Archived & Upcoming Images of the Day
A particularly obliging Red Kite gave us top of wing, flight, and bottom of wing moments.
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A particularly obliging Red Kite gave us top of wing, flight, and bottom of wing moments.
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A particularly obliging Red Kite gave us top of wing, flight, and bottom of wing moments.
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We planted groups Snakes-head Fritillary at many places on our site soon after we arrived. Unfortunately the then plentiful Rabbits appreciated their culinary value - a fate of many of our initial plantings. This little patch seems to be the sole survivors in a patch that never gets any full sunlight. Normally only the white variety appears, but this year we have one of each type.
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Celandine arrived on the site without any help from us. This patch is a few metres south the house.
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Cherry and Blackthorn Blossom seems to be particularly delightful this year.
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Gusts of wind cause showers of petals from the blossom laden trees &
hedges.
In some places the effect is reminiscent of a light snowfall
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The Reeves' Muntjac Deer Fawn is growing apace, and beginning to lose the spots.
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The Reeves' Muntjac Deer Fawn is growing apace, and beginning to lose the spots.
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This Reeves' Muntjac Deer quietly arrives at the back of the pond. We keep still and watch her progressing along the north bank of the pond and then back into the woodland.
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The Reeves' Muntjac Deer Fawn visited this Meadow site twice in 25 minutes.
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Rook feathers are amazingly glossy.
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Gangway!
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Broadcasting - Rook Style
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Rooks take this cooperative nesting really seriously.
You only have to wait a few minutes before the non-sitting bird returns
to the nest, often with the gift of a beakful of something for the sitting
bird.
It would be easy to assign female and male roles here, but studying
moorhen on our main pond tells us that the roles are far from cut-and-
dried.
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We haven't previously noticed the subtle ring of close spaced 'bumps' in the ring around Wood Pigeon eyes.
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An apparently unblemished over-wintered Peacock Butterfly.
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Spring is an awkward time for some creatures - everything is starting but so far the only bulk of food is catkins. This Grey Squirrel has raided his buried cache for this black object - probably a conker.
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Just before dawn this Fox is fixating on a potential mouthful.
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The sheet of Corrugated Iron by the side of the path across the meadow gets really quite hot if the sun is out even on cool days. Butterflies love to warm themselves on it, as well as many other insects.
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A Peacock Butterfly warming themselves on the warm metal.
This one has had an encounter with a bird, judging by the beak shaped
notch out of the back of the right wing.
It takes far more damage than this to effect their ability to fly.
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This (we think female) Brimstone Butterfly landed on a desiccated leaf on the ground, and stayed long enough to grab a photo. Brimstone Butterflies seem tireless - seeming rarely to stopping in their search for a mate.
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The Bee-flies are about - a sure sign of Spring. They look dangerous, but are harmless to humans.
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A rather satisfying Magpie sequence.
The left two pics are half-a-second apart.
The right pair are also half-a-second apart, exactly 1 minute after the first pair.
The right two are accurately montaged.
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This years husband to the female Pheasants displays his magnificence at the hedge bottom.
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A female Pheasant visits the Meadow site.
The Meadow area could contain several Pheasant nests,
but having once trod on a nest many years ago we no longer
venture into this area during the breeding season.
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The Reeves' Muntjac Fawn seems to have boundless energy!
Mounds of farm waste on the other side of the hedge makes it look
like night, but it is actually still daylight.
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The Reeves' Muntjac Deer Fawn investigating the large hole in the Round Mound.
Don't fall in and get stuck! - The wild world is so full of hazards.
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No sign of Mum as the Reeves' Muntjac Deer Fawn paces by Round Pond.
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Shortly after midnight this Badger walks from the path behind this hedge to investigate the hedge bottom site.
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Our site doesn't contain any Badger Setts (well none that we know of), but we get a lot of Badger visits.
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The dominant Tit species at the moment is the Great Tit, here nicely poised on the edge of the hedge bottom stone.
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A rather poised male Blackbird.
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Rarely seen together, this pair of Blackbirds appeared about an hour apart at almost the same place. The plumage is always very different, but their sizes very similar.
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The tangle of mostly disused cables for the phone connection is becoming a regular perch for the hoard of Rooks nesting around us.
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The Mice have made a hole right in front of the log at the Meadow site. The Rook goes exploring, not for mice but for invertebrates and spilled corn.
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There are dozens of clumps of various types of Daffodils in sunny patches on our plot, This one is facing south just north of the Duck Pond.
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Many of the Birch trees have exploded with leaves with that unmistakable Spring Green.
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The only Laurel on our site is now many metres high, and has many clumps of flowers. This clump contains 3 florets in stages from closed buds to fully open flowers.
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A clump of Primrose flowers in a very sheltered patch at the rarely disturbed back of the garage.
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Catkins are a time of glut for many creatures.
This Blue Tit delicately samples pussy willow catkins.
Sorry about the quality into the glare of the sun.
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Grey Squirrel have no interest in table manners - bite off a twigful of buds and carry it down to a fork on the tree where, for us, the little devil disappeared.
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Arrival at the Duck Pond find this female Mallard duck who we suspect has a nest on this pond. We took the pic and left before we frightened her away - ducks are having a bad time with Bird Flu, and need all the help they can get.
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Robins now reliably appear has we circulate our plot. Here this Robin appears near the 'Meadow site' singing his little heart out.
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A couple of Red-legged partridges appears unexpectedly on the side of the Round Mound. They ground nest and can't be looking for a nest site here.
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Attracted to the blossom for a feed, this Peacock Butterfly worked systematically around the clusters of flowers. For an over-wintered individual this one is in remarkably good physical state and colour.
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This Comma Butterfly is perched on one of last years Thistle heads. Another over-wintered insect in remarkably good condition.
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This Red Kite had obviously found a large area of rising air, and was making 'lazy' (i.e. large diameter) circles in the sky above, quietly rising until lost in the haze.
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2 minutes after the Red Kite this Buzzard entered the arena making similar behaviour.
Here we see the bird flying against a pair of close spaced parallel contrails.
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It's unusual to see such parallel contrails made at the same time - air traffic control is
really rather good at not letting aircraft too close together.
But here we show an extended version of the montage with the two aircraft apparently
flying 'in tandem' across the whole sky at the same separation and speed.
We have to assume some sort of intentional formation flying.
This montage is a 'construction' but we have the camera originals on file.
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