Day 15 #30DaysWild, 15 June: My Wildlife Photos

Swallowtail larva, Norfolk

Today is #NaturePhotographyDay so I thought I would post a few fairly random photographs from my collection, some with a caption but largely without explanation, for #30DaysWild. I hope you like them. Due to issues with my hands I cannot use a digital SLR, so these were taken on Lumix cameras. 

Loch Carron, Scotland

Frog, Peloponnese

'Mabel', the well-loved Tawny Owl

Taken with camera zoom extended on an official boat trip from Skye

Day 5 of #30DaysWild: my response to Dr Miriam Darlington's 'Being close to the grass' Prompt

I don't find it easy to reach the grass on account of my mobility issues, but during the last few days the grass in our garden has practically reached me, particularly when I am sitting down. This extra growth is because we attended last year's Suffolk Wildlife Trust Nature Summit and made a pledge to 'say no to the mow', with the exception of a walk-through trail, which has been invaluable during lockdown for my shielded exercise. 

A couple of days ago I was sitting outside, scanning the blades of grass for signs of ladybirds as we have more blackfly than ever. I was not exactly richly rewarded, but I did find a couple of 7-spots, like the one in the photo above and below. 

We often imagine a bird's eye-view, but what would it be like to be half a centimetre long and surrounded by a green jungle of stalks? Authors like Lewis Carroll, Jonathan Swift, 'B.B', Beatrix Potter, Hans Christian Anderson, Richard Adams, Kenneth Grahame and numerous others have, to one degree or another, given this question some kind of thought. A number of these writers were creating imaginary landscapes: others had political messages to impart. Some have helped us to adjust our outlook and perspective, enabling us, in Blake's familiar words, to see 'a World in a Grain of Sand'.

Would I write a poem myself to explore the nature of the ladybird's grassy wilderness? Well, I might, but I haven't just yet. Instead I decided to have a play with one or two of the Photoshop and Photoshop Elements filters, bearing this thought in my head. These are a few of my resulting images, some more fantastical than others. I hope they will make you smile, but perhaps they will also help you to share my ponderings...

This last ladybird, the one above in a mosaic-filter style, is possibly my favourite of the experimental images. I think this is because it reminds me of an exquisite stained-glass window in Alloway Parish Church in Scotland, Alloway being the birthplace of Robbie Burns. The text accompanying the image is from verse 22 of the eighth chapter of Genesis.

You can see these Alloway stained glass ladybirds above and below. They are part of the Four Seasons Window, designed by Susan Bradbury.  

Next time you see a ladybird in the long grass, why not take a moment to wonder what its world must be like. 

Grass features in a surprising number of poems. I am posting links to three that you might enjoy...

• A Blade of Grass by Brian Patten
• In Tall Grass by Carl Sandburg (beautiful, and elegiac in tone)
• On Not Mowing The Lawn by Mary Oliver

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This post was written in response to Dr Miriam Darlington's #30DaysWildCreativity Facebook prompt. You can find Miriam on Twitter: @MimDarling

 

#30DaysWild, Day 4 - The Glow of Emerald Light Photo Challenges

Where have the weeks and months gone since the start of lockdown? I am finding it hard to get my head around the fact that we are already a few days into June. The longest day is less than three weeks away.

Unfortunately the threat of Covid-19 is still at hand, but we are becoming accustomed to the rigours of extra hand-washing and the need for social distance.

Back in early April the lie of the land was rather different, and I recognised my need for natural beauty amid the bleakness of the situation. That was where The Glow of Emerald Light came in. In response to local requests for some kind of poetry activity or competition, I decided to run a fortnightly Photo Challenge, inviting anyone of eighteen years or over to submit a 5-line poem, written in response to a 'natural world' photo prompt.

I very much hoped that those who write poetry would join in and that those who would not normally sit down to pen a poem would take an extended coffee break and have a go. The Photo Challenges have submission windows: they are not, in fact, competitions.

I am enjoying the task of selecting pictures from my photo library on Light Room. I have been delighted with the submissions I have received to date, and it has been good to see poets offering a mix of free verse and traditional five-line forms like the Tanka or Limerick.

Challenge 1 came with a photograph of two Peacock Butterflies. You can find the poems here.

Challenge 2, on the theme of 'wash', was accompanied by a picture of waves on Loch Scavaig: the poems written in response to this are here.

Challenge 3 with my favourite bird can be found here.

Challenge 4 has just been posted (here), and is perhaps the picture most open to interpretation.

I am so grateful to all those who have engaged with an aspect of the natural world by responding to these challenges so far. The Photo Challenge email is glowofemeraldlight@gmail.com. It gives me great pleasure when I click open the inbox and find a new submission with a five-line poem that will add its own unique glimmer of light to the landscape of these unprecedented days.
 
 

The Norfolk Bird and Wildlife Fair

We attended the Norfolk Bird and Wildlife Fair last Saturday. The event takes its format from the larger Rutland Birdfair. It was a sunny afternoon and although the fair was well-supported, we were sorry not to see more people there.

We watched BTO ringers ringing a Great tit, and were able to ask questions about the purpose and process. Tagging has evidently made an immense contribution to our knowledge of migration, life expectancy and other aspects of bird life. I wondered (and was able to ask) how stressful it was for the birds during the actual ringing process and whether some of the tags we see aren't actually rather cumbersome. It seems that most birds accept the tagging process if it is carried out efficiently and under calm conditions.

As we walked along, we past a small watercourse, heaving with tadpoles, the first ones I had seen this year. It seems ages since we spent a bitterly cold afternoon looking for (and at) frogspawn at Landguard, Felixstowe. What a slow spring it seems to have been.

There were plenty of stands, full of friendly and knowledgeable wildlife people, representing organistions such as the local Wildlife Trusts (Suffolk and Norfolk) and the Hawk and Owl Trust (who monitor the Peregrines on Norwich Cathedral).

The main marquee, where we chatted to staff from the Marine Conservation Society and other organisations

Wex Photographic had a large marquee, and we spent a fair bit of time talking cameras and wildlife photography with the staff, who were incredibly helpful. They introduced us to independent wildlife photographer and Wex blogger, Tom Mason, whose photographs of a Waxwing and a flock of Knot were sublime.   

There were refreshments of various kinds on offer in and around the Twitchers' Retreat, and there was plenty of time to relax in the sunshine.

There were also book-signings (we missed Bill Oddie) and lectures. We arrived in time for the presentation on the NWT Cley Reserve. David North told about the origins of the Cley reserve and about its precarious history on account of flooding and winter shooting. With the new facilities comes a renewed spirit of optimism, and I, for one, look forward to being out on those unique marshes once again. 

So what did I gain from the experience of the Birdfair? Well, apart from a large handful of free (and other) literature, I came away feeling I had a little more wildlife, conservation and photography knowledge under my belt. It had been an enjoyable and informative afternoon in superb surroundings.   

• You might also like my Adder post about RSPB Minsmere as the reserve prepares for BBC Springwatch.

Lepidoptera: Butterfly Conservation and Hedgerow Photo Competition

The Comma, a butterfly that hibernates rather than migrates.

If you enjoy taking photographs of the wildlife that inhabits our hedgerows, you might like to enter the Belvoir Fruit Farm Hedgerow Photography Competition. The farm will donate £1 to Butterfly Conservation for every photograph entered. Be sure to read the rules before you upload, as images cannot be entered if they have appeared in public before. Your entry will earn you free membership of Butterfly Conservation.

• Wet summer affects butterfly numbers

Butterflies and Moths (7): First Caterpillar of 2012 ... for me

Seen at Snape. I suspect a Small Tortoiseshell.

This must be very late for me to be seeing my first caterpillar of the year! I don't think I've caught up with life since our move to East Anglia, but perhaps it is a late season for butterflies.

You might enjoy the UK Butterfly site's Spring Butterfly Photographic Contest (showing winners at the end) here.

Beautiful Birds (41): Plus a Hoverfly ... Calendar Photos

I was delighted to receive two contributor copies of the Swansea Vale Resource Centre calendar today. My wildlife photographs represent ...

• April - Puffins and a Gannet
• May - Mumbles Pier, with its Kittiwakes
• July - the Hoverfly you see above

The calendar was part of the COASTAL Project, 'Life through a Lens'.

Wildlife Webs (1): Wildlife Photography Blogs

I have just joined Wildlife Photography Blogs.

You can find the site here.

I'm just off to visit some of the other sites now ...