Creatures Great and Small pt 2

Well I hope you enjoyed looking at the images in part one and it has also inspired you to go out and take your own macro shots in this incredible, diverse and undeniably beautiful world of wildlife.

Taking macro images at a true 1:1 ratio would normally call for a dedicated macro lens. However your birding lens with a  good close focusing range can yield some great images of insects around the size of a Red Admiral. A lot of birder / butterfly photographers use these telephoto lenses.

Shooting smaller insects than a butterfly is a different kettle of fish and really needs a macro lens. A lot of insect photographers are happy with say just a small part of the image in focus, I like to get as much of the critter in focus as I can. To this end high f stops coupled with grim lighting makes this a much more difficult situation, especially with a lively critter.

Getting close to your subject through photography can make the creature much more personal, very endearing and very rewarding.

Marpissa muscosa              Jumping spider.

Take this spider for example, spiders are not one of those creatures that most people will relate to, but who could not fail to be inspired by such a gorgeous critter close up.

Misumena vatia           Flower Crab Spider

This spider may receive a slightly different response, dashing, robust and ready for action, 

Synaema globosum

I had never noticed this spider before i had visited The Camargue last year, aptly named the Napoleon spider.............for its abdomen pattern.

Comb-footed spider   Enoplognatha ovata

Another even smaller spider with a beautiful abdomen coloration. So you can see from just these few images the Spiders are very much something your photography will warm to.

About now lots of insects are mating, in doing so their single mindedness can give the photographer ample opportunity for some good images.

Guess who? Robberflies are another of the insect families i luv. They have wonderful hairy faces and barbed legs used for floundering prey protection and keeping hold of its meal. They hunt by sitting unobtrusively then dart after a near flying insect.  This is a pair of Kite-tailed robbers, quite common around Northants.

This pair of Hoverflies are probably Sphaerophoria scripta. They are quite common and have their slender bodies longer than their rested wings.

As above ...whispering sweet nothing.

Also about at this time are the 'Biters' Horse and Deer flies. They have incredible stealth by not being noticed as they fly and land on any bare parts of your anatomy, the first you know of it is when they insert their sucking parts into your skin. 

Most Biters possess beautifully coloured eyes which make them very photogenic.

The Notch-horned Cleg a voracious biter.

Quite a lot of insects have the colouration of a Wasp, a wasp mimic if you like. They can be very attractive and photogenic. The above is one of five similar beautiful Hoverflies this is probably Chrysotoxum verralli.

Another attractive and brightly coloured Hoverfly is Myathropa florea below it is very distinctive in its thoracic pattern. If you look carefully there is the mark of Batman.

Digger Wasps are quite impressive little critters but especially so the Bee-wolf. This is the only species of Philanthus in Britain.

Of course there are lots of wildlife macro subjects to try such as day flying moths for example. This is a gathering of Six-spot Burnet.

Wild Flowers, such as this Common Toadflax.

or a fabulous Reptile, the Common Lizard.

Dragonflies are in abundance now and can make some nice shots. 

Mating Black-tailed Skimmers, these were taken with my 500F4 .Above Ruddy Darter.

Lastly a couple of critters taken recently.

Weevils are great aren't they. This is fairly large for a Weevil and one of only two in its family Attelabidae  Hazel Leaf-roller Weevil. The other is Oak Leaf-roller Weevil.

Wasp mimic the Hornet Clearwing.

Thanks for viewing. If you have any questions about macro or critters why not drop me a line.

Also any images you have and would like shown on the blog again  robin.gossage@sky.com

Cheerz Robin.

Bird Photographer of the Year 2020 Winners

It’s around this time of year when I’d be looking forward to a visit to Ruland Birdfair and one of the exhibits I always make a bee-line for is the Bird Photographer of the Year marquee. Sadly, Birdfair will not be going ahead this year, however the winning photographs can be viewed on the link below.

 

As we’ve seen in the Bird Club’s competition the winning shot doesn’t have to be a rarity and this year’s BPOTY winning shot of a European Shag is no exception although the impressionistic image and the manipulation to make it would not fit with the Club’s rules. So there!

 

Jealousy and joking aside it’s impossible to know which of the shots have or haven’t been Photoshopped in some way or another. I suspect a great deal of Gaussian blur has been applied to many of the images to create the smooth foreground & background as seen in the Highly Commended Oriental Darter image. It’s possible to get a similar effect by getting down low to water or ground level as can be seen in Matt Hazelton’s winning Sanderling image in last’s year’s BC competition.

 

It would seem that no bird photographic competition is complete without a shot or two of the photogenic Dalmatian Pelicans from Lake Kerkini, Greece. Bob Mason’s shot gained a 3^rd place in this year’s BC competition and the species features in the Attention to Detail & Birds in Flight BPOTY categories. 

 

Mark Williams’ 2^nd placed European Bee-eaters shot taken in Bulgaria may have given the BPOTY Commended Bee-eater shot a run for its money and may have been taken from the same hide! 

 

There are many exceptional shots that it’s impossible to choose a favourite. Some are WOW and others are HOW? 

 

When viewing photos, I tend to favour the ones I’d love to have taken and most of these are in the Commended & Highly Commended images. Guang Hua Chen's Great White Egret in the Birds in the Environment category is a masterpiece and one I'd hang on my wall. Having a penchant for waders the photographer I would've dearly loved to have been standing next to is Tim Hopwood. His Wilson's Phalarope, Marbled Godwit & American Avocet images are sublime. 

Georgina Steytler’s winning Best Portfolio shows the very high standards of the competition.

 

 

It’s encouraging to know that one no longer has to own a scuba-diving suit, a drone or a monthly Photoshop subscription to win a place in the competition. 

 

There are many talented photographers in the Bird Club, maybe we’ll see a local winner next year? 

 

https://www.birdpoty.co.uk/bpoty-2020-winners

Green Woodpecker