Blog
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Garden Feeder
April 19, 2020
I only very rarely photograph birds at the feeders in the garden. We actually have quite a few; five at the count today covering quite a range of foods. The feeders are there to support the bird-life in the garden. I note not wildlife because we discourage the grey squirrels…
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A fallen crab apple tree in bloom
April 12, 2020
In the winter of 2018-19 a crab apple tree at the edge of ‘my’ (strictly speaking, not mine but you know what I mean) woods became a victim of a winter storm and was almost completely snapped near the base of the trunk. Last year it did break into leaf…
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First Bluebell of Spring on Good Friday
April 10, 2020
While out for a (COVID 19 rationed) daily constitutional at my local woods early this morning I caught sight of my first bluebell of the year. It wasn’t there yesterday morning today it is; what a difference a day can make. Bluebells are always a welcome sign and really makes…
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Super ‘Pink’ Moon
April 7, 2020
The clouds cleared tonight and I got a good view on the Super ‘Pink’ Moon. There is always something spectacular to photograph out there even if its a quarter of a million odd miles away from the garden and we are otherwise unable to potter about taking snaps. Keep safe…
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Locked down or free to roam?
March 15, 2020
The world has entered a strange place with COVID 19 / Corona Virus having taken a hold and closing off meetings / events / travel in a bid to contain or delay the spread of this unpleasant bug. I and my colleagues are now officially mainly working at home in…
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Murmers of the new year in Avalon
December 30, 2019
December 30th 2019 and we are knocking on the door at the end of the decade with this last post of the year
The weather forecast yesterday suggested that, with a bit of luck, we might get a quiet day with the sun making an appearance. By no means certain…
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Leopards don’t exist
November 26, 2019
Notwithstanding the wildlife films you see on TV (it’s all made up yah know), I’ve come to the empirical conclusion that Leopards are mythical beasts and are not of this world. They inhabit a parallel but intersecting universe to ours. Occasionally, very occasionally, they can materialise in our time and…
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Contrast
November 17, 2019
Two very different photos from today that rather summed up the quality of light at this time of year. On one side of the large pond the light was reflecting off the open water and backlighting the subjects and on the other, everything was in strong shade with just a…
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Autumn Appears
November 2, 2019
Work and other commitments pile up and you suddenly realise you haven’t had or found time to get out and take some pics or even add anything to the blog (I’m still sitting on a pile of photos to publish from out summer hols). As a result, it’s now well…
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In search of fresh pastures
August 14, 2019
The ‘big excuse’, if we really needed one, for returning to the Maasi Mara was intrigue of the annual wildebeest migration in East Africa. This is often touted as one ‘great wildlife spectacles’ and I was happy to go along with this view. Well we went, saw, experienced and concluded…
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Under African Skies - Again
July 28, 2019
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We have just arrived back from a trip to Kenya’s Maasi Mara area. So here is a little taster with he promise of more to come in the next few weeks.
This photo of a cheetah was taken at sunrise just after it had decided that it’s preliminary chase of…
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A touch of summer
June 23, 2019
It’s late June but it’s been a cold and wet summer month so far and I’ve been away working for most of it. Yesterday, just after midsummer’s day I found a warm sunny day and popped out to a local wetland / heath area (yes, a bit of a contradiction…
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A few from today: Some of our larger water birds
June 1, 2019
I thought I’d just pop up some of todays photos taken while on one of my regular dog walks. All of these were taken at our large pond at the wildlife reserve. Nothing particularly rare but it’s always good to see out two resident herons (Grey Heron and Common Egret)…
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Slow Worm - First of the Year
May 5, 2019
It’s the 5th May and today was the first time this year that I’ve seen a slow worm. We had a warm period in March but things have been cooler since and the last few days have been quite cold again. This one was trying to warm up and wasn’t…
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Long Tailed Tit - Visualised and Realised
April 29, 2019
I’ve posted here a few times about Long Tailed Tits and my attempts to photograph them. They are tiny birds (body about 6cm max with a 9cm tail) that have fascinating behaviours like congregating and raising young in family groups. They also build the most elaborate and beautiful little nests…
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Brace and a half for Easter
April 20, 2019
Its Easter Saturday and its been a glorious day so we decided to visit Wakehurst Place in West Sussex. Wakehurst is the ‘country home’ of the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew. It’s a site of some biodiversity importance globally because it hosts the Millenium Seedbank; a repository of some 2…
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Long Tailed Tit
April 19, 2019
Long Tailed Tits feature here from time to time. I’m rather fond of these little birds. We see them through the year in small family flocks in the autumn and winter in the garden and local woods and then as pairs in the breeding season and summer though they can…
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Early Lichen
March 18, 2019
At this time of year the light and the season can play tricks. Driving down woodland bordered motorways oner the weekend I thought we could see the first blush of buds bursting in the trees and a green flush spreading across the trees. Indeed some trees like the hawthorn and…
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Rejuvenation
March 2, 2019
I was walking around the perimeter of the wild meadows that border the heathland near where I live when something caught my attention. It was a dreary day and heavily overcast. However, there in the middle of the field of rough uncut grass, now laid flat after the winter, there…
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Squirrel Middens
February 26, 2019
Here something of a leftover; twice over. First, I’d forgotten about these images because they were on my phone. They come from our trip to Canada last year but these were taken in the Rockies on a hiking trail near Jasper rather than on the West coast. Second, they are…
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Hare today…
February 24, 2019
It has taken me a long time to find hares in my part of the country. I knew they were, or should be, here but they are nowhere near as common as they once were. Indeed, there seems to be a new danger for them, a form of myxomatosis that…
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Invisible Snipe
December 29, 2018
A post Christmas outing to the WWT (Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust) centre at Arundel today just t blow the cobwebs away. It was a very grey day; we have a high pressure system sitting over the UK at present so its calm, cool rather than cold and, yes, a thick…
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Great Bear Rainforest Journey Added
December 24, 2018
After something of a delay and just in time for Christmas*, I have now added a new ‘journey’ page. This gives bit of contextual information of our trip ’Into the Great Bear Rainforest‘ and adds some other photos that don’t fall into any of the existing galleries. Hopefully, this wraps…
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Early winter challenge
December 16, 2018
This blog post is a little different. Its early winter and true to form for December one of the first winter storm blew through on Saturday. It merely kissed the south east of England with a frigid blast and a fair douse of rain. Other parts of the country received…
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Common / Harbour / Harbor Seals
November 28, 2018
There are a variety of names for this common seal that is widespread across the North Atlantic and Eastern Pacific oceans. Here in the UK it tends to get called the common seal while, it seems, in North America it’s the Harbour / Harbor seal. (I rather suspect the 49th…