Today at Wat Tyler CP there was a a bluethroat….and I missed it. I did however come across a turtle dove on a telegraph post. Which was joined by a wood pigeon. Our biggest Pigeon with our smallest. The turtle dove then flew down to the ground. I didn’t get too close and it was…
Just got in from lovely evening walk with a class of kids where we got within 3 metres of a wild rabbit! For once I had my camera with me and took these shots. Bare in mind these were taken with 30 kids (being remarkably calm and quiet!) right there next to me. In fact…
Yesterday I was pointed in the direction of a Cream spot tiger moth Epicallia villica. I tried some angles other than the typical top down one and was treated to some wonderful colours. Who said moths are dull? I also got a close up of the head.
I started today by heading straight to the spot where I saw the emperors emerging, but they were no longer there and just their exuvia were left. Hopefully they got away safely. At lunchtime I managed some shots of broad bodied chasers, a female hovering between egg laying. And a perched male. Yesterday I managed…
Tonight at 9pm, just as I was finishing work, a couple of emerging emperor dragonfly nymphs were spotted on some reeds in a pond. The light was literally non existent as the sun had gone down and it was the end of dusk, so I had to use flash, which combined with the awkward angle,…
Today I came across the first dragonfly that posed for a photo, a broad bodied chaser. In an effort to get something different I put on my 35mm wide angle macro and got this.
A couple of years ago a golf ball sized clump of white fuzz was fished out of some blanket weed on a pond dip. I had no idea what it was until I spotted the brown snorkel sticking out the water: it was the egg cocoon of the great silver water beetle! Unfortunately it would…
The Lesser backswimmer Plea minutissima is often overlooked, being quite small (about 3mm long), resembling and often mistaken for a small nymph of the ‘greater’ backswimmer (Notonecta sp.). They are a real pain to photograph, rarely stopping long enough to find such a small creature in the frame, let a alone focus on them! I…
On couple of days ago, on a warm morning (before the horrible bitter cold wind returned), one patch of nettles near a large pond was teeming with invertebrates. Among them was my first Azure damselfly of the year. I also saw a number of red damselflies there and throughout the day, with 12+ seen around…
Another creature I photographed in my macro session was this Rhingia campestris hoverfly. It has the long ‘nose’ due to its extra long mouthpart which can reach down into flowers to get nector other hoverflies can’t reach. I need to find or think of a common name for this beast to tell the children I…