The patch has been a bit quiet of late with only the locals to keep me interested. Barn Owls and Hooded Crow from the house daily and over the past week, singing Chiffchaffs. A Red legged Partridge calling from the top of Hips Heugh was only my third garden record.
So, today, during the standard lunchtime dog walk around the village wood I was pleased to find a right gathering of Water Crickets Velia caprai in one of the ditches that bisects the wood. There were at least 25 of them skittering around in pond skater fashion. I've just read, they can move a lot faster, as they spit on the water surface and reduce the tension so there is less drag on them. What a great fact! On top of that revelation, they aren't actually crickets, they are true bugs...
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| Water Crickets |
Other than these, I have tried to improve on the Barn Owl shots by reading about settings for birds in flight with the 7D2. It has definitely helped..
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| The female Barn Owl taken from the drive with 300mm lens.... |
3 comments:
Lovely to see the photos of the Barn Owls, hopefully now you can go a little further with your camera.
Thanks for the information on Emperor moths, have done a lot of reading on the moor and the Ilkley moor management plan mentions Emperor moths.
Amanda x
Those Barn Owl shots are superb, Stewart. A rare sight down here, for me anyway. Lovely! 😊
Gav - Cheers, we are lucky to see them so often, though this year seems better than most.
Amanda - Thanks. Your Emperor info and records may be even more important to the management of your moor. Maybe try to do your own survey of different areas of the site...
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