Something Different

As it's that time of year when the bird's go quiet and there isn't much around to photograph I thought I would try something different.  What I didn't know is that you have to get up at silly o'clock in the morning to photograph butterflies.

The alarm set at 3 am I was up early and the weather forecast was good so I headed to meet Ken.  We arrived whilst it was still dark but by the time we got the gear together the sun was just coming up.

It didn't take us long before Ken spotted the first Butterfly, we continued to search and there was plenty.

When the sun first came up it gave us some really nice yellow early morning light.

Chalkhill Blue

It was a steep learning curve for me on the different type of species there and it wasn't all that easy to spot them at first.  

As the sun continued to rise we spotted more and more butterflies present.

Brown Argus

 Small Heath

Adonis Blue

Ken had warned me that the grass would be wet and tall in places so I am very glad I put on the waterproof trousers because by the time I had rolled all around the floor taking pictures I was soaked through.

As the temperature warmed up the butterflies became very active and more or less impossible to photograph so we called it a day.  The best thing of it all was we had bagged up by 8.30 am and ready to go back home.  

With a successful day behind us we opted to try again the next day with John but this time down Oxford.  

YES another 3am alarm was set and I was driving south to meet the clan.  This time we were not so lucky as it was very windy which meant the butterflies stayed low in the grass which made it more or less impossible to find.  After several hours of searching all I managed was another Brown Argus and a Grasshopper.

Brown Argus

Grasshopper

Hopefully the weather is good next weekend so I can try again, but for now I am glad for no more 3am alarms.