I had a nice half hour or so of macro photography this afternoon, despite the blowing gale and sporadic sun! In a relatively sheltered spot I spotted a male orange tip patrolling, feeding and sun bathing around the garlic mustard. A bit further along I spotted 4 large red damselflies as I walked along the…
Here is a video I filmed on my Pentax K5 DSLR of a marsh harrier feeding on a dead rabbit, while being harassed by a number of crows. Be sure to click on the expand video arrows/button to view full screen! feeding marsh harrier from Neil Phillips on Vimeo.
I had a bit of a rotten start to today when my key broke in the lock to one of my survey areas. Then I couldn’t find anything the rest of the morning and the cuckoo continued to evade me all day. But the day to a turn for the better when my first Odonata…
A quick shot of a creature from a burn in Scotland, a Clinging Mayfly Nymph (Ecdyonurus sp). Taken with my photographic aquarium.
I finally got my first adders of 2013 today, with an adult and a youngster, which I got a nice pic of: I also got a couple of grab shots of the adult. I also found a grass snake, but missed the best shot of it coming head on as the sun disappeared and it…
Today at Rainham Marshes there was a little grebe sitting on its nest. I sat on the boardwalk near the nest and took a number of photos. Apparently to start with she was constantly on and off the nest, possibly due to the people walking past (its the only path/boardwalk you can walk along so…
While on the Forest School Course last weekend, a member of the group found a Glow worm (Lampyris noctiluca) larva, and he was christened Gary! I got some close ups. When it felt threatened he retracted his head, which at one point made me think it had been knocked off somehow! It would also adopted…
Last weekend I was on a Forest School Course with the excellent people at EarthcraftUK in Blean Woods. There are a number of wood ant nests in the area and in a lunch break I found a line of them heading up a tree, but it was midday and they were very active and very…
On Tuesday I got word there was a grasshopper warbler about, but it took 3 attempts to hear and then finally see it, which was my first ever view of the species. I then staked it out yesterday evening, when the light was much poorer of course, and got a couple of OK grab shots…
The bird I was after at Loch Garten was a crested tit. My friend Ian was kind enough to lend me his 7D and 600mm prime lens to help me out! (see his and Paulines excellent images here: Pauline and Ian’s Zenfolio). With his help I managed a few shots, including this one. As you…