offloading in order to pay back the money I've laid out on this beauty (pic right) - the Canon EF 400 usm. The best prime lens of its kind and has been described as a 'belter' my some my fellow bird photographers. Not arrived as yet but eagerly awaited!

My best pics of 2011

Here we are then 2 days into the new 'leap' year 2012, the designated year of sustainable energy to all, the international year of 'co-operatives', the year of the London Olympics and according to the Mayan culture the year the world as we know it will end (on Dec 21st apparently!) ...... best not think about it!

As is the the tradition at the end of one year and the beginning of the next I thought a spot of reminiscence should be in order, bit late (that's my own tradition) but here are a few of my favourite photographs from my first 9 months in France, some of which have found their way into other blog posts but mainly these are unpublished.

I arrived here in March just as trees were beginning to bud and took a series of photographs of garden birds out of the back of the barn, these 2 of blue tit and goldfinch were amongst the best.

Later in the month I went over to the coast at Isle De Oleron and although seagulls are maybe not the most photogenic of birds, these couple of Lesser Blacked Backed Gulls negotiating the incoming tide made for some good shots

In April we, that's me Jane & Mark, spent a week or so down in the Pyrenees. They wanted some chillout time from the barn restoration project and I just fancied a trip somewhere to celebrate my retirement. Some half decent landscape photographs of La Pic de Ger and Le Pont D'espagne here plus one of Mark after an evening of fine wine tasting and singing and one of me the day after looking decidedly hung over (but still smiling!)

 

The bird pics are of Red Kite ..... one of a pair that hovered over us one day while we were camping high up in the mountains and Griffon Vulture of which we saw many patrolling the skies

Later on that month, back at La Macherie I saw a Western Whip Snake on the road as I was walking Balloo ....not seen one of these before and at the time wasn't sure if it was one of the poisonous ones so kept my distance and kept the dog away, still managed a couple of good shots though (the close up is with the zoom!)

 

Into May and peak breeding season for birds, stacks going on of course but here's just a couple of my favourite memories - first a pretty good overhead shot of a migrating Osprey in the Limousin (right) and below are 2 of many close up pictures I got of a pair of Black Redstarts that were nesting in the barn and that I tempted into using a home made perching post just outside .....judging by the huge array of food they brought back to the nest, if I'd taken more I could have compiled a half decent pictorial record of all the insects in the garden!

June saw me down in the south of France and although I somehow managed to time my trip down to the Camargue with some of the heaviest and most violent electrical storms certainly I've ever witnessed there were enough bright interludes to allow some good photographic opportunities.

Flamingoes are photogenic at the best of times and the good numbers on the Camargue allowed many good shots. I've also picked out a good shot of a Kentish Plover I took from the car and some excellent dragonflies that came out in the sun after yet another downpour.

At a nearby location (Plaines de La Crau) I managed this cracking good shot of a Black Kite (right) along with a speciality bird of the Mediterranean area, the splendidly exotic Roller

July and August were quiet months but this photograph of a Grey Heron and Little Egret squabbling over food was memorable for the interaction alone whilst coming across a family group of white horses walking towards me and then having them follow me on my local patch was one of those encounters that was both quaint and disturbing in equal measure!

Autumn here was marked by plenty of late summer sunshine with temperatures of 30 degrees C not uncommon well into October. Goodish rather than spectacular bird migration with late warblers, redstarts, whinchats and a half decent passage of Red Kites coming through providing daily interest in terms of birds but a high flying wandering Black Stork (right) over the barn spotted by my mate Mark was a highlight for me.

Blooming wild flowers in the meadows and  almost into November! (pic left)

Short Toed Eagle on passage nr Montmorillon (pic right)

Nice and pretty lucky shot of a Marsh Tit in flight in the Autumn sun here ..... been looking for an opportunity to showcase this pic!

More bird passage in November with masses of Common Cranes flying south over the village but equally impressive to me was the Wood Pigeon passage with big flocks in the early winter sunshine looking splendid (pic right)

Into December and still relatively mild with hardly any frost yet, I had Common Cranes still migrating south on Boxing Day with 35 south over the village and this picture of a Ewe with lamb (pic below) would normally be unremarkable had it not been taken on Dec 17th!

Ok folks that's my year with some of my best pictures. It seems fitting to end the post with an end of the day shot and here's a nice shot of reeds at my nearest wetland habitat, L'etang de Beavoir.