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David @ the HALL of EINAR, Page 65

Holly - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Mining Holly leaves

Out in the woods I’m surrounded by the familiar shape of Holly bushes, Ilex aquifolium. It’s also a familiar feeling as the …

Long-Tailed Tit - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Long-Tailed Bushtits

It’s raining and the weather is dull. It’s not great light for photography, but it is great light for observation. These Long-Tailed …

Dacrymyces déliquescents - Dunster - the Hall fo Einar - photograph (c ) David Bailey (not the)

What a difference a lens makes

Forty years ago I kept detailed nature notebooks. I wrote down everything I saw and identified with enthusiasm, including the smallest of …

Coal Tit - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

A Coal Tit record breaker

Coal Tits are record breakers. Not for their size, their distribution or their number of eggs. It’s because a pair of Coal …

Chaffinch - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Chaffinch

This female Chaffinch is in bright sunshine against a sky like a painting: This male has wonderful bright colours. He’s in full …

Violet Oil Beetle - Bridford Wood - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Violet Oil Beetles

In Dunsford Wood there are glades and clearings full of wild daffodils. As I meander around them, stepping on Ramsons and sniffing …

Hoopoe - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Oop oop, Oop oop, Oop oop

It’s a noise like no other. I know it isn’t a pigeon or a dove. It’s a loud insistent “Oop oop.” I …

Mandarin Duck - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Mandarin

There’s a male Mandarin Duck, Aix galericulata, steaming towards me over the lake: It’s hard to imagine the evolutionary pressures which have …

Robin - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Robin Orange-Breast

Robins don’t have red breasts; they are orange, surely? Maybe they are called red because it’s alliterative with Robin. Maybe they’re called …

Great Spotted Woodpecker - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Great Spotted Woodpecker

There’s a Great Spotted Woodpecker in the tree in front of me. It knows I’m here because it’s keeping to the other …

Blue Tits

Blue Tits weren’t always called Blue Tits. They were once called Titmice or Titmouse. The mice or mouse in their name doesn’t …

Kestrel - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Seaton Wetlands

Sunshine; warmth; the feel of spring in the air. It’s a while since I’ve felt that; and that’s also true for wildlife. …

Serpula himantiodes - the Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Dry rot’s wild cousin

I’ve owned a house which had dry rot. It’s not something I’d wish on anyone. Having the fungus, Serpula lacrymans, creeping through …

Groatie Buckies - The Hall of Einar

Groatie Buckies

On the table in the Groatie Buckies cafe on Westray, run by Stewart and Marian Groat, is a jar of Groatie Buckies. …

Goosander - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

A solitary Goosander on the canal

Goosanders are such wonderful birds. They have amazing sawtooth bills to grip slippery fish underwater. I can see the solitary individual still …

Treecreeper - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Knowledge is over-rated

There’s a Treecreeper, Certhia familiaris, on the tree in front of me: That’s very exciting. I creep a little closer to the …

Bridford Woods - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

King Alfred’s burnt his cakes

There’s a seriously weird fungus growing on this fallen tree trunk. It looks the shape of bubbles, as if it’s been forced …

Primrose - the Hall fo Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Spring and the Prime Rose

We’re walking along the gushing river in Dunster in Somerset. It was snowing last week. This week the English Primroses are in …

Bridford Woods - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Cherries growing on Oak trees

There are Cherry Galls, Cynips quercusfolii, on the fallen Oak leaves here in Bridford Wood. They are the tree’s defensive reaction to …

Mute Swan - Stover - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Mute

I never get bored of Mute Swans, Cygnus olor: There’s something about their size, their poise and their steady pace that enthrals …

A Bloody-Nosed Beetle on the march

If ever a beetle gave the impression of being a wind-up clockwork toy, it’s the Bloody-Nosed Beetle, Timarcha tenebricosa. Today they are …

Stock Dove - Stover - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Stock Dove

There’s a pigeon above me. I think it’s a Wood Pigeon but it looks far too small and scrawny. It’s silhouetted in …

Grey Squirrel - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Fresh bedding

This Squirrel has a message to all dog owners at my local country park. It’s a polite request to keep dogs on …

Graphis scripts - Bridford Wood - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

The secret writing on a lichen

In Bridford Wood there’s a tree. On the tree is an unusual lichen; it’s called Graphis scripta, the Secret Writing Lichen. It’s …