Copper, Brimstone and Munching Darter.

A visit on Sunday 29th August to the excellent Alners Gorse butterfly conservation reserve in Dorset proved again to be worthwhile in sightings alone.  Amongst the butterflies that I spotted were a Silver Washed Fritillary, Coma, Red Admiral, Small Coppers, Brimstones, Small Whites, and various browns.  In addition there were several darters and a Southern Hawker flying around.

The following were the pick of the macro photographs that I got from the afternoon.  Which includes a three shot animation of a Common Hawker munching on a bug.

Cricket
Canon EOS 50D (100mm, f/5, 1/250 sec, ISO400)
Cricket

A cricket was the first subject I found, posing nicely on a flower, I shot at a wide aperture of F5 to blur the background flowers in the background whilst keeping the cricket nicely in focus.  Taken on Canon 50D with 100mm F2.8mm Macro Lens.  F5 1/250 ISO400 Flash fill from Canon MT-24ex Flashgun.

Animated Common Darter Female - Sympetrum striolatum
Animated Common Darter Female – Sympetrum striolatum

As mentioned earlier this female common darter, posed on a gate post whilst it ate.  It allowed me to get close and fire a sequence of 3 macro shots (about 1:1) and then merge together to form the above animation in Adobe Photoshop CS5 using the load image as layers.  A single shot from the series is shown below.  All taken on Canon 50D with 100mm F2.8mm Macro Lens.  F10 1/160 ISO400 Natural Light.

Common Darter Female - Sympetrum striolatum
Canon EOS 50D (100mm, f/10, 1/160 sec, ISO400)
Common Darter Female – Sympetrum striolatum
Small Copper - Lycaena phlaeas
Canon EOS 50D (100mm, f/8, 1/400 sec, ISO400)
Small Copper – Lycaena phlaeas

One of the prettiest in my view of the small butterflies in Britain is the Small Copper.  This one I found on some small flowers was difficult to get due to the bright sunlight at the time and it’s shiny wings.  This one being the best of the macro shots I took.   (Small Copper – Lycaena phlaeas taken at Alners Gorse on Canon 50D with 100mm F2.8mm Macro Lens.  F8 1/400 ISO400 Natural Light).

Brimstone - Gonepteryx rhamni
Canon EOS 50D (100mm, f/13, 1/250 sec, ISO400)
Brimstone – Gonepteryx rhamni

The last two images are of a Brimstone – Gonepteryx rhamni again taken 100mm F2.8mm Macro Lens.  This first shot is taken close up at  F13 1/250 ISO400 Flash fill from Canon MT-24ex Flashgun.

Whereas the next shot I shot from slightly further away to show it in its environment more.

Brimstone - Gonepteryx rhamni
Canon EOS 50D (100mm, f/8, 1/320 sec, ISO400)
Brimstone – Gonepteryx rhamni on flower

F8 1/320 ISO400 Natural Light.

Map of Location

Butterfly Conservation Site.

Chris

I've been taking macro photography from 2004. I use both Canon film and digital cameras.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *