No spider pictures included...

I love to get feedback on this blog and it's inspiring to know that folks are actually interested in this 'stuff' enough to follow,comment etc. It's only a couple of days since the last update but through the grapevine, I heard that a few were put off from reading the blog by virtue of there being..."Too many spider pictures"

And so for the arachnophobes, (Ladies!)  I thought I'd try and make-up for any distress caused by providing another update that will not only be spider-free, but will consist of just 'pretty-pretty' photographs...

Click on any photo for larger view

Yesterday morning I was out and about quite early and it was just a joy to be walking in the fog and mist with the sun just breaking through...

At one point the sun burst through a line of distant trees and I tried to get the camera as low to the ground as possible to include the frosty landscape...

Sometimes I just get inspired to take photographs by the conditions and beauty of nature itself. This particular morning was one of those times when not only did things seem to be demanding to be photographed, but for once, everything that I attempted seemed to result in a photograph that was very close to what I pictured in my mind when taking the shot....that doesn't happen often and so I made the most of it...

I know the purists amongst my photographer friends will say that in these pictures the light around the sun is 'blown' but I actually don't mind that myself and it is very close to how I experienced it.

The stands of what I think were cow parsley? made for quite a dramatic addition to the landscape...

I suppose I must have been out walking for about an hour when I took these next pictures and by now the sun was beginning to burn off the mist...

I need to revisit this particular area at dawn one day, or perhaps dusk, because I think I might get an opportunity to photograph roe deer. Just to the left of these pictures I spotted signs of the deer...

Now although I really enjoyed using the point & shoot for these landscape shots, in fact I have been inspired to try more of this kind of thing by one particular flickr contact (you know who you are) I found the lure of the macro lens to hard to resist entirely. The following two photos are from the DSRL with the 100mm macro attached...

Ice on a leaf edge

Ice in a puddle

That then was my early morning walk on a day that developed into a real beauty with cloudless blue skies. A far cry from the next photo taken around a week ago...

Before I take my leave until the next update, returning to the spiders for just a moment...have you heard of 'exposure therapy'? Well my excuse for including them occasionally is based around this (honestly)... systematic desensitisation! It's for your own good...the more pictures you see, the less you become afraid.

A few other arachnophobia facts:

Percentage of women affected compared to men? What would you think?

Answer: Women: 50% Men: 10%

Some scientists believe that we may be born with the phobia.

Would you say that arachnophobia is a common phobia that affects many people?

Answer: Latest estimates put it at only a maximum of 6% of the population.

 Until the next time then...

Me and Anton Chekhov....

Anton Chekhov once said- "People don't notice whether it's summer or winter when they're happy" well I'm trying my best to be happy but even so, I've not failed to notice the season.

Then again, the man who has so many famous quotes to his name also said something about happy people being unbearable, if I remember it right?

And so now that we've established that I'm unbearably happy that it's winter, I think that by way of a change, I am going to base this update around some seasonal photos of flora, rather than fauna.

CLICK ON ANY PHOTO FOR A LARGER VIEW

Winter Catkins

I really can't remember which tree these catkins were on now but probably it was alder? (Why did I add a question mark there? After all, you weren't there-how could you know?) BTW (That's text-speak for by the way, by the way!) please don't go away with the impression that I am so intelligent that I go around quoting Chekhov...the truth is that the quote was a half-remembered one and I had to 'google' it to check it out and attribute it.

Back to the plot then...

The oak leaves that are left on the trees are now looking spectacular to my eyes-but then, my eyes aren't that good!

I also found a few oak galls. I think these are marble galls and my little book tells me that they are caused by 'Andricus Kollari' the oak marble gall wasp.

There seems to be no way of telling if the exit hole was made this year as the wasp has been known to stay in the gall for up to 4 years before exiting, and then the gall can remain on the tree for a couple of years following.

I think the second photo is another version of the same gall (or similar, he added hedging his bets) but feel free to correct me, after all, we've already established that I'm in a good mood!

Now obviously these are bramble leaves but I have no idea which species-I do know that they don't all turn this colour in winter but there are around 400 species in the U.K. and so I wouldn't dare offer an i.d.

Snowberries

These I do know. They are snowberries (Symphoricarpos albus) and it is an invasive species that seems to have little value to our wildlife.

This next one is one of the carrot family,it might even be wild carrot-I get all of these mixed up,there's cow parsley and hedge parsley and fools parsley and pignut-they all seem similar to me but whichever it is, it didn't like the frost and had bowed it's head.

We've had a few really hard overnight frosts of late and although there hasn't been any hoar frosts locally as yet to blanket the trees in white, there has been plenty to photograph...

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Erm, do you remember where you stored your thinking hat after wearing it for that 2011 Christmas edition of 'Millionaire'? Well perhaps I could politely suggest that now would be a good time to look for it?

I love to search out strange things that I haven't seen before and nature never fails to amaze me with the abundance of subjects it provides. Much as I enjoy finding and photographing them, my skills in identifying many of these critters/structures are sadly lacking. However, there are many amongst my friends who are 'ace' at such tasks and I'm once again hoping that this 'thing' pictured below will be recognisable to you?

If you forced me to guess, I would probably lean towards arthropoda but that would only be an uneducated guess. I should add a few details I suppose-it was found in the garden under a flowerpot base and was around 20mm across (another guess) with no signs of any activity or invertebrates close-by.

Back to the main theme of this entry then.....

Blechnum spicant

 I'm fairly confident that these are hard fern plants given where I found them. They are also one of the few ferns to remain green throughout the winter. A really striking little plant and nice splash of colour in an increasingly brown landscape.

I really must try and get to grips with being able to identify our tree population because it is something I struggle with-I think these keys were from a maple tree but I might be wrong.

This next shot was my personal favourite of the bunch...

(Don't forget you can view these shots on black by clicking on each photo)

Lastly, there are rivers of rose willowherb seed-heads bordering many of the rides in our local woods now. Come to think of it, there are rivers of water too...

A bit of a different entry this time but they say a change is as good as a rest.

Until the next time then...

"I've got a pocketful of bees".....

Having spent sometime now suffering the indignity not to say inconvenience of the dreaded 'man-flu' that culminated in being woken one night by the sound of my own voice calling out "I've got a pocketful of bees"  (yes, I was asleep but had dreamt I had a pocket full of live bees!),I was so pleased when today at last I felt the urge to pick up the camera again.

My enforced sabbatical, probably not the best choice of descriptive word actually, as I believe a true sabbatical lasted in excess of 2 months and even I couldn't claim my suffering was of those dimensions but it did keep me away from the real world for a while and long enough for Lennon's terrific 'Watching The Wheels' to keep running around my head-alongside that is, the little guy with the lump-hammer trying to blast his was out of my skull.

Yesterday when I rose from yet another fitful night's sleep (you don't think I'm laying this flu thing on a little too thick do you?........ Oh good)- my other half said to me " You're still coughing quite badly" "I know" I said, "I've been practising all night too".

I'm rambling already-perhaps I'm still delirious? Nurse! Nurse!....

Ah! I remember now, photography.....

What I was thinking of impressing on you was that in terms of insects and bugs to photograph, I didn't really miss out. The weather has been so poor of late in this part of the world that subjects would have been next to impossible to find anyway.
And so, (finally, he's arrived at the point of the blog entry?),to ease myself back in with nothing more stressful than a stationary target, I decided on taking a few photos of the ice that had formed in our back garden.

CLICK ON PHOTOS TO VIEW LARGER & ON BLACK

(These do seem to show more detail against the black background)

These shots were all taken of the ice that formed on our bird-bath. I used a diffused flash as the light is still quite poor at this time of year. It's amazing just what patterns and formations there are. I could look at these for ages and pick out different things each time.

The ice pictured above is just something that formed on the very edge of a plant pot.

This last image is a closer view of an ice block

After an hour or so in the garden taking these photographs, I began to realise that it wasn't quite as mild as I had assumed from my chair in our cosy living room and probably the best course of action would be to 'leg-it' back to that very same chair!

By then my camera hand was f-f-f-f-freezin' cold,so much so that I made myself a hot coffee and then spilled it in my lap- but actually enjoyed the sensation. Yes, it has been a cold February in Kent, so much so that when our electricity bill arrived this morning it had a letter of condolence attached to it.

Freezing temperatures, a dose of the flu (did I mention that already?),a dearth of inverts to photograph, that has to be winter's last efforts to depress me right? From now on things are set to change-I can feel it in my water, although, thinking about it further, it may not be change I can feel in my water? It could be 'Lem-sip'?

No, that's winter's last hoorah! I'm sure of it.

Until the next time then...

Postscript: The news of my work in print that I spoke of a couple of entries ago has now become a reality and I shall be contributing an article with photos to a local free paper 4 weekly from now on.
I'll try and post a copy of each one as it appears on the 'Published Articles' page of this blog. I have already added the one for Feb.

The days are getting longer...

It's been a while since I've updated the blog, I've meant to add to it of course but events have conspired to keep me away from the P.C. However, here we are,January 16 already and mid-way through what must be, thus far, one of the quietest winter's in a long while?


Last year at this stage for instance we had already endured around 6 weeks of pretty harsh weather with very cold temperatures. This photo was taken around the same time last winter.

It has only been over the last couple of days that we have seen anything like a hard frost, today provided us with a hoar frost, only the second of the year.

If I understand it correctly, I think a hoar frost is when tiny ice crystals form on vegetation or any object that has been chilled to below freezing.The formation of hoar frost is similar to dew, with the exception that in a hoar frost the temperature of the object it forms on is below 0 deg.

Click on any picture for a larger view

Hoar frost on branches

Hoar frost on one side of a grass stem

It does make for some fantastic images though and really does transform ordinary objects into something of beauty. Here's another example, a bramble stem that I probably would never bother to photograph ordinarily but...

And so what of the winter wildlife I hear you cry!   I do hear you crying that don't I? My hearing's not what it was when I was a 'knee-high to a grasshopper-whipper snapper' I use the term 'whipper snapper' advisedly as I believe it refers to a 'young, impertinent person' and I was certainly (and some would say, remain) that.

Anyhow, I'm wandering from the path again, you wanted to know about the wildlife?

Those who know me well will tell those that don't, that invertebrates are what 'float my boat'. You will tell me when you get fed up with these constant clichés by the way, won't you? Or shall we 'cross that bridge when we get to it'? After all 'what goes around...O.K. I'll stop now.

Actually, he who hesitates is lost....and so I'll start again. As I was saying before I so rudely interrupted myself- my main passion is for insects and bugs but having spent quite a bit of time at a friend's house of late and observing the wonderful array of wildlife she has visit the garden (including a Kestrel on one particular day) I have become quite fond of one particular critter that turns up on a regular basis to raid the bird tables.Here is the culprit in question.....

Sciurus carolinensis

Yes, it's the Grey Squirrel that so many folks have a real disliking for. The line I hear quoted most often being "They're nothing more than tree rats". Then of course there is the much greater issue of these nasty beasts causing the demise of our native 'Reds', in truth, the whole question of the definition of 'native' is a 'can of worms' (apologies, I just can't seem to help myself).

After all is said and done! (cliché number 7) how many folks can say with any certainty that they are a true native of the U.K.? But do we insist on culling those that we deem to be interlopers? What then of the poxvirus? Answer: There seems to be no proven link from Greys to Reds, in fact the virus once affected the greys as it now affects the reds, a few survived it and developed a resistance to it; there's no reason to think other than the same could well happen to our red population.

The truth that is undeniable is that conservationists have been encouraging the planting of native deciduous species of tree at the expense of conifers and that just happens to suit the grey population rather than the red.

I'll get off my soapbox now and introduce you all to my new friend who you got a glimpse of in the photo above. What that photo doesn't show though is why I feel for this particular creature.

Yes, blind in one eye and yet still managing to survive (so far) this little grey also seem to have damage to the mouth area, with an odd looking front tooth.

Otherwise, it seems to be healthy enough and certainly displayed just how agile he/she is.

Click on this photo for a little animation

Old ' One-eye

Herbie the terrier knew one-eye was there
 & one-eye knew that Herbie was there...

In my own garden I've been conducting a few collembola searches having already turned up one unusual species. It was whilst I was engaged in this satisfying, but ridiculous looking. hobby that I came across two large caterpillars on the underside of a geranium leaf.

A little research together with the knowledge of the plant they were feeding on soon revealed them to be the larva of the Angle shades moth.

Phologophora meticulosa

These are one of the species that over-winter as larvae but even so, it was quite a surprise to find a couple feeding within a couple of hours of a really hard frost having cleared.

I've included this larger view as I haven't been able to fathom just what this one is eating. It does look like an insect to me and I know that some caterpillars will sometimes eat insects but with this being a natural light only shot, the detail is just not good enough to be sure, unless you can enlighten me?

The weather has been such that I have recently been spending some time in the garden clearing up and even cutting the grass. On inspection of the compost bin for likely subjects the only thing of interest I spotted seemed to be an earlier instar of the same species of caterpillar.Much smaller and of course a variation in markings but I can only assume they are the same.

I'll leave you for now with another shot of the frost from just yesterday morning at around 7.30am. I hope to be back here again very soon and should have some exciting news by then about some of my work in print along with what I hope will be another set of interesting wildlife finds and photos, the days are already getting longer and sunset is now at 4.30pm.

Until the next time then.....(keep your pecker up!)