On Wednesday morning I paid a visit to the grassland slopes at Denbies Hillside. On arrival at 8 am the sun was shining with a cooling southerly breeze and only a handful of butterflies were spotted as I slowly descended Steers Field. Within half an hour the wind strength increased dramatically and the sun was blotted out with total cloud cover so my hopes of finding some perfectly perched Chalkhill Blues was looking grim.
I traversed the slope for over an hour and eventually found a couple of individuals sitting out the blustery conditions.
My initial efforts using the 70-300 lens were not very successful so as the subjects were less concerned about my presence than staying upright as they swayed in the wind I reverted to using my handy Powershot S95 to get some reasonable close ups.
As the wind strength occasionally eased I started to see a few specimens briefly in flight and then drop onto the ground to wait out the next series of gusts.
Chalkhill Blue (male).
Chalkhill Blue (female).
Towards the end of my visit I was eventually able to revert back to using the 70-300 lens to produce this final collage of one female and several males.
I always look forward to photographing these beauties, you've captured some lovely images Frank, despite the wind trying to scupper your efforts...[;o)
ReplyDeleteGorgeous gorgeous gorgeous. That's all I can think of. You know me Frank, I love your buttefly images immensely. Carl
ReplyDeleteStunning collection Frank,the Chalkhill Blues are on our list for next month.
ReplyDeleteThese Images have set the wheels in motion.
John.