A Long Overdue Catch-upI can't believe it's been nearly a year since my last bog post. Where has the time gone?! Whilst the blog has been quiet, my photography has been ticking over. and this post is a whistle-stop catch-up covering the main highlights of the last six months or so. During the autumn and winter months I set up a new woodland feeding station closer to home and whilst it took some time to really get going it provided plenty of memorable moments. The highlight was the visit of a small flock of Bramblings. Sadly they chose an extremely dull and dismal day so the photos weren't great. Another treat was a few months later when a pair of Bullfinches became regular visitors. The male was an absolute cracker but it was the female which more readily posed for the camera. Plenty of the usual suspects were regular visitors and below are a few of my favourites.
First up was a fine morning in nearby Wiltshire where I was up and out before sunrise looking for Orange-tips. The hot spots of last year failed to deliver and a very a couple of hours of searching I was beginning to give up hope. I then found a pristine male roosting on a bluebell flowerhead - a perfect combination. The sun was however really heating things up and I was worried I'd been too late but thankfully the butterfly remained in position long enough for me to get plenty of shots, my favourite of which was a nice back-lit image.
Next up was a hunt for the elusive Duke of Burgundy on Rodborough Common - one of my favourite places for butterflies in Gloucestershire. I timed my visited badly though. Whilst I got very lucky and found one roosting up almost immediately, the heavens soon opened and the Duke wisely flew off to seek shelter. I hurriedly packed my gear away but ended up a drowned rat. Still, no pain no gain.
I was determined to go back for more and a few days later with a favourable forecast paid another visit to the usual colony. That, however, didn't go to plan and despite a really good search, I failed to find any Duke of Burgundy's. Very disappointing. I then decided to go for a walk along the more Western slopes towards the Fort and by complete fluke found a Green Hairstreak resting on a dried flowerhead. What's more the sun was now just high enough to illuminate the grasses behind. I was again worried the butterfly would take flight given the rapid increase in temperature but it posed beautifully for me and I got my best images to date of this fabulous little species. It even posed for me after it has warmed up when it moved to a nearby blackthorn bush. Sometimes the stars just align!
Keywords:
birds,
butterflies,
butterfly,
butterfly photography,
cirencester park,
gloucestershire,
green hairstreak,
macro,
macro photography,
nature,
pearl-bordered fritillary,
photography,
rodborough common,
spring,
wildlife
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