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Birds, Insects & Bats in flight (outdoors) Page 46
Image Taken on 03 Aug 2022
at 17:49 Image of day on 16 Sep 2022
Out venerable garage provides a clear backdrop for this male Migrant Hawker Dragonfly flying
right to left and in two frame (fifth of a second) has turned completely round to fly the other way.
What manoeuvrability!
Of course the cameraman didn't react quickly enough to the reversal and camera panning left
lost the insect out of frame :-(
Want to try for a still image yourself: Even top-end autofocus is hopeless
unless the background is bland sky, and auto exposure usually goes badly wrong.
So you need a camera with lockable manual focus and ability
to set shutter speed, aperture and ISO rating in manual mode. Even low-end SLRs can do this
although the frame rate will be low..
Typical sunny day settings Shutter 1/1250 Aperture F9 ISO 640 Lens 50 - 100mm focussed about
5 metres away. Shutter button: high-speed continuous.
As you spot a dragonfly flying towards your focus distance, start taking frames until it
has passed your focus distance. If you can't follow the action in the viewfinder just
learn to point the camera 'blind' with lower enough zoom that it keeps the insect 'in-frame'.
Expect a huge failure rate and check that your 'aim' keeps insects mostly in-frame.
If you have any successes please send them along!
(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
Ref: 20220916_d72_20220803_1749_356-362 migrant hawker dragonfly male in flight turns back in 200ms (accurate montage @8fps)(r+mb id@1024).jpg
Image Taken on 19 Aug 2009
at 15:10 Image of day on 28 Sep 2009
This view solved a riddle hanging over from last year when we
caught a 'white faced' dragonfly which escaped from the net
before we could identify it.
The sex and stage of life vary the body & facial colour.
(r+mb id@576).jpg)
Ref: 20090928_da1_20090819_1510_072 migrant hawker dragonfly male mature in flight (web crop)(r+mb id@576).jpg
Image Taken on 19 Aug 2009
at 15:14 Image of day on 28 Sep 2009
2 Days later a male also obliged with some photos in flight.
(r+mb id@576).jpg)
Ref: 20090928_da1_20090819_1514_088+1301_039 migrant hawker dragonfly male mature in flight with flag iris fronds (montage)(r+mb id@576).jpg
Image Taken on 03 Jul 2016
at 15:37 Image of day on 19 Aug 2016
Modern Motor Gliders mostly seem to sport pop-up motors behind the pilot,
but this one flew silently overhead with the front propeller idling in the wind and found
the same up-draft that the male Kestrel was using 10 minutes earlier.
A web search finds it was built in 1974 (that's 42 years ago!) of a German
manufactured type ASK16. We find mention of it in UK yearbooks back to 1986.
'Google' the string G-BCTI for images of the wildly out of date instrument panel
and controls burnished by years of use, plus a (has to be modern-ish) GPS box.
This sequence starts bottom middle and goes clockwise.
(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
Ref: 20160819_df3_20160703_1537_132-140 motor glider g-bcti climbing in thermal selected 04-12 of 13 (impression montage)(r+mb id@1024).jpg
Image Taken on 18 Mar 2009
at 08:19 Image of day on 06 Apr 2009
On a different time scale to yesterdays bluetit, this mute swan
majestically flew by, turning as it went. We rarely see mute
swans here in flyovers, and they never land (they would need a
long stretch of water to take off again). These over several
seconds and laid out for artistic effect rather than accuracy.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
Ref: 20090406_db1_20090318_0819_043+051+056 mute swan in flight (montage)(r+mb id@768).jpg
Image Taken on 28 Nov 2016
at 10:25 Image of day on 01 Jan 2017
We never expect to see Swans of any sort on our patch because of the lack of a
long enough take-off strip to get airborne again. But this single Mute Swan made
a lovely Flyby near the North East corner. It was hard to decide what to do with
the 44 images - a 44 images sequence would reduce the bird to little more than a
'dot', and the bland blue sky provides no hint on how to align the images
anyway. So here are our impressions.
We have the whole 44 frames 'on file' should anybody want to see
them.
(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
Ref: 20170101_df3_20161128_1025_046-0487 mute swan in flight 08-10 of 44 (impression montage)(r+mb id@1024).jpg
Image Taken on 28 Nov 2016
at 10:25 Image of day on 01 Jan 2017
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
Ref: 20170101_df3_20161128_1025_055 mute swan in flight 17 of 44 (crop)(r+mb id@768).jpg
Image Taken on 28 Nov 2016
at 10:25 Image of day on 01 Jan 2017
This Mute Swan's huge feet and powerful legs can't retract into the feathers
like the claws of smaller birds, but are nicely aligned with the air flow for
minimum drag.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
Ref: 20170101_df3_20161128_1025_069 mute swan in flight 31 of 44 (crop)(r+mb id@768).jpg
Image Taken on 05 Mar 2011
at 09:50 Image of day on 09 Apr 2011
We don't see much of mute swans in the area (and never landing in our patch)
so this chance flyby while we were standing by the roadside was a lovely
surprise. Alternate frames from a 6 fps sequence accurately aligned.
(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
Ref: 20110409_df1_20110305_0950_028-38 mute swan in flight across house & fields to north 1+3+5+7+9+11 of 23 (3 fps accurate montage)(r+mb id@1024).jpg
Image Taken on 25 Feb 2012
at 07:27 Image of day on 25 Mar 2012
Just after dawn the whistle of wings turned our eyes skywards
just in time to enjoy this juvenile Mute Swan flying over our
patch, swinging round in a circle and then flying on. The montage
below had no reference points to make the spacings accurate.
 1-3 of 4 (arb montage)(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
Ref: 20120325_df1_20120225_0727_128+130+132 mute swan juvenile flying overhead (eff 3 fps) 1-3 of 4 (arb montage)(r+mb id@1024).jpg
Image Taken on 25 Feb 2012
at 07:27 Image of day on 25 Mar 2012
As this majestic juvenile Mute Swan departed we felt as always
that the feet belong on a different creature!
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
Ref: 20120325_df1_20120225_0727_135 mute swan juvenile flying overhead 4 of 4 (crop)(r+mb id@768).jpg
Image Taken on 03 Apr 2010
at 10:46 Image of day on 09 May 2010
We never see swans in our patch (not safe for takeoff) but in the
last couple of days a couple have been feeding on the sprouting
'whatever' in an arable field to our north undoubtedly to the
farmer's annoyance. Here we caught their arrival 'on the wing'
though this time they landed out of our sight.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
Ref: 20100509_df1_20100403_1046_069 2 mute swans in flight over fields to north 11 of 46 (crop)(r+mb id@768).jpg
Image Taken on 17 Aug 2014
at 04:42 Image of day on 23 Oct 2014
We have stopped deliberately photographing bats at night with
flash, but if they fly through a static beam break in the middle
of a wood we are not going to waste the image.
This might be a Natterer's Bat, but we are not known for our skill in these matters!
 bat in flight by tree-stump (crop)(r+mb id@432).jpg)
Ref: 20141023_d36_20140817_0442_117_fb4 natterers (q) bat in flight by tree-stump (crop)(r+mb id@432).jpg
Image Taken on 03 Aug 2011
at 04:54 Image of day on 17 Sep 2011
A muggy night 2-3 August 2011 got us up in time to see Bats on
the CCTV at about 04:30 - too dark to photograph them because you
can't see them at all. By about 04:50 the lightening sky lured us
out with the camera set up for Bats, and found 2 species flying
around the house.
We think the smaller of the species are Natterer's Bats -
three moments of one bat at about 5 frames/sec timed from
bottom upwards.
 1-3 of 3 (montage)(r+mb id@576).jpg)
Ref: 20110917_db1_20110803_0454_097-099 natterers bat in flight (about 5 fps) 1-3 of 3 (montage)(r+mb id@576).jpg
Image Taken on 19 Nov 2008
at 16:22 Image of day on 08 Dec 2008
At sunset the puffy white clouds over the whole sky turned to
candy-floss pink. This is pretty much the sky and cloud colours
we both remember.
.jpg)
Ref: 20081208_p34_20081119_1622_934 orange clouds overhead at sunset(r+mb id@576).jpg
Image Taken on 20 Jul 2006
at 23:57 Image of day on 02 Aug 2006
A chance image of a Orange Swift Moth (Male) as it flew by.
Rarely seen with wings spread, identification books always
show it with the wings folded down the body.
.jpg)
Ref: 20060802_d3e_20060720_2357_018 fb1 orange swift moth male in flight(r+mb id@576).jpg
Image Taken on 01 May 2010
at 10:30 Image of day on 04 Jun 2010
We watched these 2 birds for some time in a thermal to our North.
We didn't realise that one was an Osprey until later. Neither did
we appreciate how fast they were rising in the thermal until we
started making this montage with the top bird starting at
'constant height' but realised that the cloud features were
moving downwards! So using some cloud edges (out of frame) as a
new reference we see these birds rising and then tumbling down
as they manoeuvre round each other. Frames are about 200mS apart
except the last pair at about 600mS. The Wingspan of both birds
is about 1.5m and they are rising about one third of a wingspan
per frame or 2.5m/sec = 6 mph all without a flap of the wing
(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
Ref: 20100604_df1_20100501_1030_185-190+193 osprey & buzzard sparring in thermal 08-13+16 of 18 (approx montage)(r+mb id@1024).jpg
Image Taken on 28 Oct 2008
at 09:42 Image of day on 13 Nov 2008
Almost a week to the hour since the previous sighting we arrived
at the corner of our patch to see an/the Osprey again with
another huge fish, this time a little closer to us than before.
One of our email group suggests that the fish is a carp.
There were a couple of rooks about but not close enough to be in
frame.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
Ref: 20081113_dc1_20081028_0942_009 osprey in flight with fish (web crop)(r+mb id@768).jpg
Image Taken on 11 Aug 2006
at 12:15 Image of day on 20 Aug 2006
The swallows have returned to feeding over our own and the
surrounding fields. Now the youngsters have gained some skill in
the air they chase after the parents and sometimes get fed on-the-wing.
They ascend together and transfer the insects near the top of the
sweep - the moment shown here. Its all over in an instant and
very hard to film or photograph.
(r+mb id@576).jpg)
Ref: 20060820_d10_20060811_1215_025 parent feeding young swallow in flight (web crop)(r+mb id@576).jpg
Image Taken on 22 Jul 2011
at 10:12 Image of day on 01 Sep 2011
This Peacock butterfly was repeatedly irritated by the hover-flies
and kept flicking it's wings when they got close.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
Ref: 20110901_df1_20110722_1012_042 peacock butterfly and 4 hover-flies on perennial sow-thistle (crop)(r+mb id@768).jpg
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