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…
DetailsIt 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…
DetailsAs 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…
DetailsThanks to a friend of mine (Daniel Bridge) telling me how, I recently discovered that one of my water spider photos was being used on a blog despite it being copyrighted and a couple of my fox photos on a Creationist Wiki! I mentioned this on Twitter and some folk asked how I did it,…
DetailsA few photos of common lizards I took a couple of a juvenile months ago.
On a quick walk this morning, the first one with sun for a while, I spotted this mallard on a pond.
I rather liked the reflection.
Another nice surprise was a few redpolls, something I had never seen in the park.
