Despite being a keen birdwatcher I have also always had an inordinate fondness for insects, with dragonflies and butterflies being particular favourites. On a visit to Llandegla Forest a couple of years ago I managed to take some good photos of Black Darters, so a sunny day in September prompted me to make a return visit with my camera and macro lens.
As a bird photographer I am used to lugging around a hefty 500mm lens, so it made a nice to change just to be carrying a small macro lens. I even forsook my binoculars, so I was really travelling light. This change of focus forced me to examine my surroundings in a totally different manner, and searching out subjects for macro photography opened up a whole new perspective on the forest.
Unfortunately, I only found one dragonfly and that was a fly-past Common Darter, but as with all wildlife photography there is always something to try and capture, including Speckled Wood butterflies, a Silver Y moth and I even tried my hand at plant photography. The macro lens is quite versatile and can even take narrow landscape shots.
But I didn't totally ignore the birdlife, my ears picked out Coal Tits, lots of Siskins, Raven, Goldcrests and I was alerted to the presence of a Crossbill by its "chip chip" call and looked up just in time to see a red bon-bon of a male torpedo between two stands of conifers.
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| Hoverfly Syrphus ribesii |
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| Silver Y moth |
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| Bilberry |
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| The seeds of Rosebay Willowherb blew around like a September snowstorm |
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