Yesterday I headed out to Rocher Blog near High Bradfield, hoping to take some pictures of dragonflies. I got some fairly good shots of black darters there a few years ago and I wanted to see if I could do any better.
I arrived to find that the pools in bog had completely dried up. There were no dragonflies to be seen, so I decided to walk on to the ruined farm at Rocher Head. With an abundance of nettles and thistles, the old farmyard can be a good place to photograph butterflies.
There were a few butterflies around the buildings but, a short distance beyond, I came across a real insect hotspot: a small area of damp ground with tall, lush vegetation. At least seven different species of butterfly were feeding on the flowers of creeping thistle: red admiral, peacock, small tortoiseshell, gatekeeper, small copper, meadow brown and green-veined white. There was also a day-flying silver y moth, plus hoverflies of several species and swarms of red-legged heather flies.
These two shots were taken with an Olympus E-3, fitted with a Zuiko 50-200mm zoom lens.
[Please note: All of the images that I publish on the web are copyrighted: © Roger Butterfield, all rights reserved. Please do not download or use my pictures in publications, presentations, websites or blogs without first obtaining my express permission. If you do wish to use a picture, please contact me and I will respond as quickly as I can.]
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