Minsmere RSPB - Swallow Preening

More from Minsmere RSPB last week.

 

This Swallow allowed me to get remarkably close whilst it preened its feathers on a reserve signpost.  Harsh sunlight with hard shadows, this was a photographic challenge.

 

What a delightful bird, even though it didn't know the way to the Public Hide!

Minsmere RSPB - The World's Bravest Bird?

On a glorious sunny day spent at Minsmere RSPB Reserve on Thursday, I was walking along the top of the sand dunes when I spotted a Ringed Plover standing on a ridge of shingle some distance off ....

 

....suddenly the bird flew straight at a passing adult Herring Gull, chasing (I can hardly call it mobbing as it was a single Plover) the large gull for a couple of hundred yards away from the area of beach where it was sitting....

 

....The plover (in fact there was a pair) returned to its guard post on the beach before....

 

....driving off a juvenile gull (Black Headed Gull?) a few minutes later.

 

After searching the beach for 20 minutes or so, I eventually spotted the cause of the plover's concern, two recently hatched plover chicks about 40 yards away....

 

...There may have been other chicks, brilliantly camouflaged against the multi coloured beach, but these were the only two I saw, and only really visible when they moved around looking for insects, the parents only having guarding duties.

These photos were taken over a period of three quarters of an hour, at a distance in order to not disturb the adults from their duties, hence not quite as sharp as I would have ideally wanted.

 

What bravery by the adults plovers (length 18 to 20 cms long) against these strong marauding gulls (Herring Gull 55 to 67 cms long), many times their size and weight.  I had to leave this ongoing drama to visit other parts of the reserve, hoping that the young chicks survived.

Bedfordshire - Garden Insects

This afternoon in my central town garden.

 

A worn Holly Blue...

 

Mating Ladybirds (Orange Harlequin?)

A Solitary Bee



 

A wasp(?) on a Buttercup

Whipsnade Zoo - Bactrian Camel Calf

Photos of a Bactrian Camel Calf in April.

 

Photoshop of calf to bring out the head lost in the fur of the adults.

 

Peeking out from behind an adult.

Rushmere Country Park - Flying Squirrel

Walking in Rushmere Country Park yesterday, I noticed a Grey Squirrel in the tree above me about to make a leap from one tree to the next.  Quickly focussing on the mammal I managed to catch these dramatic shots of it flying across the abyss.  As I had no time to set up my camera for a shot of a black silhouette against a relatively bright sky I had photoshop fill in the shadows for me, so a bit grainy photos.

 

 

This image almost gives the impression that the fully stretched squirrel has an flap of skin between its legs, mimicking the Flying Squirrels of the rain forest.

 Just catching its target branches, the squirrel lands safely, even though it looked a bit heart stopping in these stopped images.

 

Earlier I was amazed at the colours of another squirrels tail.

Whipsnade Zoo - Animals

A few photos from my visit to this Zoo at Easter.

 

The 'moment' rather than the quality as I erroneously had too slow a shutter speed.

 

A very old turkey?

 

A rude European Bison.

 

Follow my leader.

 

Lunch

Rammamere Heath - Mystery Bird confirmed

In the early 1990s at dusk I heard and saw a Nightjar flying over Rammamere Heath, adjacent to Rushmere Country Park in SW Bedfordshire. I have a particular love of Nightjars stretching back to when I first encountered them at Dunwich Heath in Suffolk and in particular when I was volunteering for a week at the RSPB reserve at Arne, Dorset in the late 1990s.  Here I took part in dusk walks mapping the Nightjar's territories (I seem to remember 4 or 5 separate birds flying, 'churirng' away with the flash of the male's white wingbar if you were close enough). Over the years I have been back to Rammamore Heath a few times, but no repeat performance. A couple of evenings ago when we had a mainly clear sky, I thought I would retrace my steps and see if I was in luck. Whilst I stood on the edge of the heath enjoying the view as darkness fell, I was out of luck (perhaps a bit too windy?). I heard 2 cuckoos calling, but sadly no 'churring' of a Nightjar. Incidentally, at Rushmere Country Park, they are trying to encourage Nightjars by opening up some of the woodland in a closed area to keep the public away.  So far, I understand that they have drawn a blank.

 

On my way up to the heath, I spotted this black silhouette of a bird against the darkening evening sky from about 80 yards away, taking this photo before it flew off.

 

Later at home I used Photoshop to reveal the bird, confirming my suspicion that the bird was indeed a Green Woodpecker.



 

 

Ashridge Forest - Bluebell Woods

Over the years I have taken photos in Ashridge Forest at this time of year of the magnificent displays of Bluebells.  Despite having a vast number of photos on file, I cannot resist trying to get a better or different photo of this seasonal spectacle.

 

Avoiding the relatively well known Dockey Wood (part of the Ashridge Forest) that is easily accessed by the public and crawls with people, a selection of this years photos...

 

...including the dog oblivious to the display.

Rushmere Country Park - Common Birds & Insects

Following on from my last post of insects phoographed at Rushmere Country Park.  Whilst I could hear plenty of birdsong on my walk (including Chiffchaff, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Green Woodpecker and Blackcap), I only had fleeting views and no photographs.  But I did see some common birds who were not hiding amongst the bright spring leaves.

 

A Woodpigeon lands on a log for a drink....

 

....whilst a Carrion Crow landed 20 yards away in last year's bracken, showing its black feathers shining in the light...

 

...and a couple of brightly coloured Mallard drakes shining in the sun, swam across the reflection of the spring foliage.



 

I managed a slightly obscured photo of a male Orange Tip Butterfly, always difficult to get as they fly through the glades in search of a female resting on a plant).  Still, it is my best photo of the male to date....



 

....and a photo of a hoverfly that allowed me to take a fairly sharp image of its head....

...and finally a carving of a water beetle on a post at the dipping pond used by children to explore the wonderful aquatic world. 



Rushmere Country Park - Spring Insects

A walk in the sun around Rushmere Country Park, near Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire this morning with my macro lens.

 

A Green Veined White feeding....

 

.....A beetle, possibly a weevil (misplaced my insect guide)....



....A Bug.....



 

....An Ant on a new fern frond....



....small flies on a daisy (with a very small beetle just off flower at right, not noticed at the time)



Wildfowl and their Chicks

Grey Lag Goose and Goslings at Wilstone Reservoir this week feeding on the grass at the reservoir edge....

 

....Whilst last year a mother Mallard looks after her duckling on the canal at Old Linslade.

Pitstone Hill - May Birds

Other birds photographed on Pitstone Hill before sighting the Red Kites in the previous blog.

 

Skylark

Corn Bunting



Yellowhammer