Mayfly time!

Lasting two weeks or so, mayfly time is special with both the fish and fly fishermen. I wanted to get a shot of mayfly spinners swarming over the river in the early evening. A very fast shutter speed was required to freeze the flies in the frame and avoid a blurred mess. I needed to be close enough for the flies to be recognisable which meant standing on a bridge looking over the river Avon but keeping the trees in the background to give context. The second image, shot with a longer lens to isolate a single fly, was next to a bush, again to give context.
Last week on the Avon I spotted a very localised area of mayfly male spinners returning to the water. To get close I used a very long lens but this made focusing on an individual fly next to impossible because of the unpredictable flight and extremely narrow Depth Of Focus. Fortunately one mayfly settled on a stalk long enough for me to get my shot. 
The next post will show a close up of a male mayfly spinner.