Bee - Orchid

Ah! I guess you thought you were going to see images of a Bee Orchid (Ophrys apifera), but I had forgotten to post the Orchid images so I thought this was a good way to do it. Sorry.{:))

This is a B. Rupestris I think.

Early Purple Orchid (Orchis mascula)

Maybe a B.Vestalis, who knows from this angle.{:))

B. Rupestris

Maybe a B. Muscorum

B. Rupestris

Inflight Brimstone

A pair of Brimstone Butterflies which I shot during their courtship flight.

They continued to fly around each other and spiralled up into the sky and eventually I lost sight of them. 

Lumix GH3. 100-300mm lens. 1/2500 at f4.6. 160mm. ISO500

'Scheduled Post'

Mistle Thrush

Mistle Thrush (Turdus viscivorus)

The Mistle is the largest of the European Thrushes.

The male is the one you will regularly hear singing from the tops of tall trees and has a varied catalogue of calls.

This is Mum, Dad and the single offspring.

'Scheduled Post'

Green Hairstreak

Callophrys rubi, not the easiest species to spot especially when its feeding off the flowers of the Hawthorn bush or just perched in the sunshine on a green leaf.

A very small species with a wingspan of 33mm and only 15mm when closed. 

It flies between mid April to mid July, although I would not expect to find it until the beginning of May.

Nightingale

My first Nightingale images.

It is quite frustrating standing around listening to a Nightingale singing, which can only be two metres from your position and you cannot see it, no matter how hard you try. This is quite normal for me during April and May.

In the Woodland/Grassland Reserve that I visit regularly, this year there are quite a number of Nightingale. 

I know most of the locations where I would expect to hear them, so it was a surprise to find one in a different area and even more so that I could actually see it in the undergrowth. The light was poor, but I just took as many shots as I could and thankfully a few where suitable enough to post. 

NB: You may be interested to know that the Reserve is one that John Clare (the Poet) walked regularly and is just a couple of miles from where he was born and lived. Clare was the first person to record details of many of the birds, plants and wildlife on what is now a Nature Reserve managed by Natural England.

Clare wrote "The Shepherds Calander".

In the verses pertaining to April there is a line:

"And to thy ripen'd blooming bowers the Nightingale belongs;

And singing to thy parting hours, keeps night awake with songs."

You may have heard of the song "A Nightingale sang in Berkeley Square."

I was amused when I walked by Berkeley Square in London once. 

I tended to think that a Nightingale was likely to die from Nitrogen Oxide poisoning with all the car fumes rather than sing. {:))

Bird - Fail-tography

My bird photography is going through a bad patch at the moment.

My sightings are just not conducive to good photography. 

Do you get those times when nothing is quite right. You see birds, but they are never in the right position to shoot or never there long enough to shoot. When they are, twigs or branches are in the way.

Here are some of the failings of recent times.

About the best of a bad bunch is this Whitethroat, high up and a bad angle.

This female Blackcap was rather shy……...

……...as was this one

This Chiffchaff was too far away to be able to crop the shot sufficiently.

This Willow Warbler was again a long way from my position and not in the open enough.

This Wren was too far away and as I moved forward it was gone.

This Wren was in the shade momentarily before dissapearing.

Again another distant short-lived Wren.

This Nuthatch was way up in a tall tree.

This below was a real disappointment. 

My first and extremely brief sighting of a Lesser Whitethroat and it was gone in a flash. 

Not enough time to re-focus the camera.

Hopefully things will get better, they can't get much worse.

Large White Butterfly

Large White Butterfly (Pieris Brassicae)

Very common and can be seen in a wide variety of habitat.

The female is larger than the male with an average wingspan of 70mm as opposed to the male at 63mm.

Although a resident species, swarms can arrive some years from the continent to swell the numbers.