New camera and other stuffs

So I bought myself a Canon 70D. The EOS 350 had served me well for nearly 10 years, so it was certainly time for an upgrade.

The 70D has far too many features to discuss here, but it has a few that I am already finding indispensable. Firstly, it has a revolutionary new focussing system, which enables it to more or less instantly decide which direction (nearer or further) to go when focussing. The 350 was fast, but the 70D is near-instant, which is crucial when photographing insects. A fully-articulated rear screen enables me to take shots above my head or down at ground level. 20 megapixels means I don't have to get so close, so depth of field can be better. It can operate over wi-fi, so uploading images means less wear and tear on memory card transfers from camera to computer and back again. Video mode means I can tag images with a piece of voice annotation.

Here are a few shots:

This is the 10mm. micromoth Celypha lacunana, which is out in very large numbers on my local hedgerow:

The micromoth Celypha lacunana

 And this is the strange-looking hoverfly Xylota segnis:

The hoverfly Xylota segnis

The first time I saw it running quickly over leaves, I thought it was a wasp of some kind with those long, grasshopper-like rear legs.

Formica fusca is the ant which is most numerous in my heathy area, and they can often be seen climbing Willow bushes to 'milk' their aphids. This one was behaving very strangely, cropping the fine hairs from a Bramble leaf. I have absolutely no idea why it was doing that.

Formica fusca, an ant

Orchids started flowering last week, so now is the time to see them at their best.

Common Spotted Orchid, with a touch of Heath Spotted

'Cleaner' Common Spotted Orchid

I also took a record shot of the white version of Bush Vetch, which is still slowly expanding its range along a ditch:

White variant of Bush Vetch

 It's still early days for the camera, but I think the results are shaping up well for the future.

Spotted Orchids

Much fuss is made in books about the various species of Dactylorhiza orchids, especially in relation to their hybrids. I recognise two local 'species': Northern Marsh Orchid - Dactylorhiza purpurella and Spotted Orchid - Dactylorhiza fuchsii/Dactylorhiza maculata. The reason I bracket the last pair is because I simply believe we have a continuum of variations, with one extreme looking like Dactylorhiza fuchsii and the other extreme looking like Dactylorhiza maculata. These are - in my opinion - all hybrids, since they are known to cross and back-cross, so what we have is a hybrid swarm, with all variations in petal shape and colour being present in more or less the same locality. The following Spotted Orchids were all found within a few metres of each other.

The first two are classic 'Common Spotted Orchids', but are very pale:


The next specimen is more towards the 'Heath Spotted Orchid', but still with a single tooth on a wide, rounded base:


Another variant has extremely elegant flowers which are slim in all the parts.

A few years ago, I carried out an extensive survey of my local orchids. The result is here:

homepage.eircom.net/~hedgerow6/orchids.htm

To further fuel the debate, I also think that Spotted Orchids vary according to micro-climate (humidity, soil type, etc.) and that the precise variation depends on locality (your mileage may vary).