Dragons and Bugs at Whixall moss may 2016

Two days of bug hunting for me now ,   Firstly a morning shooting anything i can find along the Whixall Moss reserve :)    a lovely warm day and there should be loads to shoot .

                       First subject is a St Marks fly  aka  March fly  , Biblio species.
black and hairy with shiny body makes for a difficult exposure on these flies .

Waking along the canal bank i have just spotted a Spotted eye Dronefly, Eristalinus sepulchralis .  i very rarely see these , there are 2 species, one lives in coastal areas whereas  this species is found mainly in marshy areas.
i manage to get just a couple of frames before it disappears .

                 On to the mosses and i quickly spot a large Adder , but it was too quick for me !!!!!

                     A Large Red Damselfly perched near where i usually find the Green Hairstreaks.

                                 Its a bit dull but a couple of Green Hairstreaks are flying.

I am now at the far end along the canal bank on the boardwalk section,  hopefully to find a few Raft Spiders on the pools.

I cant believe what i have just found!     an Emperor Moth ,  i have never seen one of these before.

        Here is a Raft Spider, Dolomedes Fimbriatus. Time to put the mpe-65 macro lens on

That's better..........

                                                            Just come out of the water

                                                 A Brimstone feeding on the canal bank

                                                                    And a Speckled Wood

                                                                     Noisy creatures  lol

                                    The end of a great morning , Dragon hunting next