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Communal Dragonfly, Butterfly and Insect photo thread
There I was praising the Communal Bird Photography Thread passing half a million views and I see here at the Communal Dragonfly, Butterfly and Insect photo thread - 2 million views in the same period of time is on the horizon!
Ian thank you. But this is more down to a group effort especially Harold Gough, alfbranch and their fantastic macro work, together with MJ224, Gate Keeper, wornish, Beagletorque, Walti, Keith-369 , blackfoxDavidB, peak4, Olybirder (when he's not birding), mik and many, many others who contribute often and who should get a mention - sorry for those I have missed (its my age). But I agree it is amazing the interest in insects, spiders and bugs of all genera. Sorry I had trouble with the fancy bit with the @ and the little icon. Neat trick.
This summer I spent a week in Switzerland on a butterfly trip. It was a week watching the weather (which is very quick changing in the mountains) and enjoying the wonderful integrated, efficient transport system.
I just realised I haven't shared the results so I will put a few stories on the thread to see if they are as interesting to others as they were to me. I am visiting more and more interesting places and wish I had done more of it sooner.
I am going to start with the Apollo - Parnassius apollo. In a river valley, just a brief stroll from Murren (a car-free village accessible only by cable car) there were many, many Apollos. Initially they sat on rocks warming up and then began to float and glide. There were several close encounters (well humans are warm and salty) and good pictures as they landed on flowers. Female Apollos were patrolling foodplant and may have been egg laying. Alongside the Apollos were some familiar butterflies (High Brown fritillary, Dark Green fritillary, Mazarine blue) and a ‘lifer’ for me in Alpine Heath which was posing well. A perfect Chalkhill Blue was seen together with several dark ringlets which are really hard to identify as there are so many similar species ...but onto the pictures
And a video which you would need to click the link to see Apollo Butterflies on Flickr
Ian the 40-150 with teleconverter is my favourite butterfly lens. I also bought the 12-200 which is also recommended (you do have to learn the art of not using it at 200 and getting closer to avoid the less than perfect longer end - but at the price is fantastic for trips).
As mentioned in the first Switzerland images I also saw an Alpine Heath for the first time in my life of watching butterflies (well I hate heights so the 'alpine' part of the name would always limit the chances....)
But it is a pretty butterfly. We have the Small Heath in the UK which is a similar size (but not as spotty...)
They lay over at an angle to catch the sun. Several butterflies have this habit. They have no idea how frustrating it is to us photographers...
Gate Keeper This is one for Phil as we have had previous conversations about scat, dung, poop and things that smell.
These lovely brown butterflies (Arran Brown and Bright-eyed Ringlet) were dining at the most disgusting animal dropping you could imagine. I bet the animal felt guilty and was glad to leave it behind. Thankfully I was able to use a longish lens as it made your eyes water. For some butterflies the smellier the better.
For everyone who takes macros. I admire your courage...
Thank you Peter and thank you Mark. Today I felt inspired by watching your videos and I have been out practicing with the Olympus filming the butterflies and the cows. Peter, I am impressed by the range the 12-200 gives you. Thank you both for sharing.
When it works well it is a great lens but if you can stretch to the 40-150 and 1.4 do that. It is a better lens and more consistent. But when you want a lens that does everything on a hike. the 12-200 is wonderful
This is one of the late emerging UK butterflies - the Brown Hairstreak. Each year I travel to see it, and am often unlucky as it is only found in small numbers and not in Northants. So this was in Oxfordshire in a reserve recommended by MikeOxon a few years back. I have been there each year since and in August 2019 I saw this. It is one of our prettiest butterflies.
Fantastic colour - does this mean it's hazardous to potential predators?
Ian
Thank you Ian. Red can be a sign to keep away. I have seen this in a button spider and in the assassination bug, but with this dragonfly, I don’t know the answer, my apologies.
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Congrats to everyone involved!
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