Time flies like Hoverflies
I’ve become inordinately attracted to Hoverflies. Should I be worried? This one is Eristalis pertinax. Apparently I should know that because of …
Feathered friends
There’s time to visit Stover Country park and see some wildlife today. I’m taking my dad along so he can experience one …
Azure Damselflies
Calling a Damselfly the ‘Azure Damselfly’ makes it sound much more exotic than if you called it the Blue Damselfly. There are, …
Skaters of ponds: threaten; repel; or mate.
Pond skaters are such common bugs. There must be millions of them. I’m leaning over the fence trying to focus on one …
When it’s summer and you still have the winter duvet on
I have a 13.5 Tog duvet on my bed. It’s June. Maybe I should change it. I think perhaps the same thoughts …
Spots and Burnets and Knapweeds
I’m walking in the fields next to the car park at Beachy Head. This really is life on the edge. With a …
Jackdaws and Skittles
There’s a Jackdaw on the cliffs at Beachy Head in East Sussex. It has its beak open and is panting in this …
Demanding money with menaces
If any species in the animal world is going to be found asking for cash to ‘look after’ your car then it …
Goat’s Beard
A Goat’s Beard seed-head is like a Dandelion clock on steroids. Tragopogon pratensis has long seeds and beautiful upside-down umbrella parachutes: Each …
Chrysis, what Chrysis?
There’s a smile on the side of this chalk hill at Beachy Head in East Sussex. The heat is intense and I …
The end of echelon parking
It’s the end of echelon parking. It says so on the sign. I’m glad they told me that. Goodbye echelon parking: it …
Almost unremittingly awful
For Day 19 of #30DaysWild I’m working inside all day and then have a six hour car drive across the country. It’s …
Perspective
Photography is all about perspective. Any subject can be rendered strange, unusual, unsettling, quirky or simply different by the slightest change in …
Southern Marsh Orchid
I’m in the South, standing in a Marsh and surrounded by Orchids. Could they be Southern Marsh Orchids, I wonder?
Never argue with a thistle…
…unless you’re a spider.
Simple pleasures
Life is a sequence of experiences. The ones I’ve treasured most have been ones that I’ve shared, with people, with family and …
Demoiselled if you do
Beautiful Demoiselles are beautiful by name and vicious killers by nature. I see a male clasping a fern, here on the side …
Field
An evening looking at the fields. It really is an adventure in red sandstone soil. A week ago there was little trace …
Oysters growing on trees
Wandering along the River Dart in Devon I see a dead tree brimming with fungi. They look like Pleurotus cornucopiae to me. …
Ferns, mosses and liverworts
It’s wet all along the River Dart in Devon. There are pool of stagnant water in channels where the River used to …
A walk around a blade of grass
It’s Day 13 of #30DaysWild, the scheme run by the Wildlife Trusts to get people to have wild experiences in June. I’ve …
When I see a Scorpion Fly
I’m admiring the Beautiful Demoiselles on the River Dart in Devon and I’ve spotted this strange insect on a fern in front …
Bullfinches and Verrucas
The sign says Bullfinch so my hopes are up. But there’s nothing. I’d love to get some decent shots but there are …
Shuteye
Cycling, photography, sunshine, white wine and pasta. And cats. Welcome to Italy.
Dunnock
The Dunnock is a beautiful bird, with the most subtle of plumage. They are classic skulking birds, rarely seen far from cover. …
Fly
The closer you look, the more there is to see. As a child I had a blue-handled magnifying glass with a pocket …
Pigeon in a fountain
Feral Pigeons often look such dirty and dishevelled birds. Not this one though. I suppose it helps that the Pigeon lives in …
Sticking your neck out…
When you decide to stick your neck out and finally say what you think: And then you think better of it and …
Four-Spotted Chaser
I always found dragonflies difficult to identify. However, a quick check on Wikipedia for the Four-Spotted Chaser Dragonfly tells me that “The …
Tree studies
By tree studies I don’t mean academic studies of arboriculture or forestry; I mean really looking at a tree; studying it. On …