My Macro Monday post this week is a Gatekeeper (Pyronia tithonus), a butterfly species found in Europe. An alternative common English name is Hedge Brown.
The darker patches in the center of the forewing show this is a male. The butterfly is resting on a Bramble leaf in Faddiley near Nantwich in southern Cheshire, England.
This week my Saturday Bird is the Common Wood Pigeon (Columba palumbus) or Wood Pigeon it was known as when I was growing up. Some references hyphenate Wood-pigeon and I’ve also seen it referenced as Woodpigeon. It’s primarily a European species although its range does extend into western Asia.
The bird is drinking at a small garden pond at Faddiley near Nantwich in southern Cheshire, England. This angle shows the iridescent feathers around the neck and shoulders.
Welcome to my new weekly feature, Saturday Bird this week featuring a photo of a European Robin from 1988.
Given the recent announcement that Olympus is selling their camera division to a Japanese investment company the future of the brand is now uncertain. So I thought this photo of a European Robin checking the camera settings on an Olympus would be appropriate.
The bird is standing on my OM Zuiko 300mm lens. I had already taken a hacksaw to the tripod mount to make clearance for a sound proofing blimp. The chrome OM2n body is taped up to cut down on reflections. The camera is loaded with the ubiquitous Kodachrome 64.
This week’s Throwback Thursday travels back to Cheshire, England in the late 1980s.
This is a male Eurasian Bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula) feeding on grass seeds in a hay field. Alternative common English names include Bullfinch and Common Bullfinch.
This is my contribution to the Cosmic Photo Challenge prompt Shadows and Silhouettes.
I decided to keep it simple and go with one photo of shadows and one photo of a silhouette.
Trees and their shadows at Bickerton Hill in southern Cheshire, England.
A Eurasian Blue Tit silhouetted against the rising sun at Faddiley in southern Cheshire, England.
This is my contribution to Cee’s Black and White Photo Challenge: It’s All About Nature.
I started thinking about some of the black and/or white species I have photographed over the years. Then, because I’ve been on a bit of a selective colour kick recently I considered monochrome species that have a splash of colour.
So here’s two different species in the spring, one in the U.K. and one in Canada.
Portrait of a male Common Blackbird photographed in Faddiley, Cheshire, England. I was photographing a plant in a ditch when I noticed the bird checking out what I was doing.
A male Rose-breasted Grosbeak on the South Bruce Peninsula, Ontario, Canada in the spring.
This is my contribution to the Tuesday Photo Challenge – Animals.
Having been digitising my slide archives I had various options so I needed to come up with a theme.
In the end I decided to keep it simple and go with one photo from my time in Cheshire, England, one from my time in Saskatchewan, Canada and one from my time in Ontario, Canada.
A Red Fox in a hay field at Faddiley, Cheshire, England. A favourite and an easy choice after the photo was used in a field guide to garden wildlife. Rather amusing as it’s fairly obviously in a hay field.
A Striped Skunk on the Middle Quill Lake shoreline, Saskatchewan, Canada in the spring. This was also a relatively easy pick despite having a few animals to select from. I went with this Skunk because a lot of people’s reaction to the photo. I was never concerned about being sprayed. Skunks have very poor eyesight so my trick is to talk calmly to them. That way they know you’re there and you aren’t going to surprise them.
An American Red Squirrel in dappled sunlight on the South Bruce Peninsula, Ontario, Canada. This shot was the hardest to select, in the end I went with this photo because it was used in a calendar. I also like the effect of the dappled sunlight filtering through the trees which is why I had set up in that location.
