The lost week...

You know that feeling when you just want to scream?  This week has been one of absolute frustration... both my son and I have been ill all week with a viral infection... he is now better but I am still suffering... it is a real effort just to sit at the laptop and type...

As a consequence I have done little photography... I did manage a couple of insurance shoots for a regular client and the occasional trip to the garden; but mainly I have been indoors with a sleepy little boy and for at least 2 days, an exhausted me...

The good news is that I have started to sell images through the Picture Agency... not many as yet... but it is a start... my portfolio on line - can be found here so I can now submit and submit and submit... I am working through my old files at the moment whilst shooting new... the more you have submitted...the more you earn...

Yesterday I had an insurance shoot with a commercial roofers and managed to obtain a booking for a staff portrait shoot... always a bonus...

So what have I shot?...

Acanthus in flower... appeared in the garden and is pretty striking...

clematis bud - isolated against the fence... I like the upturned shape... positive... smiling... welcoming...

clematis seed head... it has an ethereal feel... dreamlike... soft... gentle...

In addition to the usual garden images, in the more wild areas I found...

nipplewort - one the most common of our wild flowers usually found on waste land, roadsides, hedges etc. The flowers are small but when you look at them closely...gorgeous...

two hoverfly portraits... neither of them have common or English names like so many of our insects...

and I bet many of you thought all hoverflies are the same...

finally an ichneumon fly - one of may of these parasitic species... they are striking with red abdomens, striped legs, long antennae and always in constant motion... they are tricky to photograph...

Here are a couple from last Sunday's shoot on the fen...

blue-tailed damselfly eating... this individual seems to have caught a fly...

as you can see...

... and unfortunately... that about wraps it up for this week... I have one last shot for you... take of my boy last summer...sums up summer in a way when you are only 5...

the world is my playground... I can do anything... go anywhere... be anything... just show me the path and I shall walk it...

He is growing up now... and will be 6 on Wednesday... a week of parties etc awaits!

As always keep up with me here or here (as I write this Flickr isn't working - hope it comes back soon)...

and I shall speak to you all next week when hopefully I will be feeling better...

TTFN

Summer's Lease...

...hath all too short a date... it's the solstice tonight... the longest day...that means that a number of people will be converging on Stonehenge for the sunset/sunrise - crystals will be rubbed and songs will be sung... it also means that after a few days... the nights will be drawing in...! Indeed, some autumn migration has already started with failed breeders or non-breeding birds already flying back for the less-harsh winter here or even further south...21st June... Autumn is only around the corner...!  Indeed to back that up... the weather has been decidedly autumnal in the fens this week... very frustrating when all I want to do is get out after invertebrates and wildflowers... cold northerly wind and showers; indeed we had a day of persistent rain...Then to add to all that; when the weather did show signs of being summer... Quinn was sick so I was stuck inside washing bedclothes... so rock and roll - this life of a photographer...!

Some of my favourite shots from the week... when I managed to get out and about...

7-spot ladybird... I like the shallow depth of field... emphasising the business end of this voracious predator...aphids beware...

bramble sawfly nectaring on hogweed... I like the way he is framed by the lace-like flowers of the hogweed... and of course the bokeh...

brown-tail moth caterpillar... the long hairs are irritants - handle one and you will soon work that out...this works on potential predators as well... interestingly the hairs are used in the chrysalis and then again around the egg... clever eh?!

common lizard... basking and feeding. I saw this and another lizard feeding on a wooded staging and, after setting the camera up, moved slowly towards them on my stomach. A dog walker passed by and spooked them both. But patience paid off and this one returned to the sunny spot they favoured.  I was using a 100mm macro lens and managed to get quite close... but he wouldn't move from behind that annoying piece of grass... I waited around for about 15 mins before he disappeared into the vegetation. A revisit is in order...

a hoverfly (Chrysotoxum caurum) - not scarce... but maybe under recorded...

So, not a bad start to the week but the wait in for the delivery of a new phone cost me a day and a dry day at that...

I have found a public footpath not far from Quinn's school so before picking him up I have a wander along there for half an hour or so on most days... nearly all these pictures are taken along there, although to look at it you may nor realise the richness of wildlife that abounds less than a mile from Ely town centre. Thus far I have recorded ten species of butterfly, five species of dragonfly, at least a dozen hoverflies, many bees and a decent numb er of bird species including hobby, sedge warbler, green woodpecker and sparrowhawk... all within a mile long green corridor between arable fields on the edge of town...

And what else have I found?

Well this is a large skipper butterfly, resting in the cool on a thistle head... One of my favourite pictures of the week...

I had a lovely two hours down on the fen today in lovely warm sunshine, although the breeze was just strong enough to make invertebrate and plant photography tricky...

I did however, get the chance tp photograph royalty... above is a male Emperor dragonfly - they don't rest that often, especially when the weather is warm... so I was lucky to get this shot...and am real happy how it came out...

On the way back home I came across this - figwort sawfly (Tenthredo scrophulariae) - above is his face and below the whole beast... known as wasp mimics and you can see why...

and this photogenic vision also appeared...

blue-tailed damselflies in tandem... such an elegant shape...

...and a female common darter... almost as if she is smiling...

And as the week winds up the sun is out and I may get out... who knows... Insurance shoot booked for tomorrow morning... as usual, keep up with my comings and goings here... or here... and hopefully I shall see you all next week...

TTFN

Where butterflies dream of the life to come...

And as I look out of my office window at the rain I wonder where the warm sunshine went... this last week has been almost summer, today we have the return of dampness... so much for cutting the lawn and doing the garden... and I have to wait in for the delivery of a new phone...

The week started with part one of a dragonfly survey at  Wicken Fen National Nature Reserve - something I am doing voluntarily for the British Dragonfly Society... great to do something useful and enjoyable at the same time...dragonflies are probably my favourite creatures... studying them at close quarters is time well spent... a few images...

broad-bodied chaser (Libellula depressa) in flight... I don't normally go for the in-flight shot, but I like this one...

Banded demoiselle (Calopteryx splendens) - gorgeous iridescent blue insect - they look so delicate but in reality are voracious hunters...

even in death they have a certain elegance...

Whilst out and about on the Fen I came across this broad-bodied chaser that appears to have been attacked by a bird... great photo opportunity...

As well as dragonflies I was able to capture a few plants - as is my wont...

hop trefoil (Trifolium campestre)...

...lesser trefoil (T. dubium)...

pink water-speedwell (Veronica catenata)...

I also came across this beast...

Now isn't this beautiful... forget that it is a fly, just check the markings, the patterns, the subtleties of colour... it is in fact a horse-fly; a clegg... capable of taking large chunks out of your arm or indeed anywhere it lands and then drinking your blood.  Most people hate them... but just look at it... forget its habits... it's stunning...

So, on Tuesday morning we were awoken by a loud buzzing...a look out of the window yielded this...

It turns out the BBC were filming at the Mill - a new David Attenborough  series about flight and here they were using the drone (see above) to show a dragonflies view of the world and i particular, Wicken Fen.  I wandered down there later to take some pictures and came across the film crew including the great man filming a sequence about dragonflies...

Whilst out on the fen and before I bumped in Sir David, I captured the following...

...marsh pea (Lathyrus palustris) - rare with limited distribution... a new plant for me and a lovely one...

meadow vetchling (L. pratensis) - quite the opposite to the marsh pea; common everywhere in grasslands, but still a joy to see..

southern marsh orchid (Dactylorhiza praetermissa) although as with most of the orchids on Wicken Fen there is a hint of hybridisation about it...

A day or so later a brief walk along a public footpath in Ely, yielded this... almost lace-like in its appearance...

hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium) - not quite Queen Anne's Lace but similar...

First Test started this week - England v Sri Lanka - great knock by Joe Root but its got draw written all over it - apart from that there is the World Cup - it's going sportstastic on the BBC and as I write this I'm listening to Rugby Union - All Blacks against England and then we have the football team playing tonight... is it going to be a good day for English sport?

From the Fen, I looked around the garden, particularly the wild bit and captured...

...brome flower (Bromus spp.) - grass flowers are really worth looking at... great colours and tones...

spear thistle (Cirsium vulgare) - love the colours and shapes... always pay to look closely...

Final shoot of the week... and I paid a second visit to Chettisham Meadows Nature Reserve. I was looking for bee orchids and failed at that... but I did manage...

bird's-foot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus) - superb little plant for insects and pure visual delight...

common blue butterfly (Polyommatus icarus) - a bit worn around the edges this one, but still going strong. Looks like it has had a run-in with a bird...

Essex skipper butterfly (Thymelicus lineola) - the skippers are an interesting group; they sort of fill the gap between moths and butterflies...

marbled white butterfly (Melanargia galathea) a gorgeous species of flowery meadows... who says black and white is dull...

meadow brown butterfly (Maniola jurtina) - common everywhere and brown... but delightful none the less...

one of my favourite woodland and grassland plants - selfheal (Prunella vulgaris) - almost looks like an orchid and it provides great colour and invertebrate food wherever it grows...

And so to this morning, Saturday and the rain... we are promised brighter later so if the phone arrives I may get out... however, I did learn this morning that all but one of my submission to a picture agency have been accepted - yay! This is good, so I can now shoot stock and hopefully start earning money from my wildlife images...

I have a mind to shoot a bit of film - I like the quality if images shot on film and I love to use my old cameras...

 aren't they delicious?!

Let's see what the rest of the day brings then... London tomorrow to the Mammoth exhibition at the British Museum - may be the Nikon FE (on the right above) will get an airing...

Keep up with me here as always or here if you prefer... and I shall hopefully see you all next week...

TTFN