Standing up for Nature
Oscar writes: During the summer I found myself in Suffolk for a few days, so spent an early morning in Minsmere’s East Hide in the hope of photographing some of the waders that were there. A couple of summer plumaged Black-tailed Godwits were feeding close to the hide, and their colours looked fantastic in the…
Tim writes: This butterfly is declining right across its European range and Britain has not bucked the trend. This individual was photographed at Finglandrigg National Nature Reserve in North Cumbria. It typically occurs on marshy grassland where its foodplant Devil’s-bit Scabious occurs, but some colonies occur on chalk downland in the south. The plant…
Tim writes: Northern Eggar (Lasciocampa quercus callunae) is a large day-flying moth that is currently considered to be the northern form of the Oak Eggar (L. quercus). Northern Eggar is darker with distinct wing marking differences (eg paler shoulders and an S-shaped cross band), it has a two year life cycle (not one year like…
Paul writes: One of my favourite signs of spring is the appearance of Anthophora plumipes, or the Hairy-footed Flower Bee to give it its friendlier English name. This is a solitary bee which nests in walls or chimney stacks, In Hunmanby, on the north east edge of the Yorkshire Wolds, they usually appear at…
Tim writes: Whinchat is now largely an upland bird in Britain having suffered a 47% range contraction since 1968-72. A range contraction means that a 10km square that had breeding Whinchats (could have been one or dozens of pairs) in the 68-72 Atlas, did not hold breeding Whinchats in the 2007-11 Atlas. Monitoring of…
Tim writes: I love the eye contact in this photograph, and also that it has a moorland, not sky background. Those intense yellow eyes seem to make the owl jump right out of the picture. I took the photograph high on the Peak District moors in South Yorkshire. They nest on the ground, usually among…
Tim writes: This is an adult Little Tern carrying a fish. I thought it was a sandeel when I took it, but the body looks too broad, more like a juvenile Herring. Little Terns are one of our rarest breeding seabirds with a British population of just 1,600 pairs, and declining. The Arctic Tern has…
Tim writes: In Britain we call this bird Great Northern Diver, whereas in America the standard name is Common Loon. In Britain we prefer the name Diver, because Loon has another meaning (fool) and we would not want to lumber a bird as majestic as this with such an insulting name. But Loon was used…
Paul writes: This beetle has a long name to match the size of its antenae, the Golden-bloomed Grey Longhorn Beetle, or Agapanthia villosoviridescens. It’s a medium sized beetle, up to 22mm excluding the antennae. They develop in the stems of herbacious plants, such as nettles, thistles or umbellifers so are frequently seen alongside hedgerows. Once…
Tim writes: This is quite a historic photograph as it is a youngster from the first ever nest of Bearded Tits in South Yorkshire. It was taken at the RSPB Old Moor reserve near Barnsley where they encouraged the birds to nest this year using a thatched “wigwam” nestbox. I saw two youngsters…