Archived & Upcoming Images of the Day
A sudden eruption of self-set Orange Hawkweed (commonly called Fox-and-Cubs) has lit up a strip near the front of the house. Here the gradually increasing number of Bees is visiting one.
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We have come to think of our Oxeye Daisies as having limited value as a food source, so were pleasantly surprised to see that Holly Blue Butterfly actively feeding on a flower head.
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The Holly Blue Butterfly flew up into the adjacent Oak tree to sun itself, surprisingly well camouflaged - we saw it land and still had trouble finding it.
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A Green Woodpecker youngster chose the side of the meadow post to await Mum and Dad's deliveries of food.
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Finally the Green Woodpecker got tired of waiting (or maybe was called by a parent we couldn't hear though double glazing) and flew off. To enjoy a better view of the bird we have contracted the montage - we have an accurate timed and spaced montage if you ask for it.
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We usually see a 'few' Bullfinches a year. Here this male chooses the hedge outside the Living room window for a brief perch.
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"An interesting mix for breakfast".
A scattering of 'Bird seed mix' provides this Robin with an
unusually exciting selection for breakfast.
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Father Great Spotted Woodpecker searching an Ash tree for food for his every-hungry youngster(s).
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We are sure that birds have to be careful using those sharp claws to preen the bits the beak can't reach. As this juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker is waiting for Dad to bring in some food you can see fragments of dislodged down drifting away to the right.
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An impression of a 5 minute Tawny owl visit to the meadow post.
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The Red-headed Cardinal Beetle is a quite startling insect even though only about 1.5cm long. It wasn't keen on the photographer's approach and was opening the wing cases to release the wings even as this frame was taken. The never-to-be-answered question is 'where did it go?'.
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Our first flush of Wild Roses are always white petalled. The scent is incredibly strong even metres away from a few flowers.
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A week after the initial flourish of white wild rose, we get the more conventional pink flowers with much less perfume - even a whole bush with 100 flowers produces less perfume than a handful of white flowers in the hedge. The Honey Bee is making the most of the pollen.
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Our early Beautiful Demoiselle Damselfly is apparently the first report this year in Buckinghamshire. An unusual feature of this species in the white speck near the top tip of all 4 wings. Here they are nicely lined up to make a bright patch as the sun catches them.
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A Beautiful Demoiselle Damselfly sunning himself on a nettle leaf.
No chance of getting stung when you have an exo-skeleton!
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Bluetits from the nearest nest box make a visit every minute or two until the peanut butter (saltless variety) has gone.
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Bluetits from the nearest nest box make a visit every minute or two until the peanut butter (saltless variety) has gone.
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A full grown fox with a just wonderfully dark brown coat.
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We have started seeing Fieldmice (Wood Mice) more regularly again at this site, and couldn't resist this little montage over 2 days, all photographed after midnight.
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A male Brimstone Butterfly sips a late lunch from a Red Campion flower.
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A rather faded Peacock Butterfly (that will have overwintered) nevertheless makes a beautiful splash of colour with the delicate blue of Green Alkanet flowers.
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In the conservatory we saw this bee (upper left) get caught in one spiders web, escape, but a minute later falling into a similar trap where the spider rushes out to secure the catch. In the process the Bee manages to remove a leg of the spider. Apparently the legs will re-grow at the next spider moult - spiders sometimes self-amputate legs to escape and this may well be what happened here, although in the end the spider 'won'.
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Red Kites here don't seem to be any more welcomed by Corvids than the Buzzards. We saw this one flying in from the distance and vanished into some trees near the horizon. A minute or two later it emerged from the trees carrying what looks like twig and being hotly pursued by a pair of Carrion Crows for several hundred metres in our general direction. Here is about half a second of action.
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A pair of Azure damselflies mating on a Hop Sedge leaf at the duck shaped pond. The male is blue. Odonata mating is interesting and worth looking up on the WWW.
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Our first sighting of a Demoiselle Damselfly this year was this immature male 'Beautiful'. Seen a few days later at the more usual north boundary hedge.
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Guarding his shadow seen through the leaf, this pristine Beautiful Demoiselle Damselfly looks down at us from a high leaf.
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For a day we were privileged to watch a pair of Wrens hunting in the hedge outside the living room window and taking the food to a couple of fledglings we could see and probably others out of view.
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A youngster waiting impatiently for his turn.
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A parent Wren flying between branches inside the hedge in their hurry to find food for the youngsters.
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Most of the feeds took place in positions impossible to photograph or so deep in the hedge there was 'no' light. But this chick obligingly begged in the top of then hedge and Mum or Dad came along with a little green 'bug' to cram into the ever-open maw.
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An elegant landing by an unexpectedly pristine female Chaffinch
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We normally see a Blackcap only a handful of times a year. This is the male in a bush by the main pond.
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One visit from the Tawny owl this week and that a single frame of a landing, not that the image isn't rather fun.
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Two male Blackbird having a 'Ding-dong' at - wait for it - 04:30 a.m. Never too early for a good squabble with the neighbours!
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A Fox cub is hunting out in the meadow grass.
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Fox cub on the hunt well into the night as you can see from the fully opened Irises.
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This fox cub appears 'immune' to camera noise and flash - this is the same individual just 3 minutes later, more interested in the food than disturbed by the camera.
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We don't know how many Fox cubs pad through our plot, but several appearances indicate that this one is tolerant of the camera clicks and flash. The endless rain has washed a lot of the May blossom from the Hawthorn hedges and trees to carpet some areas with the white petals. This little cuddly bundle (NOT) has picked up a few on the paw it is raising over the stone shows us.
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A Skylark doing a sort of 'mini-Lark Ascending' reaches a few metres above the
hedge he launched from before diving back. The misty weather might have led him
to conclude he should stay in the hedge. He didn't sing through this
minor excursion.
The image spacing greatly reduced so you can see the bird
properly!
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A scrum of small birds were rolling up to feed at the just re-stocked post top.
Genuine single frame.
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The two Robin images on then right side are accurately positioned about150mS apart.
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In the evening sunshine we sat on a bench facing the meadow pole top and watched/photographed the comings and going as the small birds beat the more nervous Corvids to a stream of peanut butter smeared goodies. This Bluetit managed to kick off more than he took away. The uneven spacing is real - the acceleration must be huge!
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A male Chaffinch making a near vertical lift-off.
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The Oak tree has been full of Bluetits and Great Tits clambering all over the canopy looking for food. Here this Bluetit has found something somewhat too large so grips it with left claws (our right) to bite off a piece. The final frame (bottom right) the remains have been picked up from the claw and the bird flew off almost immediately.
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A Bluetit skimming over the sodden grass and buttercups. The bright colours suggest that this is a male.
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In a sunlit evening patch along our access track, this male Brimstone Butterfly collects nectar from one of many Ground Ivy Flowers ...
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A male Orange-tip butterfly just suns himself on some sunshine catching fresh Blackberry leaves.
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A 10 metres stretch of 'Green Alkanet' (which has Blue flowers!) attracts more bees than any other single feature. But bee numbers so far have been terrible - this one of about 10 Bumble Bees feeding - we couldn't see a single Honey Bee on the blooms. The same goes for the Oil-seed rape crop (now at last starting to relent it's endless yellow domination) where all we see is a handful of white butterflies.
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On our 240V electrical feed this male Blackbird is filling the air with his song as the afternoon rain finally cleared.
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Several days with no sign of the sun and endless rain and drizzle doesn't seem to have been enjoyed any more by the wildlife than by us. This drenched Blackbird had arrived too early for the hoped for offering.
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"No, I haven't just had a bath - it's raining and the 'children' are still demanding food!"
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This Tawny owl visit shows the remarkable blue tinge on the eyelids as the bird lands. We have examined the colour carefully in the camera original and it is quite definitely blue - not an illusion created by grey surrounded by brown!
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We often hear that Swifts spend their entire lives in flight expect when
breeding, and even then have to choose high places where they can
'drop down' from to gain flight speed.
We understand that a Swift on the ground can not take off without help.
We had never really thought about what constant flight means, but
it must include still having to maintain your feathers. Here over
about 2 seconds the bird twists to access one of it's flight
feathers, and drops a good distance in the process.
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Magnolia bushes planted some 25 year now make an untidy but exuberant show of flowers.
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There is a rabbit burrow entered from under the lower slab, and the Fox
at the top seems to be waiting hopefully for a incautious Rabbit to appear.
15 minutes later we are surprised to see a Fox 'Cub' in a similar position.
90 minutes later, as the day gets lighter, a baby Rabbit ventures out - now
in comparative safety.
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The hedges seem to be having wonderful Hawthorn blossom this year.
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The hedges seem to be having wonderful Hawthorn blossom this year.
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Hawthorn Trees are also smothered with snowy blossom, but we really only see our own Hawthorn tree blossom from outside our patch as shown here. We walk UNDER these trees within our own patch and really can't appreciate the effect.
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A Kestrel male in a partial hover against the wind.
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