Some July Images

The last month or so has been a bit rather wet at times and a lot cooler (thankfully we haven't had the burning heat of last year) and while this has been fantastic for the garden (and especially the pond) its had a knock on effect on my walks with diminished numbers of butterflies etc.

 On the 7th I paid a visit to Hertford Heath and Balls Wood. It was a bit overcast and breezy but despite this it turned out pretty well. Unfortunately the ponds were dry and there were no Emerald Damselflies, though a few Brown and Southern Hawkers and Emperors were flying. Butterflies were abundant on the bramble flowers with large numbers of Meadow Browns, Skippers, Ringlets and Tortoiseshells. One Brown came a cropper right in front of my face when and Emperor zipped past and caught it.

I was lucky in that some Silver Washed Fritillaries and White Admirals were flying, but I wasn't fortunate enough to locate a Purple Emperor.

A stroll around Tyttenhanger on the 16th wasn't as productive as hoped. Again the weather wasn't ideal and few insects were flying. I managed also to miss all the good birds that seem to be reported daily by the regulars, but it made a nice break from my usual walks.

 My last view of Comet Neowise was on the 17th. I would have been out after that but a family get together last weekend involved a glass or three, and since then the cloud has been problematic. The comet has been moving higher into darker skies but apparently has been fading.

Anyway I went up again to Coombe Road near Therfield which has an excellent northern horizon. I was there from 11pm to around half past midnight (local time). Clouds were a serious problem for a long time with bands drifting slowly eastwards. At times I could see the comet through cloud, but luckily as midnight approached, the temperature and dew point fell and the clouds dissipated. The best images came with the Zeiss 135mm lens again at f2, with 400 iso and exposures of 20-30 seconds. Processing to enhance the details has been difficult, as this has despite my best efforts the illumination is uneven with gradients spoiling things. I might have to invest in some decent astro imaging software.

 

Comet Neowise

This morning I set the alarm for 2am and drove out to Coombe Road near Therfield Heath with my Z7, tracker and Zeiss 35mm and 135mm Lenses. Driving up the A1 I could clearly see Comet Neowise-easlily visible to the naked eye and probably the brightest comet I have seen (apart from a very challenging daylight sighting of one of the McNaughts with bins) since Hale Bopp in 1997 and Hyakutake in 1996.

I wasn't sure of the best spot but I ended up on a lay-by at Coombe Road and set up my tracker. The first couple of shots were tests with the 35mm just to get some idea of exposures and set to work over the next hour. 

I took a couple of close ups with the 135mm 1o seconds F4 at iso 800, and this is the cropped close up.

As the sun started to rise I could also see noctilucent clouds appearing and I eventually ended up with a sequence of three 35mm F4 images of 2-6 seconds which I ran through Aurora HDR and came up with this image.

While I was up there I also enjoyed the naked eye views of Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and eventually Venus. 

Starting To Get Out And About A Bit

 My twelve week 'isolation' has come to an end though I am still taking care with social distancing etc.

I am also still furloughed. I called work recently, expecting to return, and was told that everyone is being re-furloughed.  I presume that as long as the company is not having to pay for us it will continue. Supposedly we will receive letters eventually though since I am working for a company that has as a synonym a phrase involving a brewery I'm not expecting much.

Since my last blog update things have continued largely as they have done. I have been a bit more adventurous with some of my walks. Fairlands Valley which has been my default short stroll has on occasion got a bit longer in that I have been down to the end of Monks Wood and returned via Shackledell Grasslands, which has been very good for butterflies. In the June heatwave huge numbers of Meadow Browns and Marbled Whites have appeared, along with a selection of Skippers. Unfortunately the Blues have been very scarce.

 I also had a very long hike down to Hooks Cross and Frogmore Pit. I used to do this occasionally up until the mid 90's but not since. Again it was a butterfly bonanza with vast numbers of browns and whites, and Small Tortoiseshells in particular. The return up along the very dry river Beane ended at Aston Ford and my last sighting of the Dark Green Fritillary, which had been present for around 9 days in total.

 The Thursday before last I paid a visit to Sarah and Ed. This was the hottest day of the year of course. The primary reason was the usual plant exchange, but she took me round one of her shorter walks. Masses of butterflies of course in the field edges, and a couple of orchids-a very poor Common Spotted and a rather nice lone Pyramidal. However the Common Spotted in one of her garden pots was much more impressive.

 Apart from a couple of visits to her, and one to Letchworth to have a minor service recall for the car, I haven't been out of Stevenage for birding/wildlife purposes. This changed last weekend.

 I have visited the Bladock-Wallington road for Quail a couple of times. This seems to be one of the more favoured spots in the country these days with birds appearing most summers from June onwards. There are at least two birds present, but pinning them down is as usual almost impossible. There are also large numbers of Skylarks and Corn Buntings. On my second visit I also called in at Wallington church where I managed to locate three Spotted Flycatchers. Long gone are the days when I could expect to see several birds on any stroll around Stevenage.

 Today I was a bit more adventurous and paid a visit to Amwell. Not the best time of year, with moulting ducks and very quiet post breeding woodland birds. Also as I discovered, with lockdown etc large areas are a bit overgrown, in particular the dragonfly trail. It was rather overcast, warm and humid, so there were a lot of Swifts feeding, along with a few Sand Martins. I added a few other species to my paltry year list including Common Sandpiper and a pair of Little Ring Plovers. The regular Oystercatcher was also around for a bit. Highlight I suppose was the pair of Ravens with their two offspring.

 As expected with the conditions, insects were in short supply, and there were only a few blue damselflies seen, plus a few Ringlets that were flying up from the rank grass as I walked past. The orchid pen was very overgrown though one of the Southern Marsh spikes could just be seen.

 

Given warmer conditions I hope to be able to get out to Broxbourne Woods or maybe Hertford Heath in the next couple of weeks. I'm not expecting to do any long distance twitching for a while yet, but I do hope to get to some of our more regular summer sites eventually.