Had a great day with the camera today photographing cuckoo again (much better than last time), followed by some woodland bird photography. The young male sparrowhawk at the drinking pool was a buzz to shoot as were the siskins and woodpeckers, but for me the dashing, crimson fronted redpoll males in full breeding plumage were...
Back at Brockadale today between showers looking for insects and flowers. I’m enjoying doing the macro work again, it’s been a while since I have done any and it’s always amazing to see familiar insects in high detail. I wasn’t as successful as I’d hoped to be today but starting top left and going clockwise,...
I went back to Brockadale today looking for more wildflowers and came across one of the locally scarce stinking hellebore pants. Although well past its flowering period, it was easily recognisable but the amazing thing was that it was totally covered in brightly coloured shield bugs! I have identified these as sloe bug (also known...
The overcast light this morning seemed perfect for a trip to photograph early purple orchids at Brockadale YWT reserve. I figured they would be just about in bloom now and I was right. The whole of the limestone grassland was covered in a sea of purple and yellow, the yellow being cowslips which are just...
The cuckoo is a familiar herald of the British spring time with its loud resonant voice echoing over the woods and fields but in recent years, numbers of this enigmatic bird are in decline. While still numerous in some areas, in many others it is disappearing or has gone from the landscape. Today I was...
