Large Skipper
I went to one of my happy places this morning – realising, to my surprise, that it was my first visit to Trench Wood in many months. The weather was lovely, the plant life was lush, and the place was … Continued
Giant Glasswing
Back in the winter I watched a webinar by the macro photographer Victoria Hillman, during which she recommended a couple of lights which she uses in preference to flash – the smaller and cheaper of which was the Manfrotto Lumimuse. … Continued
The after-party
This morning about twenty of us gathered for breakfast (cooked by the Junior Chapter of the bridal party) and then we thrashed through the process of clearing up, dismantling the decorations, and organising the removal of people, props, and leftover … Continued
Small Heath
I wonder if you can find Small Heaths in Smallheath….? Anyway, this Small Heath wasn’t in Smallheath. This afternoon I went down to the site where Hillyblips and I photographed Grizzled Skippers last year – with R riding shotgun, because … Continued
Duke of Burgundy
Child One has now finished animating her film, and has promptly switched all the energy that has been going into work towards planning for The Wedding. As we’re not a family much given to phoning each other, the three long … Continued
Orange tip
Several male Orange Tip butterflies have been quartering the village in search of females for a couple of weeks now. This afternoon I spotted a female – the first I’ve seen here – resting on some cow parsley, and I … Continued
Uncooperative
To be fair, it wasn’t just this Green Hairstreak that was uncooperative today: almost everything I tried to photograph turned out to have different plans. It’s telling that although I had the macro with me I was never able to … Continued
Spring green
“You’ve been having that conversation with yourself for a good ten minutes now!” said R. Actually, it was more like an hour. Stay in or go out? Cheltenham or somewhere else? Too early for Green Hairstreaks at such a high … Continued
