Bad backs and insects...

Wicken Fen! What a wonderful nature reserve this is. You have access to acres of fenland and all the fauna and flora that goes with this. Quite a few of which seem to want to have a bit of you as well. So why bad backs? Well I have been nursing a sore back ever since I came back from Pembrokeshire. I thought it had cleared up and so went off to Wicken with renewed vigour. I could be found bending over, squatting and lying flat on the ground (perhaps the last was the only dignified position!). The upshot of this is that I have a recurrence of back acre. It is something I have had to learn to live with over the years but it does cramp your style. Hopefully this will clear up for the weekend when I'm off to Northumbria for a week. If it doesn't I will have to rethink what camera kit I take with me onto the Farne Islands.

So back to Wicken - why so wonderful? Well first off it is flat. I know this is stating the obvious but it does make getting around a whole lot easier - especially with a bad back and load of camera gear. The wildlife is varied but perhaps the stars are the cuckoo and the dragonfly. However, the cuckoo had already left by the time I visited - maybe next year. The dragonflies are a different matter. You have to get your eye in as these things zip around at an amazing speed. The best advice I would give is to find a small patch of water and see what comes by - however, it should be noted I am no expert on these matters and I am sure there may be better ways.

If you are interested in the smaller insects then you need to examine reeds and sedges a little close. However, the insect world is so abundant you are not likely to be disappointed.

I hope to visit the reserve more often over the next few months. If you want to see the photographs I made then click here.

Bitten but happy - Wicken fen

It has been a long day - I am still itchy from all the bites and creepy crawlies but it was a good day at Wicken Fen. Today was supposed to be a scouting mission - I didn't really expect too many things from it on the photographic front. Luckily I was pleasantly surprised. I will try and publish a fuller report over the next day or so. One thing I am find really difficult is finding the correct name for all the flora and fauna.

Variable Damselfly breeding

Four Spotted Chaser Dragonfly

Roesel's Bush Cricket

Creepy things in the bog...

Banded Demoiselle

It is amazing this nature thing. Just amazing. It must be 4 weeks since I was last at the Narborough Bog and what a change. The last time I was there the bog was still underwhelming, things had started to grow but not by that much. Now well it's a jungle out there. I was walking through the reeds this morning and had a sudden cold shiver going down my back. Suddenly I felt I was in Jurassic Park and the reeds were filled with Velociraptor - they are that tall. I am over 6 feet tall and they tower over me - quite spooky.

Large White Butterfly

One of things that comes with this prodigious growth are all the creepy crawlies. These were what I was interested in - well actually the dragonflies, damselflies and butterflies. Again, this didn't disappoint. Whilst the larger dragonflies buzz by too quickly to capture (at the moment) the damselflies and butterflies are another matter. Once you follow the path deep into the reed bed then you are surrounded by hundreds of the creatures. Providing you are fairly still then you can approach them really quite close. Now I am new to this branch of photography so everything is snapped - the 1D really comes into its own. I have been following the advice of Colin Smith FRPS (in the latest issue of IRIS) and shot everything at a high ISO so that I get everything as frozen as possible. On the whole this is working but I suspect there is far more to things than that. Only time will tell.

Tomorrow I'm off to Wicken fen so hopefully some of the lessons I have learnt locally can be applied to one of the best places to see dragonflies. Lets see what the results will be.

One final thing - identification. What a complicated thing this is turning out to be. As I write this I am surrounded by all sorts of reference books used to ID the creatures. Again this should get easier as time goes on - well lets hope so.

Large Skipper