June 2023 ~ Enjoying the smaller things

 I had a small blue butterfly called a Holy Blue in the garden and I managed to get a few images.  It landed on a Grape Hyacinth. I really liked the all blue theme of the image. It inspired me to get back into an area of photography where I first started.  To be honest in those days I could only really afford a macro lens as the large telephotos were out of my reach.

An Holy Blue in the garden

I loved the simplicity of the image and the dark out of focus background.

That was it I was hooked again!

It almost seems like a re-born hobby and I am really enjoying my renewed interest.

Wild flowers butterflies and Dragonflies all come into scope.

Marbled White on a Dandelion

White Tailed Bumblebee

Common Spotted Orchid

Four-Spotted Chaser

On my smallholding there were a lot of Skipper butterflies in flight and I settled down by a Common Centaury, a beautiful pink little flower, and waited for a few minutes.  Sure enough a Small Skipper landed on it.  It created this pleasing image of the flower and the butterfly.  I really like it.

Small Skipper on a Common Centaury

It has been so satisfy to re visit my roots in photography and re-kindle my interest in the smaller things.

There is still plenty of summer left too!

Keep enjoying nature everyone.

March 2023 ~ Images from "The Land rover Safari"

 I have an old Land rover which I use to get around on my Small Holding at Winchcombe in Gloucestershire.  It is so useful and also comes in handy these days to support my other hobby which is wildlife photography.  It is amazing how wildlife does not see vehicles as a threat. If I am lucky I can turn the engine off and they just carry on with their every day business.  This gives me some great opportunities to capture some images.

The Land rover hide from the inside

The Roe Deer have got particularly used to it.  I always try to drive away without disturbing them, and this is always a good investment for the next time.

Roe Deer doe

Muntjac doe

Raptors are very much more timid and you definitely need the camouflage over the window to get anywhere near them.

Common Buzzard

Common Buzzard feeding

The Land rover has done so much work over the years and has also seen a few adventures along the way.  It is such a great companion.

Winchcombe floods 2007

Spring is around the corner, always a great time for us wildlife people.

Keep getting out there!

February 2023 The local Barn Owls are the stars!

It has been a fairly quiet winter birding wise. So it is really great to have some local Barn Owls. They seem quite consistent lately and appear at approximately three thirty in the afternoon and some times there has been up to 5 on the wing. They are one of my favourite birds and who could not be impressed when they are quartering a field in the hunt for field voles.

In the Golden Hour with its eye on something

This one came for a close fly by, allowing me to grab a quick image.

In Close for a fly by

I kept very still as the Owl came along a wall hoping that it would land on the wall and felt really lucky as it alighted.  I had to move really slowly and deliberately as it would have obviously taken off.

It was really exciting to lock the auto-focus on the bird and capture the images below.  That was really adrenalin filled to be so close to this beautiful wild creature.

Wow so close

The next image was one of my very favourites as the wall colours match the bird, and it places it in the environment of the Cotswold Hills.  It looks so intense as it peers into the grass and listens out for any movement.

On a typical Dry Stone in the Cotswold Hills

These are such amazing birds and they will certainly keep me occupied until the spring gets here and we get the summer migrants.

Who does not love Barn Owls I ask myself!

January 2023 What a success ~ Red Kites every where

 What a success story the Red Kites are.  Around my local Town of Winchcombe in Gloucestershire they are the most common raptor to be seen.  A day never goes by when you do not spot them from the town or circling above it.  It has not always been this way.  In my younger days they were very rare indeed.  There were just a few pairs hanging on in mid Wales.  I was really excited when I first saw one in a valley in a remote part of  Mid-Wales.  I remember panicking as there were cars behind me and I could not find anywhere to stop the car. Some great conservation projects: feeding stations, and re-introductions and here we are now. I for one love to see them and also here there distinct calls as they circle around.

Calling 

On an old Oak bow

I love this image.  It is all about the knarled old branch.

There is always plenty of interaction to watch

Occasionally they come to the ground and allow closer views.

Coming into land

Back in history they were strictly protected and were welcomed as they cleaned up the streets of London of any carrion.

Cleaning up scraps

What a beautiful bird.  They have left me with one problem though.  Is there a name for compulsive addictive Red Kite photography.  I am sure I am suffering with it.

Perhaps one day I will get used to them and not aim the camera at them.

But no not in this life time!

 

December 2022 The beautiful Kemerton Lake Nature Reserve

 A really special and beautiful place is Kemerton Nature Reserve.  I love this reserve. I have spent many a morning or afternoon there and it always provides something really interesting to observe. The walk to it is also very enjoyable, through the Kissing Gate and into a fantastic woodland with well-maintained rides.

The hides overlook the lake on both sides, so you can choose the lighting direction for photography.

A female Kestrel

As you come out of the wood there is an open space and there is quite often a Kestrel hovering looking out for some prey.

A Coot taking a bath

Coots and Little Grebes are quite common, and they also get quite close to the hides which they have got quite used to.

Little Grebe or "Dab Chick"

This one has caught a Dragonfly

The Little Grebes are a great photo opportunity and can been seen with all sorts of prey.

It was amazing to see Dragonfly's Ovipositing in late November.  What a mild year this has been.

Towards the end of November!

The real star of the show are the Kingfishers that use the perches specially provided near to the hides.

A male Kingfisher on the perch provided.

At one stage it was quite frustrating as you see the Kingfisher fishing from the perch, but the reeds were in the way.  One of my friends asked if they could trim them back a little bit.  The reserve Team duly obliged.  What a place, and thanks so much for the team that performed this operation. 

One lunch time I was watching a late staying Hobby catching Dragonfly's over the lake.  It then landed in one of the trees and allowed me to capture some stunning images.

What a beauty

So thanks to the team that maintain this special reserve and make it such a spectacular place.

My reserve of the year in 2022

June 2022 A few days at RSPB Bempton Cliffs

 We stayed at Scarborough and had a few sessions at RSPB Bempton Cliffs.  It really is a magical reserve and there are plenty of species that you are guaranteed to see during the nesting season.  It is also a great place to practice your birds in flight photography.

I hope I get to see this fellow

I saw this poster on the way down to the cliffs.  It is actually life size what an amazing bird and I heard it had returned in the last few days.  My appetite was realty wetted!

What a wingspan 7 to 8 feet

Everyone loves Puffins and that includes me.  There are plenty around and I was quiet pleased with this image.  I thing the white flowers really set it off. It is almost as if someone has been arranging the set to allow people to get satisfying images.

A beautiful Puffin in full breeding plumage

What an amazing bill and they have such doleful eyes.

On the cliff face there are a number of regular species and these include Guillemot's, 

Guillemot

Kittiwake

Razorbill

I particularly love the call of the Kittiwakes they are such a cliff top bird and love the marine environment.

Gannet

The Gannets were circulating around constantly and coming around just above the Cliffs.  They were relatively an easy target for the camera as they were flying and hovering right next to the cliff.  Quite a mesmerising sight I could just watch them for hours.

Another bird I love is the Fulmar.  It circles around on stiff wings.  It does remind me of a small Albatross.

Fulmar

No sign of the Albatross on the first day, but it was a really enjoyable morning.  Along the path back to the centre there was a very confiding and showy Tree Sparrow.  As they birds are virtually extinct in my own county of Gloucestershire I could not walk past without grabbing a few images.

Tree Sparrow

This bird has now become quite rare in the UK

That was a very enjoyable morning.

The next afternoon we had seen most of Scarborough and made a late decision to re-visit Bempton in the afternoon.

We travelled light and I had my camera settings ready for birds in flight and just a bean bag.

There were people with scopes saying they could just make out the Albatross far out at sea.

Someone shouted there he is down under the cliffs and it was areal panic to get the bird in focus.

It only appeared for a very short time.  I was so chuffed to capture a few images.

Black Browed Albatross

I don't normally count myself as a twitcher, but we had planned the holiday months ago.  When you think that this bird is one of only perhaps two in the Northern Hemisphere and it had been absent from Bempton for six months before we arrived.  I count myself as very lucky.

One bird doesn't make a summer.

Well perhaps this one does!

 

June 2022 After a holiday, back to my own patch, and some British Wildlife

 A holiday in Majorca was brilliant but it is always great to get back to my own patch and some native wildlife.  The breeding season is well underway.  A pair of Nuthatches are very busy feeding their young.

Nuthatch finding plenty of insects

I love this nest site, and managed to capture images of them earlier in the year building up the entrance hole with dried mud.

There are plenty of farmland birds around with Linnets and Whitethroats back on their territories.

Female Linnet

Whitethroat

There are plenty of mammals around to see.  My favourite and back on patch on Langley Hill are the brown hares.  They are so welcome after an absence for many years.  

Brown Hares

The most regular sight are the Roe Deer.  I can almost guarantee to see them.  I am quite disappointed if they don't appear.

A buck in the mowing grass

Doe feeding on Oak leaves

They are great to see, I always enjoy them.  We spent many years with them absent.  The does should have fawns by now but I haven't managed to see any this year.

A lot more difficult to see are the foxes.  They are so much more shy than their urban cousins.

Fox in the summer buttercups

I love the meadow grassland in this image.  So natural looking.

It's really great to be back on patch and catching up with  my local wildlife.

Have a great summer all.