Archived & Upcoming Images of the Day
Caught in the Moth trap, but definitely NOT a moth was this Cockchafer, also known as a May Bug (and caught in 29 May!). First a view outdoors before it flew off.
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And here a view of it in flight providing a view from below. It was not a very cooperative flyer & this was the only one worth showing.
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Some other moths in the trap included 'Ermine' moths which have beautiful speckled wings. The first image is of the White Ermine.
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This is the Buff Ermine - a beautiful almost golden colour.
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The Moth trap caught its usual few hundred moths including a couple of these Poplar Hawk-moths. Hawk-moths are BIG - see the typical size oak leaf.
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Brimstone butterflies have been a delight this week, the male fluttering around the perched female and spiralling together into the sky
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The female hung about the garden for hours giving us the chance
to get this unusual sequence of her feeding from a late bluebell,
and then backing off from it. Note her rolling up her proboscis as she goes.
Sequence starts top left and goes clockwise.
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One of those unplanned moments - a nice robin sitting quietly on the wire not preening has a sudden itch just as the camera takes it's pic.
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The Raptors are suddenly back. We have seen both male and female kestrels in the sky at the same time, and hope this is because there are chicks to feed. This male was spending an inordinate amount of time hanging in the strong breeze (sometimes unusually high up) surveying the scene including giving the photographer some quizzical looks.
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The buzzards are also in evidence and flying quite low.
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A young Fox has suddenly appeared and on the first night of appearance visited all of the cameras. The next night the visit was to two cameras about 15m apart were he took his pic about 10 times. This is one of them.
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Honey bees are in short supply this year, so after we caught this on flag iris and brought it in for some photos, it went straight back out where it came from. Note the (yellow) pollen sack on the leg.
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Most blue damselflies here are the Azure species - a beautiful rich blue.
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The Bluetit box on our tallest black poplar gets a delivery like this every minute or two. What a supply of insects we must have!
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Away from the detail for a moment - a delightful Mackerel sky ...
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... arching over a field of Buttercups now we have decided to let the 'meadow' area run riot.
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The starlings that nested in the loft have fledged and are appearing round the house. We don't know what is going on here, but mostly they are being fed by parents or feeding themselves. The parent is on the left.
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Our second view of a young fox this year - the first was an hour earlier of it's backside only and may or may not be the same individual.
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Detail of the above - the whole animal kingdom seem to like the peanut butter this animal is licking off.
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We and this fox had a little 'who blinks first' encounter over the fence for a couple of minutes before it decided that to run-away was it's best option.
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Humans do this quizzical head turn as well. Does it change the visual processing for an 'alternate reality'. Does changing the ear positions help locate sounds (like owls have asymmetric ears).
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This first duckling family to grow up at our site spends time at all three main ponds. First at 'Round' pond.
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And here they spent most of the day alternately on the bank of the main pond and then feeding in it outside the kitchen window.
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A Red-Eyed damselfly with wonderful bronze and bright yellow-green body, and of course red eyes. This is a female not yet ready to breed.
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The Female Brimstone butterfly does not sport the vivid yellows of the male (click to view top) the male (click to view top) and (click to view bottom)
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This Broad Bodied Chaser Dragonfly obliged with just this one flight across the camera field
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We include this static shot taken later to show the wonderful powder blue abdomen (and it really is powdery and gets worn off with 'living'). The blue is a strictly male feature - the female is orange and not a powder.
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Loudmouth!
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This is a House Martin in flight, the least frequent of our three flycatchers which includes Swallows and Swifts.
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One of those moments that the patience of an automatic camera may capture for you. They are perhaps a foot off the ground.
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Mice apparently staring at slugs and snails is uncannily common.
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The Dragonflies and damselflies just starting to be seen. The Large Red Damselfly (size being a relative measure) was found in the long grass and photographic in flight. The underside is NOT red - most dragonflies are different underneath.
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Here the same species viewed more conventionally on a leaf.
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The female Scorpion fly doesn't have anything that suggests a scorpion. The face ends in a 'beak' pointing down and left here. The body is about 2 cm long.
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But this is the male with a harmless (its said - we are not going to try it out) 'scorpion' tail complete with gap between the 'pincers'
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This is a Hairy Dragonfly' - one of the earliest dragonflies of the season. This was brought to us for some technical photographs, after which we took this portrait. You can see the hairiness along the top and bottom of the body in the first image
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It was reluctant to fly indoors but we did manage this single image of it in flight.
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About a week later we had the opportunity to photograph a male and can't resist this close-up of the thorax where you can see the hairs in detail
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Although conditions were not ideal we were surprised to catch this moment when the two parents arrived together both with beaks full of food for the chicks. The bird starting on the left was dropping down and initially moving backward while the other whizzed in from the right. The one initially on the right veered off to avoid a collision. These successive frames taken at about 7 fps.
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In 20 years here this is the first known occurrence of a mallard duck breeding here and then not immediately being chased away by the moorhen. These ducklings have obviously been around for a good number of days and mum holds her own against the moorhen. We have seen the family at all 4 of our ponds, though this image was taken by one of the automatic cameras.
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A detail from the above image - one of the ducklings seems to have found something tasty but maybe a bit too big to swallow?
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Not just a few grubs, but a whole worm neatly folded in the beak ready to stuff into some lucky chick's craw!
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Wow - an orange tip actually stopped flying long enough to get a pic 'in the field'!
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... and who do you think you are staring at ...
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Windy day with trees blowing about had this great spotted woodpecker determinedly hanging on,
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