Snakeholme Pit - 2 visits

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Name
Phil
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Seen at Snakeholme Pit Butterfly Reserve today.

1. Orange Tip
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and

2. Azure Damselflies
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There were also a few other butterflies:- various whites, brimstones, painted lady, peacock. Lots of Azure Damselflies, Small Reds, and we think we also saw 3 hawkers in the distance, possibly brown, common or migrant which often come to the area. Finally we did see 3 male Banded Demoiselles, but could not get close enough for a decent picture. The best I could do with the only lens I had with me (Tamron 180mm) was this rather distant shot:

3. Banded Demoiselle
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Next time I'll take an alternative lens and, hopefully, have a bit more luck.
 
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Thanks for the correction Gary, much appreciated. I had wondered about it, but we don't usually get many Azures down there. Have made appropriate corrections, thanks again.
 
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We are very lucky where we live with a butterfly garden and a reserve all within a 3 miles radius, as well s several other wooded areas and a large tidal river. Each one has many species in it, so summer visits can be very rewarding. Managed to get down to Snakehome Pit again this afternoon with the express intention of trying to get a half decent shot of a Banded Demoiselle. They are still very skittish and it is difficult to get near to them so I went armed with my 70-300mm L series lens. To some extent I was rewarded with this being one of a series of shots:

1. Banded Demoiselle (male)
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We were also rewarded by being able to get some shots of other species. Again we saw a single Orange Tip, and, though this is not quite as sharp as I would have liked, as I was only shooting at 1/640sec, as I had not really expected him to take off when he did!

2. Orange Tip Taking Off
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Not sure how he managed the manoeuvre as he appears to be landing, but he was actually taking off, backwards!

3. Common Blue
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We saw 3 Common Blue during the hour we were there, but this one was the only one that I managed to get near to.

4, Cinnabar Moth
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Desite losing part of his wing to the right of the picture I'm quite pleased with this as he was keeping very low in the undergrowth and flew off if I got within about 10ft, and, truthfully, I was very surprised that there was only one blade of grass blocking the image.

For the short time we (my wife and I) spent there we felt very lucky to have seen so much.
 
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