Wildlife photographer's stunning butterfly images revealed in latest book
A county wildlife photographer has revealed how he developed the techniques for his latest book of stunning butterfly images while resting in his garden during treatment for cancer.
Former children's author Andrew Fusek Peters, from Lydbury North, has forged a new career capturing incredible images of wildlife – and now his latest book 'Butterly Safari' has been released.
It includes 250 pictures of butterflies from across the UK, with the photographer explaining that he had taken around half a million photos over five years to get the shots he wanted for the book.
The efforts included travelling miles to all parts of the UK, and patiently waiting for hours to capture the perfect picture.
The images include incredible flight sequences, showing the mid-air grace of some of the country's rarest and most threatened species in their natural habitats.
It features early spring butterflies, such as the Orange Tip, and overwintering and hibernating butterflies like the Peacock, through the year to the last, late butterflies – the blues and skippers.
Mr Fusek Peters, 57, explained how the idea for the pictures – and eventually the book – had come to him while he was being treated for cancer.
He said: "I went through cancer about four years ago and I had surgery and chemotherapy and it was a terrible time, but while I was being treated this is what happened.
"I was in the garden and thought' I will see if I can work out how to take pictures of butterflies in flight', and I did."
The book is now available in book shops and will be on Amazon from March 14.
Mr Fusek Peters said he had been overwhelmed at the reaction to the work, and said he hoped it would encourage people to do more to protect threatened butterfly species.
He said: "People are just responding to these beautiful pictures and what I really want to say is all these lovely butterflies we have got to fight to save, because these butterflies are in trouble and the numbers are going down.
"It is not just a case of 'look at the lovely butterflies', it is about people doing their bit to save them."
Mr Fusek Peters has already had another two books commissioned by the publisher, one more on butterflies, and another on garden wildlife.
He explained that it had been an incredibly lengthy process to capture the images that make up the book – learning to anticipate how the creatures fly to get the perfect shots.
He said: "Capturing butterflies in flight is a challenging process and I have spent years now studying butterfly behaviour and trying to anticipate how they will take off when nectaring and in which direction they will go. As their flight is what they are named after, it has felt like a long, tiring, but ultimately noble pursuit to explore their mid-air grace."
On the technical process behind the photographs, Andrew said: "At between 60 and 120 frames per second in raw, this speed is fast enough, on the rare times I get a set in focus, to reveal the butterfly’s flight across the frame. I can then layer up some of these frames to show movement through space and time in a single final shot."
