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[Closed] My wild year in words and pictures.

sharki · 2012-12-28T18:51:13Z

As 2012 draws to an end i feel like sharing a glimpse of my year with wildlife. I've barely ridden the bike, but have walked miles with the camera and have seen some fantastic things in the UK. I'll do just six months first as my butt will get sore sitting down for longer... Hope you enjoy. Jan 13th. I went off to a site known for wintering Short eared owls, so pitched up with over night kit and slept in a Tower hide nearby. After breakie, i wandered down to the lower hides over the reserve and after a patient wait, was rewarded by a SEO quartering the grasses. Marsh harriers and peregrine were also in the area scaring up the waders and other wintering birds in the area. Great start to the year too. [imgThere was even a glimpse of dry hope in Jan as the ground dusted up and people worked off their new years bellies. Quantocks Drove. [imgAnd down in the town a haunting mist rolled in, turning the local reserve into a ghostly scene. Moments before, i watched a weasel hunting by the riverside as a song thrush sung above me. [imgFeb. I spent alot of time exploring the reserve i've been asked to watch over and spent alot of time there with contractors clearing out acres of sallow to expose the marshland and encourage marsh violets to once more grow. A book was written by locals about the area some years ago, one local wood artists scribed some of the words into trees... [imgFeb got cold down here in Somerset, so i tried to capture natures raw cold side. [img[imgNatures time to be the artist, this was just water dripping from the cliff side.. [imgAnd a Roe deer resting just metres from a well used canal towpath. As i took this photo from the path, people obliviously passed by, missing out. [imgMarch. Things now are hotting up out there, flowers are popping out and the days are longer. This Hornet was up on the reserve still hibernating. [imgFor many species it's time to find a mate. Toads like these have a one track mind, the female heads to her spawning pool and males will clasp onto her ready to fertilise the spawn once she releases it. Such it the desire that some male toads crush the females as clasp to them, others have been seen clasping sheeps legs through the urge to find a mate. [imgFirst outing with a new camera and before i get chance to learn it's functions a water vole challenges me to take pics. [img[imgEverything needs to breed, even when you live off dung, like these yellow dung fly. [imgBee flies do it too, and seem to have a built in ability were one knows to fly backwacks once they're plugged in. [imgOf the many spider forms out there, these are one of my favourite, also known as jumping spiders, the Zebra spider is a great little predator. [imgApril. Bees are appearing in great numbers now and what a variety. Here's nomada succincta, a Cuckoo Bee, like the bird of the same title, the bee lays it's eggs, in the nests of other solitary bees, then buggers off! [imgThe tawny mining bee, Andrena fulva. [imgIt's not all bee's, Birds too caught my eye, like this fine Sparrowhawk just before dusk. [imgEven my first Shot of a Hobby happened whilst out and about, getting neck ache, looking everywhere at everything.. [imgAnd when my face becomes fixated on the smaller marvels, i see even more, like sawflies. [imgAnd Carpenter Bee's. [imgMay 1st and we have chicks in the Reservior. Sadly within a two weeks they had a been born and taken by predators unknown. :( [imgJune. I'd been spending even more time out there in the countryside, mostly chasing Butterflies, i was surveying them on one reserve and an obsession was reborn, much of the photo's i've taken of butterflies have already been put up here at some stage, so i'll save you from seeing them again. After all, there's Lizards [imgGlow worm Larvae. [imgNesting Great tits. [imgAnd even one for you non spider fans. This is the larvae of a parasitic wasp. She lays her egg behind the head of a spider, where it can't be rubbed off or bitten. There remains attached not eating it's host, not until the spider is fully grown, the larvae then devours the spiders juices over night, falls to the ground and then goes into it's next phase of it's metamorphism.. [imgCrab spider, an ambush spider. They blend in to their environment and without using webs just pounce. This one is in a dandelion head [imgA common sight on still water and a top predator too. Unless love is in the air... Pond skaters. [imgThe wonderfully colourful Firebug. [imgAnd a less than colourful, but beautifully patterned Horse Leech. [imgDon't worry, they don't bite.. [imgWho eats spiders? Another Spider.. [imgWe're also into Dragonfly season. Here's a four spotted chaser. [imgIt's common to see fields of Yellow Rape flowers, so it made a pleasant change to see a sea of blue in the form of Linseed flowers. [imgJune. Bee's don't just suffer from weather and insecticides, their decline is also due to natural predation, Crab spiders for one.. [imgCheck out the Garden Ants feeding from the honey dew t...

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z1ppy

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Awesome post, excellent work fella

Posted : 31/12/2012 8:46 am

sharki

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Nope, never been to Mull, but seen Barking Sharks in Cornwall and during the Orkney trip.
And you've see Storm Petrels..Nice. I don't claim to be a twitcher in the true sense of what they are, but i'm constantly extending my knowledge of the UK wildlife.

Alpin. i was thinking more of a Fluffy Bunny, but i do see a dog like resemblance in the image.

I'm about to book a winter break by the Red Sea, i've yet to properly look under the waves, other than bikini gazing when i was younger.

Posted : 04/01/2013 9:43 pm

jam-bo

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but seen Barking Sharks in Cornwall

!!!

Posted : 04/01/2013 9:45 pm

sharki

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Dog fish?
Erm, typo!

Posted : 04/01/2013 9:53 pm

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[Closed] My wild year in words and pictures.

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