Archived & Upcoming Images of the Day
This Tawny Owl was landing on the perch of our peanut feeder, and we are sure it wasn't after the peanuts!
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The same night, 3 hours earlier, a different one-off image of a different Tawny Owl on our meadow post. Note the different colouration of the facial disc.
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For once a Pair of chaffinches in the same single frame.
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Who turned up the colour? Nobody!
We hope the potential mates for this Yellowhammer
think he is as wonderful as we do.
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We don't see the Mistle Thrush very often, so this second sighting at a more open than normal photo-site is welcome.
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Blossom looks lovely from a distance, but for photographs we prefer to capture the intricacy of just a twig.
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Those of you living in cities probably rarely get a view of the
opposite sides of the horizon good enough to see that full moon
only occurs when the sun and moon are on opposite sides of the sky.
First to view to the East for the rising moon ...
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Those of you living in cities probably rarely get a view of the
opposite sides of the horizon good enough to see that full moon
only occurs when the sun and moon are on opposite sides of the sky.
Turning round 1 minute later a view to the West of the setting sun.
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This Skylark was starting his ascent, singing his little heart out.
This is an accurate montage at about 4fps (so this is less than a second).
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A Skylark ascending, but with no points of reference we can't get the spacing accurate. But the bird is gorgeous!
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"Look - no wings"
This male Chaffinch gives us a look at his normally hidden green back
as we catch a 'bounding' moment in his flight.
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A Tawny owl visited the Tree stump for the first time since November 2013. We don't know how long it stayed but 26 minutes later we have vague image of a Tawny owl on a distant post though the nighttime fog.
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Weeks ago we were surprised at discovering we see at least 2 different Barn Owls.
Well we are now sure we also see at least 2 different Tawny Owls as well!
Here they are over the same night with all the same camera settings -
very obviously different browns, and with different facial disc patterns.
(We have checked the left side of the bird on the left in another more
messy image, and its not a left/right difference).
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We are seeing quite a lot of 7-spot Ladybirds (and so far very
few Harlequins). We rather like this portrayal on the top of a
Hazel catkin along with 2 of the tiny red (female) flowers. The
ladybird is visible speckled with the air-dispersed pollen.
We have used flash here to make the shaded insect visible.
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Whose been sticking their beak into the hazel catkins then? Note the yellow ring of pollen around the base of the beak.
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This attempt to get 'Plane and Moon' in the same image got photobombed by a Great Tit wanting to get in on the action!
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Isn't the sky amazing - little more than an hour after the photobomb against blue, the sunset produced this glorious sight.
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One pair of Skylarks spent a minute or two fluttering round each
other over the hedge. It was all so quick and random we can't
find a suitable montage to express it, so here is a moment of the
birds facing each other.
The 'adjusted' aspect was 'raising' the hedge a bit to provide some context.
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This Skylark started it's ascent only 10 metres or so away. We caught 22 images of varying quality & chose three to make a nice impression of the moment, rather than any accuracy.
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A few Bumble Bees were warming themselves in the sunshine on some lichen covered Willow trunk behind the Duck-shaped pond. We think this is a Buff-Tailed Bumble Bee
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We are glad to see at least a few Honey Bees enjoying the first blossoms.
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From a few Owl visits this week we thought it would be interesting to show a direct comparison of a Tawny Owl (left) and Barn Owl (right) at the same scale & exposures. The different leg positions seem to be characteristic of the two species.
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Genuine unusual single shot (modified images and montages say so in the labels).
Better a shouting match than claws or beaks?
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Surprise - 2 male pheasants in the breeding season not fighting. Their colours are closely similar and we wonder whether they are siblings who tolerate one another.
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Even more of a surprise - they may be going round together. This (the new) site is about 40 metres from the woodland site. Taken only 15 minutes after the previous. Note how the frost from the open sky here is completely suppressed by even a little canopy at the woodland site.
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A single 11 minute visit from the barn owl (with the right leg ring). In the middle image the bird is on its left leg - the same bird was standing on its right leg a week or so ago. Are Owls or birds in general are left or right legged? We could spend hours researching this one!
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The sun is finally high enough for this clump of Snowdrops to receive the morning sunshine.
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A previously shady spot behind an apple tree now has enough sunshine for some comparatively late flowering snowdrops.
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The Cherry blossom has started - a welcome sign of good things to come.
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The Cherry blossom has started - a welcome sign of good things to come.
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This Jackdaw, first to arrive at the fresh arrival of food, is spoilt for choice. Enjoy the wonderful details of the feathers underneath the wing.
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3 images taken from 2 separate visits.
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The female Muntjac Deer has been visiting site 2 regularly ...
& still with her apple fixation!
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On an overcast day these two Collared Doves spent a minute or two 'playing' at the top of our concrete electricity supply pole, frequently brushing their wings delicately over one another.
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Just before dawn we saw this unusual juxtaposition of the crescent moon and Venus (the 'Morning Star') with centres less than 1 degree apart. The moon's diameter always appears as about half a degree.
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As male Chaffinches come into breeding condition their beaks develop a blue overlay. Just look at that blue on this beak - we haven't 'wound up' the colour. We are sure the girls will like it.
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A Barn Owl visited our post in the meadow 3 nights running
The first visit was from the Barn Owl with a ring on its right leg.
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A Barn Owl visited our post in the meadow 3 nights running
The next night we saw the Un-ringed Barn Owl which seemed to doze off just before
flying away after some 15 minutes.
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A Barn Owl visited our post in the meadow 3 nights running
The final night saw the Ringed Barn Owl appear again, but it only
stayed for 3 minutes.
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An unusual position for the female Muntjac Deer makes for a compact composition
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The days are lengthening but the nights are getting colder. This Grey Squirrel is Undoubtedly collecting fresh bedding for the Dray.
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The lengthening days seem to have emboldened the Grey Squirrels
This one goes for 'our' pair of rooks who look much more likely to defend than flee.
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The lengthening days seem to have emboldened the Grey Squirrels
Here one does a headlong charge at our dominant male pheasant who
doesn't seem to be reacting at all - yet. These timid birds seem to be a
match for squirrels - a female was at the site a few minutes later
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The lengthening days seem to have emboldened the Grey Squirrels
If they don't have other species to challenge they romp among themselves.
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A little fun (but no fool) for April Fools day.
The oversized and over bright animal in the air looks like it was
heading for the camera, but we didn't notice any disturbance next
day. We sometimes find camera covers askew or the IR sensors
knocked out of line and assume that it was squirrels (or badgers
if we are seeing them)
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