When visiting Lanzarote last year I was fortunate enough to see a Hoopoe, Upupa epops, on the grass lawn of a hotel in Costa Teguise. I took some photos and crept closer, then took so more and crept a bit close and so on. And it just stayed where it was feeding away. As I…
On visit to RSPB Rainham Marshes in April I saw 2 stoats, one of which was right in front of me, but I couldn’t get a clear shot of it in the reeds and grass. There was a silver lining however, as it scared one of the common lizards up into the reeds, where it…
As well as a capercaillie, I managed to see ptarmigan a couple of times (see link below). I came across a pair on Cairngorm.
Back in March I was lucky enough to see a capercaillie that posed for photos. I got some photos of the capercaillie in the woods too.
Back in June, I came across this Giant Horsefly (Tabanus sp.) They lay their eggs on pond margins where their larvae live. I photographed a larva last year. I got a head on shot too. They thankfully (for us) tend to leave humans alone and tend bite horses and cows.
Back at the start of September I was walking around KWT Oare Marshes Nature Reserve in North Kent with a couple of friends when one spotted this creature running across the path. I recognised it imediately as one of the velvet ants, the female of a type of solitary wingless wasp. I had always wanted…
It was a cold winter December day today in Essex. Most the insect life is dormant for winter, but under the ice in the ponds there is still plenty of activity. A sweep with the net and a caught a number of creatures: damselfly larvae, water lice, water beetles and 2 species of backswimmer, the…
As well as Mandarin Ducks, I got my best pics of fallow deer on my last trip to Richmond Park I saw some posturing.. …and then rutting! Lots of fallow bucks, with some more posing. As well as females.
On a trip to Richmond Park in october I got my best shots of the species yet. I got a number of the males. And some of the females.
Last weekend I popped up to see a friend in Yorkshire and we went so some great spots, one of which was Stainforth Force on the Yorkshire Dales. It is one of the best spots to see leaping Atlantic salmon as the try to leap up the waterfall. I set up my camera and waited…