Last month I had an early morning walk around Wat Tyler CP. It was a typical chilly autumn morning, with the rising sun was warming things up slowly. I was hoping for some dewy webs, but was not in luck. I did however find this Garden Spider sitting on a leaf. It was hard to…
Back in late July the heatwave was in full swing, which had limited the amount of wildlife on show as the hot sun and dwindling water levels put pressure on many species. The crickets and grasshoppers were doing well and early one morning this speckled bush cricket seemed determined to pose for me. Its long…
Living in South Essex I often look with green eyes at those in places like the highlands with pine martens and crested tit in the wilderness on their doorstep or in Norfolk with swallowtail butterflies and large areas of fen to explore, but looking objectively there are some good things to be found in Essex,…
I have had a slow start in terms of dragonflies this year, compared to others when I have had 5 species of odonata in April, it took till Mid May for me to see any numbers of dragon and damselflies and photo opportunities were thin on the ground. But last week I finally fopund a…
The end of April/start of May usual signals the start of the real emergence of insects. There are of course a few earlier risers that emerge earlier in the year, but it this time of year when the greater variety of species start to appear. On a recent lunchbreak spent in Wat Tyler Country Park…
As is tradition now, as 2016 is drawing to a close, I’ve written a review of the year. Its been a mixed year, where for reasons that will become apparent below, I’ve not been able to get as much with the camera as in previous years, but I’ve had few nice wildlife experiences, got a…
The Southern Migrant or Blue Eyed Hawkers have appeared again at Wat Tyler Country Park. Here is a statement that needs reading before going any further. We are pleased to say that the Southern Migrant Hawker dragonfly has been seen once again in Wat Tyler Country Park. Due to issues in previous years with the…
Its been a while since I’ve posted so here are some insect macros taken last week. May is my favourite season for insect macros. Here a couple of the iridescent green coloured nettle weevils, often found on nettles unsurprisingly. And a nursery web spider.
Over Christmas I set up a feeding station at work. It has been visited by blue tits and great tits in good numbers so I set up and took some shots one lunchbreak. These are the best of them.
Today I was sitting in the Green Centre hide at Wat Tyler Country Park chatting to my friend Dave C, when I got a call telling me the glossy ibis was in creek. I headed over there and there, a little way off, in the creek was a glossy ibis. It was heading towards us,…