Bedfordshire - Scarlet Tiger Moth

This yellow, black & white caterpillar was spotted in a Lavender Bush in the second week of May and I quickly took a photo with my pocket camera which turned out to be poor.  I went back the next day to take a better photo, but it had disappeared.  I failed to identify the species from the photo and forgot about it.

 

 

Then two days ago, to my surprise, I came across this beautiful Scarlet Tiger Moth sitting on the brick wall adjacent to the Lavender.  Checking photos of moths and their caterpillars on-line, I am pretty certain that the lost caterpillar became this wonderful moth.

 

Not wishing to disturb the moth, I did not get to properly photograph the bright red lower wings, a small flash can just be glimpsed in my photo.

Totternhoe Knolls, Bedfordshire - Barley Fields

Walk this afternoon around the fields near Totternhoe Knolls.

 

Photos of the ripening barley crop (I think it is barley!)

Modern Life

I am ok so long as I have my mobile....

 

Gallows Hill and Slapton Grand Union Canal - Birds

Yesterday Morning's walk.

 

Jay on Gallows Hill 

Common Tern over Slapton Grand Union Canal

Female Reed Bunting collecting grubs in Rape Seed field next to the canal.



Chiltern Hills - Pasque Flower

Photos of the beautiful and threatened Pasque Flower on the Chiltern escarpment taken last weekend.  I have been visiting this spot for a number of years and the plant appear to be holding its own.  These appeared to be the first blooms with a few other plants with buds pushing through the grass . In recent years the plants have been protected from the grazing animals sitting in wire cages.

 

From a photographer's point of view last weekend's visit was excellent as the flowers did not have the cages, but I wonder if they will survive in this area no larger than approximately 50 or so square yards.

 

Soap Films

Takes me back to the days of my youth when at Rock Concerts (and local bands at the local hall) light shows of inks soap and oil mixtures were projected onto the stage.

 

Recently I came across photographs of soap films that were far stronger and varied than the old light shows.  I thought I would give it a try, and these are my second attempt. A bit of trial and error and difficulty of finding depth of field as to get the colours to appear on the flat soap film, the camera has to be at a slight angle to the perpendicular from the soap film, not helped by the natural movement of the film that can be quite fast.  So slow shutter speeds are out, meaning that the aperture on the lens is quite open.  Lack of depth of field can be seen in most of these cropped shots.

 

Still I am quite pleased.  A bit different to my usual subjects.

 

A bubble that stayed as the film dies....

 

....finishing with a bird-like shape!

 

More to come when I have time to set it up again and they are good enough to publish.

Scotland - Faraid Point, Durness - Puffin Numbers 1974 and 2015

2015

I have been visiting Faraid Point many times from the early 1970's. Last year I took photos in June of Puffins on the only part of the coast here that I can find these wonderful birds nowadays. The density of birds was such that I never saw more than a few birds together, with probably about a dozen birds visiting burrows in my short stay....

 

 

....Offshore there was a raft of 10 birds in the sea waiting to fly in, trying to avoid marauding Greater Black Backed Gulls and Great Skuas.

 

My viewpoint.  The puffins are right on the green headland in the foreground, whilst some braver souls are a lot closer, having walked the knife edge ridge to gain their positon. 

 

1974

Just over 40 years earlier, I photographed these Puffins with a small 125mm telephoto on the grassy slopes that can be seen in the background of the photo above.  They were all over these slopes. What a loss in that time to the wildlife in an area that has not changed that much in the intervening years.

 

I wonder if it is too late for them to survive with global warming and over fishing affecting the supply of sand eels.  I hope not.

 

Post Script: September 2016 - Closer Puffin photos were obtained in June 2016, and posted here on 19th September 2016.

Scotland Scourie - Reflections in the Loch

Last June, on a dull but calm evening, I came across these wonderful reflections in the small Loch a' Bhadhaidh Daraich just outside Scourie.  So many bizarre patterns.

 

Finally some skeletons of dead fallen trees on the bank.



Scotland Drumbeg - Red Deer Stag

Whilst on photos of deer, I post a few photos taken of an accommodating Red Deer that was standing by the roadside just outside Drumbeg on the West Coast of Scotland in June this year

Ashridge: Fallow Deer on a Misty November Afternoon

A walk in Ashridge in the afternoon in November a few days ago when the morning mist had not cleared completely.

 

The main rut was over with only a few bucks with the beautiful full antlers.  However this less mature buck was on the edge of the herd of deer hoping for some luck.

 

An old hand in the thickening mist.

 

The beautiful autumn colours earlier....

 

.....becoming hidden and muted as the mist appeared and the sun went down.

 

The mature buck on his stand calling with his deep throaty growl.

 

A strange silhouette

 

The herd were beginning to disappear into the mist and darkening light as we left.  The photo is a bit grainy (as nearly all were due to the light levels)

Wet Shaking Dog

A dog shaking off the water a few weeks ago.

Woburn - Strange sky

These photos of strange and dramatic clouds in the sky over Woburn were taken over a period of 7 minutes one showery August evening in 2008. I am not sure if the clouds are true lenticular clouds, but they pretty much held their shape within the overall cloud formation over this time.

 

Initially the clouds were spotted as I entered Woburn Deer Park in the car.  They moved slowly away to the East....

 

.... I quickly drove through the park and found a good view of the sky over a field, now in sun with a small rainbow in the distance.

 

Nature never ceases to amaze me with its beauty.   The photographs hardly do it justice.