My Best photos of 2013 – part 2

Carrying on from here are my best shots from July to December in 2013.

In July summer finally arrived and I had booked a week off work, so I decided to head to the New Forest for a few days. It was a dragon and damselfly bonanza! At Crockford stream I photographed golden ringed dragonfly.

and southern damselfly in tandem

and keeled skimmer.

At another New Forest site I got a first for me, a scarce blue tailed damselfly.

I popped into bedfords park one day and got this emperor dragonfly in flight.

At Thursley Common the dragonfly fest continued and I got my best shots yet of ‘common’ emerald damselfly.

At the end of the month one area of Wat Tyler was covered in butterflies, marbled whites

and Essex skipper included.

August started well with a good hour of a couple of southern migrant hawkers being relatively cooperative in OK weather.

They were sadly not as cooperative for others, a few of who decided trampling into a pond was an acceptable way to get a photo/tick….enough to make me wonder about reporting them if they appear next year.

I went and photographed some willow emerald damselflies

Finally photographed a clouded yellow in the UK.

I found and photographed a hedgehog in my new house.

I had a couple of rather excellent fox encounters.

And some posing marsh frogs at Rainham Marshes.

September started very well with a red backed shrike appearing on a local reserve, my first ever shrike in the UK.

I went back a few times for that one!

I got some migrant hawker shots at Rainham Marshes.

Had another memorable fox encounter.

Started playing with white backgrounds and pond creatures.

I got a nice shot of a garden spider in fading light.

This Hawthorn shield bug was in my garden.

By October I was hard at work on my Forest School work, but I still managed to sneak out for the odd bit of photography.

My garden proved fruitful for insects. This squash bug for example.

and this Corizus hyoscyami plant bug

I found a number of dark bush crickets too.

I had a fungi foray in the New Forest where we found this beefsteak fungus.

November was full Forest School write up time so the only photograph worth mentioning was this sparrow.

December was a bit more productive, with my first aquarium photography for months getting some of my best water louse shots.

A long tailed tit photo.

And a shot of a buzzard.