Halloween at Ashridge

A strange object in the sky just before dark?

A Halloween Ghoul?
My first attempt at trying to photograph a bat. Plenty of room for improvement!

Hummingbird Hawk-Moths, England and France

Yesterday I photographed this migrant Hummingbird Hawk-Moth feeding on nectar on these Petunias in a hanging basket. A sign of how mild it has been recently that this wonderful day flying moth is still about.

Earlier in September I was able to photograph the same species in a garden in Southern France.

Bucks chasing Doe at Ashridge

This weekend in the diminishing light of dusk a pair of Fallow Deer Bucks have singled out this Doe and are chasing her....

...can she get away?....
...more trouble...
...But the sight of the large stationary buck she has run towards stops one buck dead in his tracks.
I suspect it was a not a deliberate ploy on the doe's part. She continued running and circled round to join the group of does she had been broken out of, leaving all three rutting bucks frustrated.

Ashridge Fallow Deer Rut

The Fallow Deer Rut has been going on for 4 weeks and is now in full swing with at least a dozen bucks in the ancient deer field at Ashridge.

10 days ago, a Buck with a fine set of Palmate antlers in a hurry.
He already appears to have some battle damage on his flank.

He reaches a small group of does with two bucks in attendance.
This weekend the stags were still rutting hard. Activity increases towards dusk. This buck is having words with a young year old male deer with the begining of antlers called a prickett and also trying to keep his does in check.

Patience and hard work pay off with a buck mounting a doe just before dusk.
The other does are keeping their options open by sitting around!

Hill Ridges in Shadow, France

An evening in France last September, with the hills caught in the sun

River Ceze, near Besseges, France

September by the River Ceze - A calm hot afternoon

A Wall butterfly resting on a leaf in the dappled sunlit woods at the river's edge

A fisherman catching minnows for bait for the trout later that evening
A frog watching it all from the water's edge

French Butterfly Reflection

Seeing double

and single reflections

Insects of Le Defile de L'Argensol, Languedoc-Roussilon, France

Back to the Southern France visit in September. A gorge between steep limestone valley sides and cliffs. In this dry season clear water pools remained with trickles of water disappearing into the dry stony riverbed.

Hidden on the dry river bed was a camouflaged butterfly...
...and amongst the vegetation was a praying Mantis...

...Returning to the dry riverbed we picked up a delicately marked grasshopper that would have been well camouflaged sitting next to the butterfly above.

The Rut at Ashridge

The 2011 rut had just started in Ashridge by the first weekend in October. Unfortunately the bucks throaty groaning and other rutting behaviour did not start until the light had gone and all photographs taken were poor.

However, this second October weekend, the bucks were already exhibiting full rutting behaviour when we arrived mid-afternoon, including parallel running developing into the classic palmate antler to palmate antler challenges.

Despite the dull weather and the distance to the deer I did manage a couple of photographs. This buck was on the edge of the main rutting area.
The main rutting area with 2 stags, sorry Fallow deer males are Bucks, calling. At least 7 bucks were in the surrounding area, all trying to attract the females.

I hope to take some photographs of the full range of behaviour by the time the rut ends towards the end of the month.

Garden Spiders Bedfordshire

The unseasonal 'Indian Summer' has continued into October with hot days and clear blue skies. The sun shining on this spider's web caught my eye.

And gave me the opportunity to get in really close. This species of Orb Web Spider has thick hair spikes on its legs (I assume it is hair)