On 8 August I went along to Ben Rhydding Gravel Pits Local Nature Reserve with my camera.
While walking down to the river I noticed a couple of butterflies but things were quiet. When I got to the path by the river I spotted some Long Tailed Tits in the trees. Often they are quite noisy as they move along the trees leap-frogging each other. These weren’t making much noise but I did watch one of them with a decent sized caterpillar, whacking it on the branch. I have a vague memory of hearing that they do this to knock either the head or the tail off because they aren’t edible, or it could be to stun or kill it so it doesn’t crawl about in their guts, what a nice thought. Or it could be that it is for a youngster and it makes it easier for them to deal with.
Down below this, in the river was a Dipper. I would say that there were at least two of them.
When wandering around looking for wildlife I have my long lens hanging from my right shoulder and a macro lens hanging from my left shoulder. Most of these photos of the butterflies and insects were taken using the macro lens. The Umbellifera flower head (Wild Carrot?) has some kind of Capsid/Mirid bug tucked down in its centre.
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