My Flora and Fauna Friday post this week is a follow-up of sorts to last week’s post, Bluebells.
This is a male Orange Tip Butterfly (Anthocharis cardamines) feeding on Bluebells in a cottage garden at Faddiley near Nantwich in southern Cheshire, England.
Found throughout Europe and temperate Asia, in the U.K. it is another sign of spring. The female does not have the orange tip on the forewing.
Flora and Fauna Friday this week is the second part of my posts on the Common Hazel (Corylus avellana).
Last week my post was about the male Common Hazel catkins that produce the pollen to fertilise the female flowers.
This week my post is about the female flowers. The flowers are tiny, the entire bud in this photo is approximately the size of the head of a match. The red styles that form the visible part of the flower are 1 to 3 mm long.
This is my contribution to the Weekly Prompts Wednesday Challenge: Waiting.
This week my Flora and Fauna Friday post is part one of a two part post.
These are Common Hazel (Corylus avellana) catkins, the male flowers that produce the pollen that pollinate the Hazelnut producing female flowers. Photographed in an abandoned orchard at Faddiley near Nantwich in southern Cheshire, England. The catkins and flowers are produced in late winter or early spring before the leaves appear.
This is my contribution to the Cosmic Photo Challenge: From Ground Level prompt.
It was a good prompt for me as I usually try to get to eye level with birds and mammals. This often involves lying on the ground behind the camera.
However, I quickly realised just how many photos I had to pick from. So initially I decided to limit myself to four photos. Then I decided to go with one photo from the past four decades, partly to make the selection easier.
1980s. A male Common Blackbird checking 1what the photographer is doing. I was in a ditch photovraphing something when I noticed this male spying on me. Photographed in an abandoned orchard at Faddiley near Nantwich in southern Cheshire, England.
1990s. A breeding plumage Horned Grebe on a cattle watering hole. I wanted to get as low a viewpoint as possible so had the legs of the tripod fully spread and then stomped them into a mixture of mud and cattle poop before lying behind the camera. Photographed near Punnichy, Saskatchewan, Canada.
2000s. A juvenile Red Knot resting on the Lake Huron shoreline during autumn migration. The shoreline was too rocky to lie down behind the camera so I was kneeling, trying to get as low a possible. I spent long enough with the birds that they fed, bathed and napped in front of me. Photographed on the Lake Huron shoreline in Southampton, Ontario, Canada.
2010s. An American Red Squirrel in dappled sunlight. From the 52 week photo project I did in 2018 when I spent lots of time lying behind the camera photographing birds and mammals. Photographed on the South Bruce Peninsula, Ontario, Canada.
My Saturday Bird this week is the Fieldfare (Turdus pilaris) and is a follow up to last week’s post about the Redwing.
The Fieldfare is a member of the thrush family and a winter visitor to the U.K. like the Redwing. Sometimes seen in mixed flocks with Redwing. It breeds in northern Europe and across the Palearctic. It is a very rare breeder in the U.K.
This individual was photographed in an abandoned orchard at Faddiley near Nantwich in southern Cheshire, England where it was feeding on windfall apples.
