Troublefield – Dessimation.

I returned to Troublefield on 28th May – expecting to shoot more flowers, dragonflies and butterflies following the previous weeks visit.

Unfortunately the DWT had let in a herd of cows – and the place was decimated.  Almost all flowers were gone, and all that remained really was some cow parsley and odd patches of grass stem.  Oh and lots of cow pats.  I’ve since heard that they did this to remove one invasive plant species.  What ?  Why not remove the species by hand ?

I’m not against grazing, but this is a great site really near me, and grazing here should surely be done after the flowers and insects have finished.  Mid to late autumn.

All I saw in my brief visit, before the cows returned was a Longhorn beetle and a single Blue butterfly.  There were no dragon or damselflies, wild flowers or the large array of butterflies from the previous visit.  I’d say there were about 40/50 blues alone the previous week.  Here’s the shots I took.

Canon EOS 50D (100mm, f/8, 1/50 sec, ISO400)

Longhorn beetle.  Taken on Canon 50D with Canon 100mm F2.8 Macro Lens.  ISO400 F8 1/50. Natural Light.  Tripod and Macro Slider.

Canon EOS 50D (100mm, f/5, 1/60 sec, ISO400)

Common Blue.  Taken on Canon 50D with Canon 100mm F2.8 Macro Lens.  ISO400 F5 1/60. Natural Light.  Tripod and Macro Slider.

Canon EOS 50D (100mm, f/3.2, 1/80 sec, ISO400)

Common Blue up close. Macro Lens.  ISO400 F3.2 1/80. Natural Light.  Tripod and Macro Slider.

Map of Location