Standing up for Nature
Paul writes: this beautiful pinkish brown beetle, the Common Cockchafer (Melolontha melolontha), is a regular night time visitor to many gardens. I usually see them from the beginning of May to the middle of June, this one appeared on 14 May. They fly at night and are attracted to lights, so are often brought to…
Tim writes: this baby Gentoo Penguin was wide awake while its parent standing guard is seizing the opportunity for a little snooze. They normally lay two eggs so it is likely that one egg or small chick will have been taken by a South Polar Skua. The parents share incubation and child-minding duties, having daily…
Tim writes: I had some good fortune photographing Bitterns at Old Moor RSPB reserve in South Yorkshire recently. A brood of three nearly-fledged youngsters were clambering about in the reeds waiting for their mum to return with a crop full of fish. The photos show the adult female setting off on a foraging flight, plus…
Tim writes: this beautifully sculpted iceberg was floating in Antarctica’s Weddell Sea. I thought that the three birds would barely show as it was taken with a wide-angle lens but I now think they add a special something and they give it scale. The birds are Snowy Sheathbills, affectionately known as Shit Chickens because they…
The Hairy Shieldbug (Dolycoris baccarum) is a large and distinctive bug, 10-12mm overall. It can be seen as a adult in any month but in winter is a dull brown. This is a bright summer specimen which I found in my wildlife patch a couple of days ago [Mark writes; plus a delay of a…
Tim writes: Cobb’s Wren (Troglodytes cobbi) is endemic to the Falkland Islands, which means it occurs nowhere else on the planet. And even within the Falkland Islands it only occurs on smaller offshore islands where rats have not been introduced. On the larger islands introduced rats have driven them to extinction. I photographed this…
Tim writes: this Wilson’s Petrel has rather spoilt its perfect reflection by dipping its feet into the water, but you can see the diagnostic yellow webs between its toes which identifies it from all other storm petrels. It is thought that they attract prey by dipping their yellow webs in the water. They feed on…
Paul writes: I can’t resist watching insects feeding on dandelions, so when I saw this Green-veined White last weekend I stopped to have a closer look. This butterfly probably suffers from being so widespread and common that it is dismissed as “just another white”. However, once seen close up they are subtly attractive with their…
Tim writes: These are Magellanic Penguins braying next to their offspring. They are closely related and very similar to the African Penguin, which is often known as the Jackass Penguin, because of its donkey-like braying call. And Magellanic Penguins make a similar donkey call, which these were both making when I took the photograph. All…
Paul writes: I found this bee on 18 April among the gravestones at my local church in Hunmanby, which seemed quite appropriate. The Mourning Bee (Melecta albifrons) is a solitary bee and a cleptoparasite of one of our most popular bees, the Hairy-footed Flower Bee (Anthophora plumipes). The female makes a hole in the sealed…