Archived & Upcoming Images of the Day
Mid afternoon, in a rough grass field adjacent to our plot, two young foxes foraged and frolicked 50m away from us for half an hour.
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Young fieldmice (wood mice) spent an hour or so at the site. How many individuals there are we can't say. Here are two of the sweeties.
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Another inexplicable happening in the Fieldmouse (Wood Mouse) world.
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A young robin proudly showing off his one red feather.
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A 4 frame animation of an adult swallow delivering beakful of insects to a youngster waiting on our mains wires. The whole sequence took less than 0.5secs in real time - no wonder it all seem over in a moment. (1) Parent approaching (2) Delivery (3) Departure (4) Chick demands more NOW but that was all. Some of the feed hanging out of it's beak.
Almost midnight a fox calls in the dark.
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Mmm - make your own caption!
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The intricacy of the dragonfly head is amazing. Reflections from the multi-segment eye produces the gleaming patch.
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A pair of Damselflies mating on a lily frond. See image for 17 Aug 2007 for Dragonflies in similar position.
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You know the saying about fleas have little fleas ... This newly emerged Brimstone butterfly feeding on nectar didn't take any notice of the fly that had perched on it
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Facing into and moderate wind this Female Kestrel (the 'Motorway bird') hovered and eventually dived onto prey over an adjacent hay meadow. Once loaded the sequence runs about 5 times slower than life (a bit over 1 second of real time) - what an athlete.
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Another entry for Miss Mouse-World 2007?
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This a mid-sized pair of dragonflies in the 'wheel' position in which they mate. The male is the red insect on the top clasping the female by the neck. They can actually fly coupled like this.
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Fox with a sense of a dramatic entrance steps through the fence.
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We haven't photographed a female kestrel since 1999 so this takeoff is a nice addition. For a male kestrel look in the archive for 28 Feb 2007 (killing a mouse) and 9 May 2007 (hovering).
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Never managed to catch so many robins together in one image (even if the end chick is out of focus). Another successful family.
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This Hawker dragonfly (about 10cm wingspan) landed in a sunny hedge in front of us. To see an image in flight look in the archive for 20 Sep 2006.
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Lots of Robin families this year. Here the chick is begging before the parent has even touched the ground.
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Foxes are making many appearances, here nuzzling a cherry frozen from last year.
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Peanut chippings are a favourite with just about everything.
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The moorhen are nest-building and getting 'In the Mood for Love'.
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New species for us. Found on agricultural fleece and moved to adjacent bush which could have been hawthorn if we had identified it at the time.
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The insect top right must be in front of the young robin or it would be out of focus (like MOST are) so the bird is jumping to catch it.
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Here is yesterday's Wren having a dust bath as a 14 frame animation shown at about one third natural speed. Note the flying sand in frames 2 and 12, and the apparent extasy in frame 10.
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Views of Wrens are usually very fleeting, but this bird spent a couple of minutes bathing in the sand and dust by a hydrant. Tomorrow an animation of a few second of his joy.
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Fault corrected late today - updated ready for tomorrow.
Fault at Demon prevented any update for this day. Will slide them all along when restored.
Taken one evening and next morning (both in sufficient darkness for the flash to swamp the natural light) this is a montage of a robin who obviously has a preferred landing style at the site.
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Looks to us like 'she' is posing for Victorian period pin-up with 'her' head turned for best effect and tail draped elegantly as a dress train.
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Eyes focussed and ears pricked, this fox is probably hunting worms which we often see crawling over the site.
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The pair of moorhen on the main pond are raising 6 chicks with the help of 2 juveniles. This looks like an evening visit to 'get a break from the kids'.
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