As an extension to the ongoing "I saw my first kingfisher today" thread, I thought it might be interesting if people wanted to post and share any wildlife pics that they've taken. As I said on the other thread, that way instead of just talking about what birds and other wildlife we've seen, we can also show photos of them. 

 

Hope you think it's a good idea.

 

As the current topic in the "kingfisher" thread is herons, I thought I'd start with a couple of pics of them that I've taken...

 

Juvenile heron (looking very interested in a dragonfly)

 

Heron in sunset silhouette

 

Next up, a couple of pics of blackbird chicks, which I was lucky enough to get while looking out through a window at home.

 

 

 

Come on then, show us what you've got. The only condition is that the photos are ones you've taken yourself.

 

They're beautiful.  Which reserve was this?

 

Hi Pete, these as most of my images were taken at Belvide Reservoir, (just north of Wolverhampton), West Midland Bird Club control access.

I'm on the Committee of the Friends Group for our local Park.

 

There is a chap who takes some fantastic wildlife photos in the Park and the Sandwell Valley.

 

There are a few on the website at the moment - bottom of the page. http://www.friendsofdartmouthpark.org.uk/index.htm

 

Until a few days ago there was a beautiful one of 2 swans with their necks making a heart shape.

 

I'll post the link again when any new ones go up.

Mark. some nice pictures there. look forward to seeing any new ones appear

Steve

 

MB

Well that's me off for two weeks Badger, Otter, Puffin and anything else watching. Hope to return in a few weeks with some decent pictures of the aforementioned.

Steve

Great stuff everyone - thanks and well done.

 

I've run out of likes.

 

 

Peter

 

Common Blue

Dark Green Fritillary

Spanish Gatekeeper

 

Plant wise a fairly poor day but for the Epipactis, but the butterflies were in abundance, lots too busy to photograph or identify.

Edited June 7, 201411 yr by TattooDave

Euphorbia serrata

Common Centaury

Leuzia

Spanish flora is the most diverse in Europe, but some are very difficult to identify, when I post things it's because I'm pretty certain I've identified them, if you could see the file of unidentified plants you'd cry, and I have a degree in Botany

We get the top and the bottom butterflies here where I live in Teesdale

Here's a couple of wild plants, first one taken yesterday just in the next field it is Yellow Rattle Plant, they're a parasitic plant which feeds on grasses, they help the diversity of meadows, in other words with these plants around you can bet a field will be packed with different wildflowers. These plants have grown here as long as I can remember. The next one is Red Nettle just growing near our garden wall

Suz x

We get the top and the bottom butterflies here where I live in Teesdale

Here's a couple of wild plants, first one taken yesterday just in the next field it is Yellow Rattle Plant, they're a parasitic plant which feeds on grasses, they help the diversity of meadows, in other words with these plants around you can bet a field will be packed with different wildflowers. These plants have grown here as long as I can remember. The next one is Red Nettle just growing near our garden wall

Suz x

You get Spanish Gatekeeper butterflies in Teesdale?  Probably from the Armada if you do.  Yellow rattle is here too, though red nettle not

We get Gatekeeper butterflies yes I'll take a pic next time

Suz x

Do you get blue Spring Gentians growing there Tattoo Dave?

Suz x

Wall Brown

Small Skipper

Grizzled Skipper

Male Cleopatra (Cleopatrick lol)

the only ones that stayed still long enough

We get Gatekeeper butterflies yes I'll take a pic next time

Suz x

Hello Suz, it's a different one, Gatekeeper is Pyronia tithonus, Spanish Gatekeeper is Pyronia bathseba.

Dave

Do you get blue Spring Gentians growing there Tattoo Dave?

Suz x

Hi again Suz, never seen it here, but supposedly grows on Sierra Nevada in damp grassy places, there's a poster with an area full of them, it's a bit too warm here, it grows also in the Pyrenees and the Massif Central.

Dave

Company I work for has just moved into new warehouse and we've got a robin nesting in one of the book bays.  Haven't managed to photograph her yet, but we found a nest that she made and abandoned a few bays over -- check out how cute and weeny this little egg is!!!

 

Managed to catch a glimpse of a Reed Warbler sitting on eggs.

 

What always amazes me is the nest, they weave them around 3 reed stems just using their beaks.

 

Cool. The blue Spring Gentian grows in the Burren in Ireland, here in Teesdale and no where else in the UK or Ireland. They've grown here in Teesdale since the last ice age.

Suz x

Hello Suz, it's a different one, Gatekeeper is Pyronia tithonus, Spanish Gatekeeper is Pyronia bathseba.Dave

Sorry it looks the same as the ones we have down the woods, my mistake. The other one is a common blue though isn't it? I know more about wildflowers than butterflies

Suz x

They are similar but the Spanish has a cream band on the underwing, an easily overlooked detail, I had to look in a reference book. 

 

Sorry it looks the same as the ones we have down the woods, my mistake. The other one is a common blue though isn't it? I know more about wildflowers than butterflies

Suz x

These are only a few days old, there are ten of them following mum around at the reserve, they have no fear of humans and are seriously cute. 

 

They are Red Legged Partridge

 

 

 

 

 

 

The wind got a bit chilly so they all got under mum's wing to keep warm, once they were all under I could only see a couple of tiny legs showing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

martyn pitt, on 06 Jun 2014 - 4:03 PM, said:

Managed to catch a glimpse of a Reed Warbler sitting on eggs.

 

What always amazes me is the nest, they weave them around 3 reed stems just using their beaks.

 

410_001.jpg

Yep, using spiders webs Martyn - so the nest can move and be flexible.

 

Amazing picture Sir.

 

 

Peter

These are only a few days old, there are ten of them following mum around at the reserve, they have no fear of humans and are seriously cute. 

 

They are Red Legged Partridge

Aka French partridges - if I recall my Observer Book of Birds correctly.

 

Really nice shots 

Aka French partridges - if I recall my Observer Book of Birds correctly.

 

Really nice shots 

And why they call them French Partridges is because they always ran, this goes back to when we was at war with the French.

Edited June 8, 201410 yr by good angel

And why they call them French Partridges is because they always ran, this goes back to when we was at war with the French.

Most sources I've come across suggest that it's because they have red legs - and so share a similarity with the trousers worn by French soldiers in times past. And they originated from the warmer climes of France and Italy, too.

 

Nice concise overview of their introduction into the UK here...

 

http://www.purdey.com/shooting-life/a-guide-to-game-birds/red-legged-partridge/

We get the Grey Partridges here, love to see them, great photos

Just some of the problems faced while trying to identify plants, these are all parasitic, and it helps to identify the host plant mostly, but they still leave me foxed

This fine creature, a Green Darner I believe, and a good 2½ inches long, paid a visit to our 2nd floor balcony early evening and rested on the railings for a good while.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This fine creature, a Green Darner I believe, and a good 2½ inches long, paid a visit to our 2nd floor balcony early evening and rested on the railings for a good while.

 

 

 

I think Dragonflies are great, not sure I would have wished to encounter their prehistoric ancestors with their 3 foot wingspan 

Only a few photos of my favourite woods, Herb Robert, the flower of the month here as they're all over the place, them and Meadow Cranesbill (one of the wild geraniums native to the UK)

I think Dragonflies are great, not sure I would have wished to encounter their prehistoric ancestors with their 3 foot wingspan 

A scary thought. The one in the pic looked a real monster excepting for the reality of its actual size. The pic was taken flat to the subject, so doesn't really show just how amazingly thick set and armour plated it looked. 

 

Give it a three-foot wingspan and you'd need to be out there defending yourself with something that was mightily powerful - and lightning fast!

The nymphs of dragon flies and damsel flies are pretty ferocious also they'll attack anything

Thought I'd share these photos of the Foxgloves I took today down the woods..

Suz x

Thought I'd share these photos of the Foxgloves I took today down the woods..

Suz x

This is one of the Spanish foxgloves, the other two native species have eluded me thus far

A 4 Spotted Chaser, a Blue Damselfly in flight and an Emperor Dragonfly in flight (never seen one perched  )

 

Right off to pack, away on holiday for a week 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bravo Martyn, fantastic pictures !

Edited June 14, 201410 yr by Philippe

Woo loving all the photos they're fabulous. My photos are Birds Foot Trefoil; Lesser Yellow Trefoil; Yellow Rattle plant getting ready for the pods to disperse seeds; Whitlow Grass I think although am open to being corrected, tiny white flowers with four petals smaller than stitchwort;

Edited June 14, 201410 yr by suzannek

I think Dragonflies are great, not sure I would have wished to encounter their prehistoric ancestors with their 3 foot wingspan 

They would be as big as you mate.

 

Steve

Just back from two weeks in fabulous Tenby. Will post some pictures when I get chance to download them from the camera.

 

Steve

Just back from two weeks in fabulous Tenby. Will post some pictures when I get chance to download them from the camera.

 

Steve

Welcome back Steve, hope you got some good Puffin shots.

 

Dave

Welcome back Steve, hope you got some good Puffin shots.

 

Dave

Thanks Dave. Got a few, none with sandeels in beaks though, for some reason the puffins are approximately two weeks behind this season. So they're still sat on eggs. Got a few plant and orchids pictures (not very clear, windy on headlines) and they will need identification along with a few moths, butterflies and a spider

 

Steve

Thanks Dave. Got a few, none with sandeels in beaks though, for some reason the puffins are approximately two weeks behind this season. So they're still sat on eggs. Got a few plant and orchids pictures (not very clear, windy on headlines) and they will need identification along with a few moths, butterflies and a spider

 

Steve

I'll lend a hand if need be with the orchids

Dave

Buff tipped moth.

Speckled wood ?

unknown to me

Grasshopper

unknown to me

Think its a daytime moth of some discription

Unknown to me

All unknown to me

Steve

IMG_7861.JPG

Buff tipped moth.

IMG_8798.JPG

Speckled wood ?

IMG_8804.JPG

unknown to me

grasshopper.JPG

Grasshopper

IMG_8561.JPG

unknown to me

You're right about the Speckled Wood, the Blue one could be a Common Blue, but looks ragged, so hard to say, the last is a Red Admiral, quite common that one and not difficult

Dave

Edited June 16, 201410 yr by TattooDave

IMG_8813.JPG

IMG_8807.JPG

IMG_8809.JPG

IMG_8698.JPG

All unknown to me

Steve

Top one is Scarlet Pimpernel (Anagalis arvensis), next is the Pyramidal Orchid (Anacamptis pyramidalis), next is Vipers Bugloss (Echium vulgare), the last could be more pyramidal orchids, doesn't enlarge enough to be certain.

Dave

IMG_8811.JPG

Think its a daytime moth of some discription

Looks like a Burnet Moth Steve, though I could be wrong.

Dave

IMG_8412.JPG

Unknown to me

Looks like an harvestman spider, though don't quote me,

Dave

It's a Cinnebar Moth they feed on Ragwort, beautiful moth

Suz x

 last week at a work celebration at the kairos centre , angelus road roehampton, right next to richmond park so i was informed, i was sat in the grounds watching the planes coming into heathrow , when my attention was suddenly focused on the local wildlife , the usual rabbits grey squirrels etc then four birds started flying around, they were mostly green from a dark green tail to brighter shades on the body, not seen anything like these in the wild before & was wondering if anybody knew what they might be

 

regards 

 

gaz