Large skipper

Large Skipper Ochlodes venata

Today didn't start off well. When going for an early morning safari, it is important to stick to your normal routine. Miss just one function and disaster will strike. I had to break off the blip expedition after twenty minutes and endure a painful ride home on my bike!

I had collected plenty of blip material by this time, but nothing was leaping off the screen to me, so I returned for a second bite of the cherry. I ended up with 27 images, but still no clear winner. In the end I had to copy the contenders into a folder, view by slideshow and gradually whittle them down.

I even had a snake shot! Like with the otter, just being in the presence of such glorious creatures is mesmerizing, but that is not going to sell the image to my fellow blippers. I learned from my last snake blip that just posting an average shot of a spectacular creature is not enough, the blip community demands more. The snake has to be in your face or chewing on your ankle, a less than pin sharp image of the back of a snakes head as it slithers away, is just not going to earn you a cigar, so in the rejects it went.

If I had chosen one shot straight out of the 27, this orange skipper would not have been it, but the gradual trimming operation left me with this, so I am sticking with it.

Dave