Yellow wagtail
A set of photos of some yellow wagtails, taken on Sheppey, Kent.
Clouded yellow and other insects on Canvey Wick
A few from an August visit the ‘Britain’s Rainforest’ Canvey Wick in 2013. 2013 was a good summer for clouded yellow butterflies, I saw more that year than all previous years combined. This field grasshopper posed nicely. A Common Damselfly perched on a rose hip. And this holly blue on some bramble. A common darter…
Canada x greylag hybrid goose
While at Kensington Gardens I came across this Canada x greylag hybrid goose ( Anser anser x Branta canadensis) and got some nice photos of it in the late afternoon winter sunlight.
Common gulls and Herring gulls
Last weekend I walked through Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, and the light for once was lovely. While there I had a go at photographing some common gulls. and a HErring gull I tried a herring gull in-flight close up and captured one landing too. Thanks to Marianne Taylor for the gull IDs!
Red Squirrel at Loch Garten in Cairngorms
Here a few shots of a red squirrel that turned up at Loch Garten.
Hydaticus seminiger Diving beetle
Back in September a medium sized diving beetle was pulled out of one of the Wat Tyler ponds. I recognised it straight away as Hydaticus seminiger, as I’d seen it in books and it was a scarce species. This was the first recorded in South Essex Marshes area (though it has been recorded at Rainham…
Nuthatch on rock wall
A couple of years ago I visited Gilfach Farm, where it was possible to photograph nuthatches on the stone wall there, rather than the normal tree branches and trunks.
Devils fingers fungus Clathrus archeri
While in the New Forest with some friends recently, I was shown some devils fingers (Clathrus archeri) fungi. Also known as the octopus stinkhorn, is not a native species to the UK or Europe (where it is also found), but originates from Australia and New Zealand. It was first found in Cornwall in 1946, and…
Fox images
I recently returned from my honeymoon, and managed a few photos of the wildlife in Tenerife, so expect some of that soon. But for now here are a few fox photos taken in recent months.
New forest ponds – medicinal leeches and fairy shrimps
Last Saturday I headed down to the New Forest to finally meet up with Naomi Ewald from FHT to look at some ponds with species that required her Schedule 5 license. I say finally because our previous attempts to meet had been thwarted by everything from flooding and thunderstorms to non functioning alarms, but this…