Tuesday, 24 August 2010

More Brown Hairstreaks


Sunrise reminded me that autumn is approaching fast. I collected Mavis from Wick and we arrived at Steyning Rifle Range before 10am. The weather forecasts were spot on for Steyning today and we had much blue sky.  I brought extension  tubes to try to photograph the eggs I had witnessed being laid yesterday. This was a challenge as even a light breeze moved the blackthorn sapling. I can see there is more work to do to perfect the technique. We were joined by several other enthusiasts including a BC member from Ashford, Kent and Sherie. Two were wielding video equipment. At least three female Brown Hairstreaks appeared from noon till 2pm. In addition there were the usual Whites, Holly Blues, Small Heaths, Meadow Browns and Speckled Woods. A flock of goldcrests were flying around and a Green Woodpecker was calling.




sometimes 2 eggs were laid
 and sometimes a single egg was deposited

side view of egg
Seven-spot Ladybird, Coccinella septempunctata
female Southern Hawker, Aeshna cycnea
grasshopper on camera case
five legged cricket


2 comments:

  1. Great macros Col. The engineer in me thinks would it be possible to have some sort of simple wire rig attached to a tripod at the focal length that you could snag on the branch to hold both camera and subject completely still relative to each other? Just a thought.

    Dan.

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  2. Thanks for the thought Dan :) I am thinking about a clamp to hold the shoot steady and a remote control for the shutter. I need to do some more work at home. Fortunately the eggs won’t hatch till Spring. Bye the way the orchid stem you gave us has developed a bud on the original stalk and a new shoot. Hope yours are doing as well.

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