Hot Day at Kilwood

Visited Kilwood Nature Reserve (DWT) on the 26th May.  Really hot day with temperatures up in the high 20’s.  It proved a good day for some odenta too, with lots of damsels and chasers on the wing.  I even saw but did not photograph very well my first 4 spotted chaser there.

The first nice shot I got on the visit was this Large Red Damselfly on some grass in the woods through to Norden.

Canon EOS 50D (100mm, f/5.6, 1/1250 sec, ISO400)

Large Red Damselfly.  Taken on Canon 50D with Canon 100mm F2.8 USM Macro Lens.  ISO 400 F5.6 1/1250 Natural Light.

Then I was fortunate to find a Green Hairstreak butterfly on some gorse, this shot though was painful as to get close involved putting face into said gorse…

Canon EOS 50D (100mm, f/8, 1/320 sec, ISO400)

Green Hairstreak.  Taken on Canon 50D with Canon 100mm F2.8 USM Macro Lens.  ISO 400 F8 1/320 Natural Light.

Around the gorse was some damselflies, including this one I got in flight.  The shot is cropped to about 2/3rds of it size.

Canon EOS 50D (100mm, f/5, 1/800 sec, ISO400)

Damselfly in flight.  Taken on Canon 50D with Canon 100mm F2.8 USM Macro Lens.  ISO 400 F5 1/800 Natural Light.

And this one which was for a short time a bit more static.

Canon EOS 50D (100mm, f/5, 1/125 sec, ISO200)

Damselfly.  Taken on Canon 50D with Canon 100mm F2.8 USM Macro Lens.  ISO 200 F5 1/125 Natural Light.

On the way back I finally managed to get one of the Broad-bodied chasers to pose nicely for me – it even gave me a cheeky sort of salute.

Canon EOS 50D (100mm, f/9, 1/200 sec, ISO400)

Broad-bodied Chaser Salutes!  Taken on Canon 50D with Canon 100mm F2.8 USM Macro Lens.  ISO 400 F9 1/200 Natural Light.

Canon EOS 50D (100mm, f/4, 1/1600 sec, ISO400)

Broad-bodied Chaser.  Taken on Canon 50D with Canon 100mm F2.8 USM Macro Lens.  ISO 400 F4 1/1600 Natural Light.

Map of Location

Dorset Wildlife Trust Reserve. Limited roadside parking