This morning, I actually went” Oh, it’s just an otter”. I’d photographed a female riverine otter, in the wild, but it was foggy out and the photo wasn’t much good. But then I realised what I’d said. Ten years ago, I would have sawn both my arms off to even see an otter. Now it was so commonplace that I actually dismissed it. It tuns out that I’m addicted to wildlife. Much like drug addiction, I keep needing a bigger …
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There are around 60 butterfly species in the UK, and seeing them all is a project in itself. I’ve met two people who have done it all – one couple still happily married having finally achieved it together, and one man now divorced having spent 3 years and £3,000 doing it. So I decided to set myself a more achievable goal, in the hope of staying sane and married and solvent, hopefully all at the same time. I would see …
This morning I got up at 05:45 am to look for the mother otter and her kitts. I’d seen them recently, and as the forecast looked promising I was hopeful I might get some shots in better light. Now this is the same place where, 4 years ago, I left my camera in a hide while I nipped to the loo. And when I got halfway there I stumbled across a mother otter and her kitts on the path. This …
The Government is studiously avoiding the “D” word, despite several weeks with no rain. But my definition of drought is simpler. Purple Hairstreaks are butterflies that normally live most or all of their lives at the very tops of tall oak trees. For the last week or so I’ve seen them at ground level. While this is a wonderful opportunity to see these difficult-to-watch and very beautiful butterflies, the reason you can see them is that their normal foodstuff – …
I’ve been photographing wildlife for a while now, and getting a dry day with no photos is not unusual. Monday was a very dry day, in very sense – baking hot and I saw next to nothing, which was doubling upsetting because I’d driven hundreds of miles and taken some leave to try and photograph several hard-to-see butterflies. So when Tuesday, my last day, dawned I decided to be up early but stick to my local patch. The woodland was …
I spent today again looking for the Large Blue butterfly at a site in Gloucestershire. To my astonishment, I saw it not once or twice, but 22 times over the course of four hours. At one time I saw four in the air at the same time. It’s no scientific comparison, but last year on a similar visit, I saw just 2. A week ago, I was hunting for another rare butterfly, the Black Hairstreak. I expected to find a small …
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