I heard today that there was a red backed shrike locally, but I could not go anywhere till 5.30pm. Luckily my friend Dave was available to show me where it was and took me to see it. The light was awful at 6.45pm when it eventually showed for us, the sort of conditions where having…
I’ve been playing with my Pentax WG-2 compact a bit recently, mainly to try get some underwater footage, but it also has a slow motion mode on the video. The resolution is only 640×480, but it slows things down my 4 times. I tried it out on this crow as it took off, and its…
On bank Holiday Monday I popped into Rainham Marshes for the day. There had been masses of good birds the previous two days, which were long gone by then! There were however loads of marsh frogs. I wanted a low angle shot, but the boardwalks and paths are 50cm or so above water level. luckily…
Unless you have been living under a rock for the last few days, you will know a cull of badgers has started in two areas of the Westcountry, amid much controversy. But one thing is starting to concern me is the fact they are not testing of the badgers being shot for bTB. Why is…
Some butterflies from the weekend before last, taken in Wat Tyler Country Park and RSPB Vange Marsh. A small tortoiseshell butterfly. The numbers of this species are noticeably higher than the last few years. I’ve seen a lot more common blue butterflies this year too. And a gatekeeper, which always seems to be common!
Some more photos of my encounter with a fox, this time when it laid down.
Last weekend I met up with some friends and had a walk around Wat Tyler CP. On the sea wall we found a scarce species of plant: Bupleurum tenuissimum, theSlender Hare’s-ear. On its leaves was the rust fungus Puccinia bupleuri, which is only recorded from a handful of UK sites.
I was lucky enough to have a close encounter with a fox a few weeks ago. After eating some rubbish it proceeded to have a good clean right in front of me. It had something caught in its teeth too.
While at Thursley Common we came across this lizard sunbathing in the open on some flattened grass, I’ve not seen one in this sort of basking spot before.