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Image-of-the-Day by Subject

Image Taken on 22 Jun 2008 at 10:23    Image of day on 08 Jul 2008

The shimmering back of a swallow flying over a meadow of uncut grasses & buttercups.


Ref: 20080708_dc1_20080622_1023_115 swallow over uncut meadow (web crop)(r+mb id@576).jpg

Image Taken on 18 Aug 2009 at 09:50    Image of day on 27 Sep 2009

Continuing from yesterdays night flying moth, first a subtle brown moth called the 'Swallow Prominent'.


Ref: 20090927_da1_20090818_0950_195+1033_287_ft1 swallow prominent moth male in flight with rough hawks-beard flower (montage)(r+mb id@576).jpg

Image Taken on 17 Aug 2008 at 11:51    Image of day on 03 Sep 2008

You don't often see the dark top when in flight.


Ref: 20080903_dc1_20080817_1151_002 swallow swooping down from wire showing top view (web crop)(r+mb id@576).jpg

Image of day on 24 Aug 2005

Another instance of swallows taking insects off trees (see 18 Aug 2005) but this time landing on a Hawthorn tree and picking them off.


Ref: 20050824_d60_05023 swallow taking insects from hawthorn seq 2 of 4 2005aug20_14-39-52(r+mb id@576).jpg

Image Taken on 03 Sep 2010 at 12:12    Image of day on 20 Oct 2010

This bird decided not to wait and went chasing after the parent.


Ref: 20101020_df1_20100903_1212_010 juvenile swallow taking off from apple tree twig 3 of 4 (crop)(r+mb id@768).jpg

Image Taken on 30 Jul 2009 at 15:01    Image of day on 18 Sep 2009

Most years one or more families of swallows spend a day or two using out overhead wires as a family 'picnic' area. Today a swallow taking off from the main wire at 20 frames per second (0.05 Sec between pics montaged for effect rather than spacial accuracy).


Ref: 20090918_cf1_20090730_1501_244-249 swallow taking off from wire at 20fps 2-7 of 9 (montage)(r+mb id@1024).jpg

Image Taken on 31 May 2011 at 13:20    Image of day on 30 Jun 2011

A new behaviour in Swifts for us. We are used to larger birds spilling air to lose height, but this swift seemed to be doing the same. With about 1 second of action here this bird tumbled chaotically down and then regained control. The positions are as accurate as we can determine from the cloud moving through the panning camera frame.


Ref: 20110630_df1_20110531_1320_745-751 swallow tumbling to lose height (about 7fps) 1-7 of 9 (accurate montage)(r+mb id@768).jpg

Image of day on 27 Aug 2005

Often swallows take off en-masse for no reason we can discern. Sometimes most of them come back quite quickly, sometimes most go feeding, and sometimes they just 'go'.


Ref: 20050827_d60_05255 mass launch of swallows from wires seq 1 of 2 (crop) 2005aug21_14-28-50(r+mb id@576).jpg

Image of day on 26 Jun 2005

A dozen swallows including adults and fledglings spent an hour in the evening light swooping over the trees and ponds collecting insects.


Ref: 20050626_d60_03302 3 swallows in flight 2005jun22_18-39-36 (cropped)(r+mb id@576).jpg

Image of day on 12 Jul 2005

A couple of scruffy swallow youngsters with mother having a rest on the right.


Ref: 20050712_d60_03551 3 swallows on wire (2nd wire removed) 2005jun28_16-37-32(r+mb id@576).jpg

Image of day on 14 Jun 2005

Swallows parents catch insects and feed their young while in flight. This montage shows a feeding sequence in 6 images (viewed top left to right, then bottom left to right) which took about 2 seconds in real time.


Ref: 20050614_d60_03034-03039 swallows transferring food in flight montage 2005jun08_12-27-08(r+mb id@576).jpg

Image of day on 16 Jun 2005

This distant shot shows two Swallows twisting around one another producing beautiful shapes.


Ref: 20050616_d60_03197 2 swallows twisting around each other 2005jun08_17-39-16(r+mb id@576).jpg

Image Taken on 06 Nov 2010 at 10:25    Image of day on 05 Jan 2011

Similar for a more regular visitor.


Ref: 20110105_df1_20101106_1025_124 wagtail on roof ridge about to swallow insect(r+mb id@768).jpg

Image Taken on 17 Jan 2010 at 12:30    Image of day on 28 Feb 2010

Just one day of sunshine in the week brought out a wagtail to hunt for insects on the roof.
Here the insect before it is caught is just below the foot of the second bird from the right. The frame rate was about 5 fps.
In omitted frames 8 & 9 the bird has already landed but by frame 10 it has raised it's tail so that it didn't obscure frame 7.


Ref: 20100228_db1_20100117_1230_126-131+134 white (q) wagtail taking insect from slates to swallow on roof ridge 02-07+10 of 11 (montage)(r+mb id@1024).jpg

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