24 May 2010

Melincourt Valley

A trip to Melincourt Valley today in the hope of some Pied and Spotted Flycatchers. No sign of either species today, unfortunately. There were some other good stuff around though. 4 Wood Warbler, 1 Garden Warbler, 1 Whitethroat, 5 Redstart and 3 Tree Pipits. Also, continuing the theme of high Cuckoo numbers this summer, 4 individuals were around the fields above.

This Broad-bodied Chaser (Libellula depressa) was a nice surprise. Flying around a clearing in the wood near the wooden bridge that crosses the brook.



The Green Tiger Beetle (Cicindela campestris) were quite numerous along the track above the main wooded area

Lots of Butterflies on the wing and also 20+ Brown Silver-lines (Petrophora chlorosata) easily disturbed from the taller grasses.

2 comments:

Jeff said...

Cracking photos Mark,what macro lense are you using ?

Mark Hipkin said...

Hi Jeff, Thanks. The set up I use for DSLR shots is Nikon D50 with AS-S Nikkor 55-200mm 1:4-5.6G ED lens. Although it might just as well be a telephoto lens, since all my insect shots are full zoom.