Archived & Upcoming Images of the Day
A pristine young Rabbit.
How twee can you get?
.jpg)
A female Blackbird decorating, or being decorated by, Buttercups and Clover.
.jpg)
Young birds are being fed by their parents all over the site, mostly hidden from us inside bushes and tree. But here a couple of juvenile Great Tits are being introduced to the delights of the peanut feeder by an attentive parent of the right. This idyll was interrupted by the arrival of a Grey Squirrel.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
Hares assume incredible positions when running, rear legs often well in front of the forelegs.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
This Hare has reached full speed so even alternate frames are well separated at 7fps, but not quite well enough separated to include every frame
(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
This corner of the crop viewed over the farm road from over own east hedge saw this Hare ambling over the weed-killed margin. At the time neither of us noticed the Rabbit leaping away in the background.
(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
Not 'improved' by the ugly back of the curbing, this hare ran across the grass. After the start this is every third frame at about 7fps.
(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
As we come through the blocked gate we have several times disturbed a Hare in the middle of the open grass area. Forewarned on this occasion the camera was ready to catch this 'escape' run and the leap up onto the concrete road and away.
(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
This Hare didn't seem bothered by our presence even at Noon. It quietly turned round and seemed to 'Nod off'. We left it in peace.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
A White Flag Iris in soft lighting that lets you see the structure. We see the white variety only along a hedge at a west side - never at the edge of the main pond where the Yellow form is rampant.
.jpg)
In a bright sunshine this double White Iris flower looks wonderful but is quite hard to see the structure in the harsh lighting.
 beetles(r+mb id@768).jpg)
A little clump of beautiful wild rose flowers. The perfume greets you from yards away.
.jpg)
'Our' Muntjac Deer is not really a 'Fawn' any longer - the spotted body has become the lovely brown and is often spotted feeding on its own.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
Walking down our concrete access track we spotted, but were apparently not spotted by, this male Muntjac Deer, with just stubs of the antlers, wandering quietly down the dew soaked margin between crop and the outside of our northern hedge, before quietly entering our patch though an access way we cut though the pig net years ago. This was at 05:40 a.m. (about 45 minutes after sunrise)
 at north hedge @ sunrise 01+02+04+10 of 10 (acc montage)(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
Almost an hour after sunrise we watched the unhurried progress of this female Pheasant making her way into our patch via an access way cut through the pig net.
(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
On the Kitchen window bird table it was hard not to laugh at the antics of this Grey Squirrel appearing to be 'chasing a flea' - actually probably just 2 minutes of exuberant grooming we have since seen on other bird tables.
(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
This young Rabbits position seems unexpectedly familiar.
A Movie publicity still? Images from a Peter Rabbit book?
.jpg)
An immature male Beautiful Demoiselle (common name of the species) Damselfly. One of a few moving around the site to find the warmest patch.
.jpg)
Next day a female Beautiful Demoiselle Damselfly arrived. Compared to the male note the lighter coloured wings, a more golden tail end (not very obvious through the golden wing here) and the different sexual organs at the tail tip
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
Harlequin Ladybirds are here to stay - we might as well start enjoying them!
.jpg)
Harlequin Ladybirds are extremely variable - here the female is covered in large dark spots and the male with no spots at all! But THEY obviously know that they are the same species!
.jpg)
In last weeks 'Springwatch' we were amazed to see the film-makers reduced to using an infra-red camera drone to even find a Hare. We had no idea we were so lucky to see them even intermittently while out walking near the start of the day.
(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
This Hare was quietly leaving the corn crop, the rear legs well forward of the front legs and not even put on the ground yet.
(r+mb id@576).jpg)
This montage is very stretched along the line of the walk. Hares look so awkward when ambling about, but the gait clearly works for them.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
A 'frequent flier' is the White Ermine Moth, here echoing the colours of an Oxeye Daisy flower. This is a concoction of 3 separate flights
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
The striking Cinnabar Moth makes a great splash of colour.
The only other UK insect we know of with these colours (but
different pattern) are the Burnet Moth family.
(r+mb id@576).jpg)
This is a Poplar Hawk Moth - a really impressive size insect.
The oranges patches don't appear in ID books - you only see them in flight.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
After photographing this moth in flight he seemed a bit reluctant to go. Here on a hand you get a sense of scale.
.jpg)
An Angle Shades moth making 2 flights.
 + red campion (montage)(r+mb id@768).jpg)
Our first record this moth - a Small Waved Umber with a really 'burnt line' appearance along the wings.
 in flight + curled dock leaf tip (montage)(r+mb id@576).jpg)
Another first for us, this time the Scorched Wing Moth.
We couldn't get it to fly for the camera, so here is our initial 'ID' pic.
 (crop on box)(r+mb id@576).jpg)
3 views (from dozens) of a male Green Woodpecker clambering up the side of the meadow post and then moving around on the top.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
A really uncomfortable looking Fox with fur drenched by either rain or wet foliage.
.jpg)
Mother Muntjac Deer searches for some tasty morsel to supplement the endless grass. There is a good view of the left front hoof whose imprints get made in soft earth all over the site
.jpg)
Well after Sunset we were lucky to spot the Muntjac Deer Fawn and his mum foraging about at the edge of the main pond. The Fawn now appears to be fully weaned. Here is a montage of the Fawn quietly stepping through the long grass.
(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
And here the endearing mother and Fawn together image. The Fawn happily pushed through the stinging nettles and mother actually appeared to eat some.
.jpg)
A Hare's quiet lollop down the concrete road is watched by the female Pheasant as well as us. There are typically 3 or 4 images between each we show here. The whole sequence available on request
(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
A closer view of a section of 3 images of the Hare from the longer montage.
(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
The Hare stopped for a moment - watching us watching him.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
A male Brimstone Butterfly stops on a Forget-me-not flower for a feed. The Proboscis is beginning to unwind and looks very like the 'hair spring' in a 'clockwork' watch - the only sort of watch there was for the first 30 years of our existence.
(r+mb id@576).jpg)
We have a particular liking for Allium flowers - globes of tiny flowers with a pleasing symmetry. The Honey-Bees like them as well.
.jpg)
The wild Roses are starting to appear - you smell them before you see them. This flower bud is opening
(r+mb id@576).jpg)
The wild Roses are starting to appear - you smell them before you see them.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
Our first definite sighting this year of a Hobby on 21 May 2017
This dragonfly predator only appears just before we can hope to see our first
Odonata (Dragonfly family).
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
5 days after our first sighting of a Hobby the first Damselfly makes it's entrance - at least 4 of them fluttering delightfully in some sunshine at various places over our patch. They can not be breeding here because they require running water, but they must be breeding fairly close by to see immatures.
(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
This Beautiful Demoiselle Damselfly viewed from the rear looks worthy of the presence on 'Pandora' (the world of James Cameron's movie 'Avatar' if you didn't see it).
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
A second brood of Blue Tits is underway in the hole in the wall over the boiler (USA furnace) room. On one morning (20 May) a seemingly never ending stream of caterpillars were being delivered to the just audible screeching youngsters inside the wall.
.jpg)
Here this Blue Tit stopped off for few second on the outside corner of the wall, gave us a suspicious look, and then carried on into the hidden nest hole with a caterpillar for one of the youngsters.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
The Blue Tit parents frequently stopped for a moment on the TV Aerial before flying straight into the nest hole.
.jpg)
This Blue Tit made it straight into the (hidden) nest hole in the wall without a pause.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
The female Blackbird was really enjoying a bath in the fresh rainwater collected in this huge pot-plant saucer. Her head is twisted to her right so the beak points upwards to the left.
(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
In the drizzling rain mostly now stopped by the leaf canopy this Sparrowhawk is not looking his best, but we can see the bedraggled bird really well.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
One tends to think of Hawks & Owls as 'big' birds (an illusion generated by TV and film-makers always showing the most impressively large varieties), but here, compared to a Magpie at the same scale, you get a true size comparison.
(r+mb id@576).jpg)
A normally elegant & magnificent pair of pheasants reduced to 2 bedraggled bundles of feathers. Poor things. Life outdoors has some major disadvantages!
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
Juvenile Rook (right) undoubtedly waiting for the adult to present it with some food.
.jpg)
MORE!!!!!!
The juvenile Rook showing us his ever-empty gape.
.jpg)
Meanwhile at what is likely to be a now empty nest, this Rook repeatedly visited to tug furiously at twigs within it, working some free and then flying off with the booty to add to 'his' own.
.jpg){kind=spacer}
Here a Buzzard had reached a good height and spent the potential energy thus
gained on a high speed dive. At about 7fps (0.142sec gaps) against wispy cloud
we could accurately montage part of the flight, and knowing the birds typical
length could work out it's speed at about 34 Miles per Hour (mph).
Buzzard length = 20 inches = 97 pixels
Gap between birds = 424 pixels = 87 inches
87 inches / 0.142 sec = 609 inches/sec = 51 ft/sec = 34 mph
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
Brimstone Butterflies seem to have been on-the-wing for weeks. Here one is enjoying a Green Alkanet Flower.
.jpg)
This pretty Clouded Silver Moth was flying along a path in the middle of the afternoon, landing in a patch of Cherry hedge where it stayed long enough to photograph it.
.jpg)
We last saw a Clouded Silver moth in May 2010 in a Moth-trap catch, so it must be on the wing both day and night (ID books don't state either way). The one in-flight image from 2010 was only moderately good and we didn't 'publish' it at the time, but now with a good reference image it is worth including because it shows how the antennae are tucked underneath the body in the moths resting position (as widely shown in ID book & WWW images) but are forward in flight.
 in flight (crop)(r+mb id@432).jpg)
Outside the living room window we repeated saw Wren(s) collecting desiccated leaves from within the hedge and flying off left with them.
(r+mb id@576).jpg)
Outside the living room window we repeated saw Wren(s) collecting desiccated leaves from within the hedge and flying off left with them. A little investigation led to the nest right outside the kitchen window about 10 metres to the left of this image, only a few centimetres from the top of the hedge but completely invisible from the top.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
A short pause in it's nest-building efforts allowed this little portrait of a Wren that on our PC screen is nearly twice life size.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
A Wet and beautiful male Mallard Duck (properly known as a Drake).
We always think it is a shame that by the Human summer holiday
season the males have moulted into eclipse, and visitors to a
'local pond' don't get to see this glorious show.
.jpg)
A female Mallard Duck leads the way - the male dutifully follows.
(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
This male Brimstone butterfly was finding nectar at various flower, here at a White Dead-nettle - a naturally sting free variety. At this scale it not obvious, but the camouflage is remarkably good - the 'veins' on the insect blend wonderfully with those on the leaf. The butterfly's proboscis is gently bent through over a right angle to disappear into the flower.
 flower (crop)(r+mb id@768).jpg)
This Cranefly would have been very difficult to spot if we had not seen it land. The real surprise came later at the PC when we saw the bright blue eyes which we show in a 3 times scale insert. You might think it would be easy to ID but we have failed, all our books only showing the most common species and the WWW not actually naming the species.
 with bright blue eyes on lodgepole pine (crop with enlarged eyes insert)(r+mb id@576).jpg)
We are rather fond of our Lodgepole Pine trees, but you really have to be careful at this time of year not to brush past the developing cones and getting a huge lungful of their pollen. Here a slight tap produces a huge cloud.
(r+mb id@1024).jpg)