John's family are sorry to inform you that John died unexpectedly last week.

Nice eye contact ...

With this flyover Grey Heron.

With birds in flight, before publishing, I always look at the focus on the claws, beak and eye. In this case I'm pretty happy with the image.

Herons are great subjects for in flight photography because of their slow, ponderous wing beats and relatively slow speed through the air.

It was nice to get the wing beat on the up exposing the flanks of the bird.

No boarder controls for this immigrant.

And what a stunning migrant from Africa and Europe this visitor is.

The Painted Lady visits our shores annually in variable numbers from April onwards and is a very colourful and welcome addition to our native species.

On migration these Butterflies have been Radar tracked at altitudes of 3000 feet with ground speeds of 30 mph.

It will have two or three broods between June and October before return migration in October.

As always Teasels, a very popular food source for many species, make a very photogenic backdrop to the image.  

When I grow up ......

...... I'll be a fully fledged Blue Tit.

This little chap made me smile with his little patch of blue on his head. Sometimes its the most common of birds that present the highlight of an otherwise quiet birding session.

Harvest time is upon us as is this years crop of Sparrowhawks

I spent a very pleasant hour watching three fledgling Sparrowhawks and the parent birds on the Aldwincle side of the reserve late afternoon yesterday. 

Contact calling frequently from a small coppice between the village church and the reserve boundary they could be seen taking to the air to greet their returning parents and I was able to witness a number of food passes.

                     

From time to time the fledgelings would disperse to nearby perching trees but never for too long before resuming their presence at the main roost.

A most enjoyable experience.

           

A privilege to photograph.

As the crow flies Titchmarsh LNR is not too far away from Duxford and we are quite often graced with sightings of WW II veteran aircraft.

In this case a Spitfire TR Mk IX ML407 ( Civil registration G-LFIX ) known as the '' Grace '' Spitfire due to its ownership.


                                         
A two seat trainer she completed a few loop-the-loops and barrel rolls over the reserve before heading off, what an evocative tone that Merlin engine has. 

                                                                  Top of the loop
                                             

Painted in the camouflage of the Royal New Zealand Air Force with whom she spent some time during the war she was also used by the Polish and French Free Air Forces amongst others during an illustrious career.

I  understand that globally there are fifty five airworthy Spitfires, many static examples and encouragingly many more actively being renovated or in storage awaiting renovation.

An identification challenge from a recent visit to Fowlmere.

Had us scratching our heads and consulting the guide books.

It had most of the characteristics of a Ruddy Shelduck but it wasn't, grey head ? ...... Hmmmm.
























               This is a pair of Ruddy Shelducks that I photograped at Slipton last year

The staff at the visitor center held the answer ..... its a South African ( Cape ) Ruddy Shelduck and an escapee from a wildfowl collection.

Still, an interesting experience !.

..... followed by a Dragonfly day .....

........ OK, here goes, talk about putting a questionable, bordering on non-existent reputation for Dragonfly identification on the line.

But you have to learn when venturing into unknown waters.

All comments, corrections and wisdom greatly appreciated.

NB ..... it comes as no surprise that my technical advisors could be head to audibly sigh, throw their hands up in disgust  and put me right ..... the cavalry came to the rescue !

Thanks to John Murray and Graham Barker.

                                    Male Southern Hawker ? - NB actually a female.

           Ruddy Darter .... or maybe Common ? - NB actually a male Ruddy Darter,
                                               - well I got it half right.

                                        No idea - NB its a Female Common Darter.

                          As photographs however I am quite pleased with the images.

A Butterfly day at Wood Walton Fen last Sunday ..........

....... started with a Brimstone, one of the earliest Butterflies to be on the wing in springtime                                           and still going strong mid-August ..... 

                                 .......... quickly followed by a Gatekeeper ...........

                                        .......... and a  Meadow Brown.

A video of our day out was filmed by Graham Barker ..... link below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkSiaEndJfU

A challenge to the Botanists amongst you !

On Sunday I was at Wood Walton Fen near Cambridge and came across the following.

I thought that it was a seed pod of sorts but I didn’t want to to remove it for analysis, it was one of several in a bunch, each about four-five  inches in length  approx. three feet above ground level in amongst mixed thistles and grasses and rough vegetation by the side of a ditch.

At first sight they looked a bit like young cucumbers.

Any ideas !

My thanks again to the ever helpful Dr Peter Llewellyn, who responded with a minimum of delay.

'' Hello John, try Yellow Flag (Iris pseudacorus) fruit under Google images and see if that is like the thing you saw.

Regards, Peter L. ''

Spot on Peter, many thanks once again.

Did any one get it right ?.

Still around ....

....... but not perhaps for much longer.

It never fails to amaze me when I think that the life cycle of these little chaps requires them to migrate such long distances.

I look forward to their arrival every year and always miss them as soon as they depart, they add such energy and activity to the reed beds.

Fresh as a daisy !

One of this years crop, this Willow Warbler was a real little poser, preening out in the open and enjoying some very warm weather.

Its nice to see birds having '' a wash and brush up '' but in my experience the resultant images do not really capture the activity well.

Or maybe its just me !.

A bird of a different taxa ....

Taken doing aerobatics over Fowlmere last weekend.

Research on the plane, registration N1035M, identifies it as a Steerman Kaydet currently based at Bungay in Suffolk and originally flown by the US Navy as a training aircraft during the second World War.

It certainly has great visual impact.

A very hyper active little fella .......

Constantly on the move darting to and fro amongst the reeds Stoats have been clocked moving at 20 mph when in hunting mode 

As carnivores, they will hunt, catch and eat a wide range of food sources with rabbits being a staple prey species, rodents and wildfowl.

In many cases their prey is far bigger in size than they are themselves.

Stoats have litters of 5-12 kits in April and May.

I understand that the collective noun for Stoats is a '' caravan of Stoats '', why ? - I have no idea.

Double take .......

If you think synchronised swimming is clever how about this !

Titchmarsh LNR has had a cracking year for Comma Butterflies, as I have stated previously I have never seen so many on the reserve.

This image was taken quickly, I would have liked to move the aperture setting to F8 to improve the depth of field but did not want to miss the '' moment ''.

Just as well as a second later they flew.

All in all a pleasing result.

Marsh Harriers at Fowlmere ...

My best ever sightings of this species, sadly the light was very harsh and the birds were backlit .... you can't have it all.

At least one pair of adults and three juveniles on view, I saw several food passes and witnessed the clamour for attention from the youngsters every time the parents returned to the nesting and nursery area, very high energy.
                                                       
Graham Barkers excellent video of the day can be viewed on the link below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hccZ6oppRuo

                                                              Nice focus

I don't know why but I seem to get more than my fair share of Raptor pooping images.  

The Silent hunter .......

This chap was consciously hunting the reed bed margins for chicks, probably Water Rail chicks in particular as the parents of which were being quite vocal and attracting attention to themselves despite their reputation for being '' skulkers ''.

Maybe Water Rail are better at discretion than parenting ?

Stealthy and focused it was just awaiting the opportunity to strike, happily unsuccessful on this occasion. 

Great eye contact

In many parts of the country for a birder to look up to the skies and see a Red Kite it would truly be a '' Red letter day '' for them.

Here in East Northamptonshire we tend to take them for granted as the reintroduction programme has been so successful.

Never to be underrated they certainly are imperious birds.

I like this image because it ignores photographic wisdom.

The Peacock Butterfly is one of the prettiest in the UK, its upper wing pattern and colouring is visually absolutely stunning.

With its wings closed however the under wings appear to be almost black.

In this image the brightly lit Teasel head, predominantly green and lilac, seems as if it has had the Peacock '' cut and pasted '' on top of it and yet its legs are well defined.  

Many purists may well disagree, but I like this one, its different.