Today, I was struggling for inspiration after I completely failed to get a sharp close-up image of my eye.

I tried a self portrait in the mirror with was also a failure before I tried aiming the camera at a few CD albums that were askew on the shelf.

The image is not brilliant, but to quote Monty Python “I’ve had worse”.

As I haven’t been out with the camera too much lately, I’ve decided to force myself to get out and take a photo a day for the next month starting today.

Due to personal circumstances, I’m not that motivated, but I hope that this will keep my mind off things for a while at least.

I decided to keep today’s photo seasonal by cutting some of the horribly invasive hops from the bottom of the garden.

These were photographed using a homemade snoot made of Funky Foam attached to the flashgun. This forms a narrow beam of light with a strongly defined edge, which resulted in the background being completely black even though the room was nowhere near dark.

Over the weekend, I have had a play with my flashgun, and have managed to get some images of water droplets frozen in mid air.

They’re not brilliant, but not too bad for a first attempt.

You can find them here.

[jalbum_album_short:/Albums/water_drops/Drops,4]

As it was a bank holiday this weekend, I figured that I’d spend some time at home with my mum & gran in the New Forest.

On my walk this morning, I found a fungus that when I got home looked like the rather sought after Chanterelle, so I went back in the afternoon to get some more pictures and pick a specimen for closer examination.

On the way back to the location, I got some good shots of a Golden Ringed Dragonfly feeding on a bee, and also a common darter.

I posted my fungi shots to the Wild About Britain Forum and the general consensus is that they are indeed of a Chanterelle, needless to say the location is marked in my GPS for future reference.

My New Forest photos can be seen here. [jalbum_album_short:/Albums/New_Forest/26-08-2007/,2]

Just as I was about to finish my afternoon walk, I saw my first Painted Lady Butterfly of the year.  Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera with me, and when I went back a few minutes later it was gone.

I saw a post on Aidan’s Wessex Wildlife page that showed Lesser butterfly Orchids in flower at Holmsley.  I emailed Aidan, and got a response late last night, so I decided to go out and search for them today.

We found them easily enough (well its easy when you’ve been told exactly where they are), and there are a good number making an impressive show.

This is the first time I’ve ever seen the lesser butterflies, and after the failed search at Fletchwood Meadows, it was nice to see them.  We also found the Southern Marsh Orchids which are about 100m further down the track, but they were past their best, and going to seed.

Anyway, here are a couple of the shots I managed to get.

 

This afternoon, I took a trip to the Hants and IOW Wildlife Trust reserve at Fletchwood meadows.

I was hoping to photograph the Lesser Butterfly Orchids that grow there, but unfortunately there were none to be found. I did however get good views of a Buzzard, Emperor and Golden Ringed Dragonflies, and a Marbled White that I was really surprised about as this is more of a chalk downland species.

On the way back through the woods, I got some really good pictures of a female Roe Deer who just appeared out of a side track and stood there watching me for a while not 10 metres away.

After seeing Jimbo’s Bee Orchid post on EOS forums last night, I thought I’d check out the Hartslock Web Page to see the latest Orchid News.

This indicated that the Bee Orchids were in flower, so I thought I’d take a wander over and see what I could get. Anyway, the reserve is now covered in Common Spotted and Pyrimidal Orchids, which I got some good shots of, but I was lucky enough to find 2 Bee Orchids, one in the middle of the main Orchid Slope, and the other next to the footpath in the first enclosure.

I’m very pleased with the images that I managed to get today, they can be seen on my Hartslock Reserve page here

There were plenty of Small Heath, Meadow Brown and Marbled White butterflies about, and I saw a lone, rather scruffy looking Brown Argus, which is my first for this year.

I was particularly pleased with the shots that I managed to get of the Marbled White, as I managed to get both Open and Closed wing shots.

I also met a rather nice fellow who was looking for the Monkey Orchids, so I had to break the news that they were over, but he did let me know where I could find Lizard Orchids, and its not in Kent :o)

I think I might have over done it with my back a bit, but its not feeling too bad at the moment, so lets hope that it stays that way.

I have been keeping an eye on the courgette patch for the last couple of days, hoping to see the spider with her babies.  Well,  the babies have now hatched, but it appears that I made a wrong identification.

This morning, the spider was standing guard over a web full of spiderlings, meaning that this is in fact a Nursery Web Spider, and not a Wolf Spider as previously thought.

Apparently the Nursery Web spider carries the egg sac in her jaws, meaning that she cannot feed until the babies have hatched, now there’s a devoted mother for you.

I have taken a couple of shots showing the spider standing guard over the web, and I will post these shortly.

Yesterday, my Physiotherapist told me that I need to get out and do more walking to strengthen my back.  I  was even given the green light to get on my bike and go for a ride as long as I kept it short and stayed away from the hills.

Today, I went out for a couple of walks, once in the morning, and once this afternoon, each lasting about 1.5 hours or so.

This afternoon, I went for a wander along the Holy Brook, and was amazed by the number of Banded Demoiselles and Mayflies that were about, though unfortunately I’d made the mistake of wearing a red T-Shirt which meant that I couldn’t get close to anything :o(

I walked as far as the breach in the bank of the Holy Brook, which still hasn’t been repaired, before I came back and headed out across the footpath towards the old railway embankment.

Whilst walking across here, I saw no fewer then 5 Little Egrets, which was a huge surprise.  I knew that they’d got more common, but I never expected to see 5 on my doorstep.

There were also a couple of Kestrels about, and a rather high flying Red Kite, the sightings of which seem to be getting much more frequent over the centre of Reading.