Alners Gorse & FiddleFord Mill.

On bank holiday Monday I took a trip to Alners Gorse (A butterfly convservation reserve), to see what if anything was around.  It was excellent late last summer – as some of my posts here show I hope.

The reserve had a few overwintering butterflies on the wing – including Peacocks and Brimstones.  Not a lot about, though it was a fairly cold afternoon.  However I did find some nice Lacky Moth Caterpillars to take and young small and posing Grasshopper.

Caterpillars of Lacky Moth – Malacosoma neustria. Taken on Canon 50D with Canon 100mm F2.8 USM Macro Lens.. F16 1/250 Flash ISO 400.

Caterpillars of Lacky Moth – Malacosoma neustria. Taken on Canon 50D with Canon 100mm F2.8 USM Macro Lens.. F11 1/250 Flash ISO 400.

Around 4pm I left to attempt to find a Dorset Wildlife Trust reserve near FiddleFord Mill, I failed to find the exact spot, but walking around the Mill and the nearby River, the fields were full of Mayflies and tall yellow buttercup like flowers.  Amongst the mayfly and flowers there were also what I think were Banded Demoiselles.  I find Mayflies quite difficult to shoot attractively, but I do like this emergence shot below from within the field, as the backdrop of yellow helps to set the shot off.  I took it in natural light and used a tripod to get a steady and sharp shot.

Emerging Mayfly – Ephemeroptera. Taken on Canon 50D with Canon 100mm F2.8 USM Macro Lens.. F8 1/250 Natural Light ISO 400 Tripod.

I also found a posing Ladybird in the field which helps illustrate the abundance of the yellow flowers that were out, along with a lot of seeding dandelion heads.

Ladybird – Coccinellidae . Taken on Canon 50D with Canon 100mm F2.8 USM Macro Lens. F8 1/500 Natural Light ISO 400 Tripod.

The Demoiselles shots are next up, with a posing male and female, followed by another tripod shot female eating an unfortunate Mayfly.

Demoiselle (Male). Taken on Canon 50D with Canon 100mm F2.8 USM Macro Lens. F11 1/250 Flash ISO 400.

Banded Demoiselle (Female). Taken on Canon 50D with Canon 100mm F2.8 USM Macro Lens. F9 1/400 Natural Light ISO 640.

Banded Demoiselle eating a Mayfly. Taken on Canon 50D with Canon 100mm F2.8 USM Macro Lens. F4 1/1000 Natural Light ISO 400 Tripod.

Banded Demoiselle eating a Mayfly. Taken on Canon 50D with Canon 100mm F2.8 USM Macro Lens. F5.6 1/250 Natural Light ISO 400 Tripod.