Jackdaws at the cattle trough

I noticed jackdaws (Corvus monedula) were stealing food from a cattle trough in a field where a few highland cattle were grzing. I managed to park up the car and shoot a few images from the window but the birds became very wary and would fly in and try and grab food without landing. A great way to practise your flight photography! Here I used a 500mm to try and capture the action.

jackdaw (Corvus monedula)jackdaw (Corvus monedula)

 

Wildlife and landscape photography by Yorkshire nature photographer John Gardner. Jackdaws (Corvus monedula) in flight.

Add a comment...

Your email is never published or shared. Required fields are marked *

Green-winged Orchids

Another beautiful evening so I travelled over to a site near York to shoot some green-winged orchids (Anacamptis morio) growing on the flood plane of the River Derwent. Green-winged orchids are quite scarce and I’ve only ever photographed them once before at a site in Lincolnshire but that was back in the days of film so it was nice to get up to date with some high quality digital files. As always, I’ve opted for a low viewpoint, large focal length and wide aperture to get the nice out of focus backgrounds in an attempt to make the plant stand out. It’s always a trade-off between the soft backgrounds and how much plant is in focus as the image doesn’t work if not enough of the plant is sharp. In these two images you can clearly see the one on the right has more depth of field as the grasses in the background are starting to intrude a tad.

Green-winged orchids come in a variety of shades from pale pink to deep purple and on the pale pink flower pictured below, the ‘green wings’ are clearly visible on the flowers as wing-shaped hoods with prominent green lines above each flower.

Add a comment...

Your email is never published or shared. Required fields are marked *

Early Purple Orchids & Germander Speedwell

Tonight I went back to Brockadale with the 24mm f/2.8 PC-E lens to reshoot the cowslip image that I did a dew days ago but most of these little yellow flowers were beginning to go over so, I turned my attentions to other plants. As the sunlight began to fade I shot a few images of early purple orchid (Orchis mascula) but these are not yet at their peak but it was fun to get low and flat with a 300mm f/2.8 to shoot some shallow focused images in an attempt to make the flower stand out from the background. Its amazing how quick the sunlight begins to go and as I headed back to the car thinking the light had gone, I came across a large clump of germander speedwell (Veronica chamaedrys) who’s tallest tips were just catching the last rays of the sun. I use ‘tallest’ in the loosest sense as the flowers are only 2 or 3 centimetres tall! They are, however, very attractive with their tiny blue flowers carpeting the field edges in swathes of light blue. I used the 24mm shift lens to get in really close to the tiny plants, so close that the shadow of the lens will fall across the subject if care is not excercised!

early purple orchid (Orchis mascula)

 

Germander speedwell (Veronica chamaedrys) at sunset. Brockdale YWT nature reserve

Add a comment...

Your email is never published or shared. Required fields are marked *

Green Hairstreak

Last day of the school hols so, after dropping off some wedding work to a client, I went for a walk with the family around Hade Edge to see if the green hairstreaks were on the wing yet. I figured all this hot weather may have got them flying and I wasn’t wrong – although there were only a few on the wing, they were around if you stared hard enough! The green hairstreak is a tiny butterfly and lives on the billberry plants of the open moorland and Hade Edge is a regular haunt for them. Here’s a grab shot for now, will go back when I have more time and do them properly as we only had around 20 minutes with them due to another appointment later in the day.

Add a comment...

Your email is never published or shared. Required fields are marked *

Brimstones & Orange Tips

Met up with Ian at Askham Bog YWT reserve today to have a go at some butterflies. I visited this reserve yesterday but it was just so warm that the butterflies just kept on flying! Today however, was a bit cooler and we managed the target species of brimstone and orange tips both of which are at their best just now. The brimstone is a large very bright yellow butterfly so you just can’t mistake it around here for anything else, but at close range they are more than just yellow; the underwings are marked with delicate reddish pink spots and the wing shape is fabulous, very much resembling a leaf. Unless they perch in the open they are very hard to spot. The orange tips are having a whale of a time in all this hot spring sunshine – they are on the wing in early April through to early May and are really benefitting at the moment. I can’t remember seeing so many. The food plant of the orange tip is the delicate, pale pink meadow flower called cuckoo flower or ladies’ smock and these small white butterflies flit from flower to flower, the males being unmistakeable with their bright orange wing tips. The females, however, look like a small white at first glance but resting up they reveal a really well marked underwing of mossy green veins covering the wing.

Add a comment...

Your email is never published or shared. Required fields are marked *