Ospreys

Osprey

Osprey

Osprey

Osprey

Osprey

Osprey

Osprey

Last Saturday late afternoon went over to Upper Tamar Lake on the Cornwall/Devon border hoping to see the Osprey which had been seen here over the last few days,walking most of the way up the bank I found the bird at rest in a distant tree, way too far for any photographs, so I sat it out and waited to see if he would fly down to the water for his supper, eventualluy he did and spent some minutes back up at the car park end, so a walk back and another wait , A fisherman  said it came in every hour or so, but within a few minutes he was back again showing really well and making another catch ,great to see and the best I,ve seen them outside of Scotland, ten minutes later he,s back again when hes joined by a second bird, this time an adult, who flew directly overhead, nice against the blue sky. I was treated to further visits before the light began to go, it was,nt untill I looked at the photos at home that I realised I,d photographed both birds.

Common Dolphins ( Delphinus delphis)

Dolphins must be one of the  animals that people have near the top of thier wish lists to see, and I,m no different, only having seen them distantly from the shore before now, so the chance to go out and see them close up and hopefully get a few photos was too good to miss, setting off from Padstow we headed west and eventually came across a pod of over twenty Common Dolphins which came beside & around the boat giving fantastic views, i loved it, and took lots of photos ,(even with them being so close photography was'nt easy as you could never tell where they were going to surface , and they can be pretty quick)but to be honest just the experience of it all would have been enough.

At home & out and about,some recent bird photos.

A few shots of birds taken recently, just record shots but quite nice Dipper and Corn Bunting.

Sparrowhawk sat next to my bird feeders.

Hovering Buzzard at Roadford Lake.

Corn Bunting on the North Cornish coast.

Young Dipper taken at Boscastle.

Peregrine near Boscastle.

Young Redstart, a brief visitor to the garden one morning.

Black Darters at Breney Common

A good day out at Breney Common CWT  NR  in the company of Dave Cooper who was on the lookout for Black Darters, a species of Dragonfly I,d not photographed too well before, we were not dissapointed as the sun shone and the Darters were showing pretty well..

Black Darter on Heather.

Black Darter on Heather

Black Darter resting in the sun

Black Darters paired.

Impressive Emperors

The Emperor ( Anax imperator ) is the largest resident Dragonfly in Britain, being fairly common down here in the South West , a male has been patrolling our pond, bossing all that flies by, he was resting on an iris ,I tried to sneak up on him for a photograph but each time he would fly, then return to

Male Emperor

Male Emperor

Female Emperor ovipositing

 the same spot, so i tried wading into the water and from this direction he took no notice of me allowing some nice close ups.The females ,meanwhile, were busy ovipositing onto the surface vegitation.

Six Spot Burnet Moth

A colourful day flying Moth, the Six Spot Burnet ( Zyganea filipendulae ) is common around coastal grasses in the summer and always one I cant resist trying to get better photographs of, these were taken near Boscastle in Cornwall.

The same pair as the last photo but with my wife,s blue coat behind , thought it may look like the sea or sky in the background.?

Upton Towens

A couple of weeks ago I spent a good part of a day down at Upton Towens near Hayle , a Cornwall Wildlife Trust nature reserve comprising of super sand dune systems and coastal grasses,,which attract a varied array of fauna and flora

Dark Green Fritillary

. My main target were the Silver Studded Blues which were much in evidance but pretty flighty , earlier or later in the day may have been better, also good numbers of Dark Green Fritillary were on the wing which was nice to see.A great place to spend a day.

Male Silver Studded Blue

Male Silver Studded Blue

Meadow Browns paired.

Even the Flesh Flies were loved up!

Skipper-just to show the very long tongue

Garden Tiger Moth

Garden Tiger Moth

Pyramidal Orchid complete with Beetle

Dark Green Fritillary's paired.