Archived & Upcoming Images of the Day
We have had huge numbers of Speckled wood butterflies this year for what seems to have been the whole summer. First seen this year 4 June 2008 - about 14 weeks so far.
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Think this is a juvenile sparrowhawk doing a one-off pass.
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We 'see' far fewer Field voles than Fieldmice (Wood Mice) holding food in their paws to eat. Here is a nice example.
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Quite a lot of rainbows lately but this fragment seems interesting. In this intentionally rather dark image you can see streaking perpendicular to the bow, and that the traditional light inside/dark outside of a rainbow is 'lightening inside' rather than darkening outside from the way it cuts off.
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A Harvestman spider, first seen this year in the image for 19 Sep 2008, is this time seen mid-morning on buddleia leaves.
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A rather dynamically posed Magpie threatening we know not what.
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The fieldmice (wood mice) population has exploded over the summer, and the energetic and incautious youngsters are doing their customary acrobatics.
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Reminds us of the Olympic Steeplechase - with water splash and slug for a barrier.
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These fieldmice (wood mice) are not actually marooned Robinson Crusoe style as it looks - they can jump into their hole from the log.
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And down came the rain and out come the molluscs (slugs and snails). Here a couple of the latter.
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A robin at photo site 1 is constantly aggressive and seem to be willing to threaten anything - in this case a Dunnock out of crop to the right.
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An assortment of creatures including a Harvestman spider on the apple at the left, and a slug on the apple at the right. Oh - and a fieldmouse (wood mouse)!
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However hard we try, we can't avoid thinking that they are sharing a naughty joke.
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Most years we are pleased to see at least one young Green Woodpecker, but not usually at a photo site. Note the muddy beak - they feed mainly by probing soft ground for invertebrates.
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Note the ant on the piece of apple. Sets the scale nicely.
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We have at least 5 buzzards seen together a few times soaring in the thermals over and near our patch. You would think this was the middle of nowhere rather than a few miles outside Milton Keynes. One or two of them are particularly voluble as here flying directly overhead (guess 20m high).
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What is probably a pair of chaffinches were seen in a number of images at this site. Note how the blue sheen on the male's beak has now almost gone.
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We are now sure that the moorhen have raised 5 chicks to this stage. The juveniles can perfectly well feed themselves, but alternately get given titbits by the parents or half-heartedly chased off. We really don't know whether the parents are sitting on another brood, & don't want to disturb them to find out.
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The 2nd of two new raptor identifications over our patch 3 days later. This Hobby came over a few times in a few minutes, presumably circling round out of sight to the North and East. Spotted momentarily on the top of a concrete post supporting our mains cables the next day.
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The 1st of two new raptor identifications over our patch. We wouldn't have known what they were without the photos. On the 22nd August this Merlin did a single brief flyby.
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A single Swallow flew over jinking about obviously hunting insects. We nearly missed that in two consecutive images it was flying straight towards an insect visible in both frames. The next frame the insect had gone. Here is an impression of the event.
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A visitor spotted that our watermint was covered in these iridescent flies - Greenbottles according to our book
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Apparently our plethora of peacock butterflies is not typical this year. This one was basking on a mat of thistle seed down on the ground.
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The slug is elegant in its own way - we don't skimp on the size of our slugs! This is actually a montage to get a better view of the slug from two successive frames a couple of minutes apart, but the juxtaposition is accurate.
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As the grass re-grows in the field to North & East the Kestrels and Buzzards are taking an interest again. One that consistently calls in flight did a low flyby and a few circles.
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A new dragonfly this week - a male Southern Hawker. Quite a beauty and a strong flyer. Windy out, so no hope of photo in a natural setting, so took some indoors before letting him go.
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A ridiculously dew-drenched sunny morning about a week ago (images not processed until yesterday) provided this image of one of thousands of Great Willow Herb flowers.
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The swallows continue to delight, and this pair of consecutive images at the start of a session show you top and bottom of the bird.
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You don't often see the dark top when in flight.
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A chaffinch with head just in frame on the original was on the receiving end of this tirade.
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An adult male yellowhammer back to looking his best.
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