Tag: mating

CFFC

Male and Female

This is my contribution to Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Male vs Female prompt.

Cosmic Photo Challenge: Through an Opening

Male and female American Avocets feeding on a slough near Punnichy, Saskatchewan, Canada. The foreground bird with the straighter bill is the male.

A male Eurasian Blue Tit feeding the female during incubation. Photographed using a specially constructed nestbox in a garden in Hatherton near Nantwich in southern Cheshire, England.

Female and male Wilson’s Phalarope on Middle Quill Lake, Saskatchewan, Canada. The more colourful bird in the foreground is the female. In the Phalarope family of birds the males incubate the eggs and as a result have more subdued plumage for camouflage.

April Squares: Doing It on Top of a Rock

Male and female Common Terns mating on the Lake Huron shoreline in Southampton, Ontario, Canada.

Weekly Topics

Common Frogs mating

My Flora and Fauna Friday post this week is a continuation of last week’s post of a male Common Frog (Rana temporaria) croaking to attract a mate.

This week a pair of Common Frogs are mating in a garden pond at Hatherton near Nantwich in southern Cheshire, England. This is known as amplexus, males develop nuptial pads to help them clasp the female. This allows them to kick away rival males.

Tags amphibian, Common Frog, evening, Flora and Fauna Friday, garden, Hatherton, mating, pond, spring

Photo Challenges

A Photo a Week Challenge: Insects

Post author By David Meredith
Post date 19/07/2020
3 Comments on A Photo a Week Challenge: Insects

This is my contribution to the A Photo a Week Challenge: Insects.

A small selection of photos of insects making more insects.

April Squares: Top

Common Red Soldier Beetles mating on top of Ragwort flowers.

Mating Silver-studded Blue Butterflies

Silver-studded Blue Butterflies mating on a grass seed head.

April Squares: Skating on Top of the Water

Pond Skaters mating on the surface of a garden pond.

Tags Common Red Soldier Beetle, England, insect, mating, Photo a Week, Pond Skater, postaday, Silver-studded Blue Butterflies

Weekly Topics

Silver-studded Blue Butterflies

Post author By David Meredith
Post date 19/06/2020

This is my first post in what will probably be a new weekly feature, Flora and Fauna Friday.

This Friday I have chosen a pair of Silver-studded Blue Butterflies mating on a grass seed head. Photographed on Prees Heath near Whitchurch, Shropshire, England in the mid 1990s.

The butterflies at Prees Heath are an isolated colony with most Silver-studded Blue colonies being found in Southern England and Wales. They get their common English name from the small, metallic silver spots near the rear edgeof the wing.

Mating Silver-studded Blue Butterflies

Tags Flora and Fauna Friday, insect, mating, Prees Heath, Shropshire, Silver-studded Blue Butterflies

Photo Challenges

A Photo a Week Challenge: Fleeting

Post author By David Meredith
Post date 09/05/2020
3 Comments on A Photo a Week Challenge: Fleeting

I had a few ideas for the A Photo a Week Challenge: Fleeting but none of them really worked for me until I started thinking about some of the “grab shots” I remember taking over the years.

I remembered sitting in a garden shed I was using as a hide (blind) waiting for the resident European Robin to land on the telephoto lens I had set up. While waiting for the bird I noticed a pair of House Sparrows mating in the hedge. I swung the lens around and managed to get three photos before it was all over.

Cosmic Photo Challenge: The Birds and the Bees

House Sparrows mating in a garden hedge.

Some time later one of the shots of the mating House Sparrows was published in BBC Wildlife magazine. None of the photos of the European Robin on the lens have been published but I have been using a version as my avatar for years.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Fleeting

The European Robin on a telephoto lens in a Cheshire garden.

Tags bird, European Robin, garden, Hatherton, House Sparrow, mating, OM Zuiko 300mm f/4.5, Photo a Week, postaday

Month of Squares

April Squares: Doing It on Top of a Rock

Post author By David Meredith
Post date 14/04/2020
10 Comments on April Squares: Doing It on Top of a Rock

This is my day 14 contribution to Becky’s April Squares: Top photo challenge.

I still don’t have an internet connection. I can use the cell phone as a WiFi hotspot early in the morning until the network gets busy so I am just posting anything I had prepared before Sunday evening.

A pair of Common Terns mating on a rock on the Lake Huron shoreline in Southampton, Ontario.

April Squares: Doing It on Top of a Rock

Tags bird, Common Tern, Lake Huron, mating, rock, shoreline, Southampton, spring, SquareTops

Cosmic Photo Challenge

Cosmic Photo Challenge: The Birds and the Bees

Post author By David Meredith
Post date 13/04/2020
2 Comments on Cosmic Photo Challenge: The Birds and the Bees

This is my contribution to the Cosmic Photo Challenge: The Birds and the Bees.

I decided to keep it simple and go with the prompt by using a small selection of photos taken in various gardens around the town of Nantwich in southern Cheshire, England.

Cosmic Photo Challenge: The Birds and the Bees

Birds. A pair of House Sparrows making more House Sparrows in a Cheshire garden.

Cosmic Photo Challenge: The Birds and the Bees

Bird and Bee. Not really but as close as I could get. The insect in the bill of this male Common Kingfisher appears to have an ovipositor so could be a sawfly or solitary wasp.

Cosmic Photo Challenge: The Birds and the Bees

Bees. Well, a singular Honey Bee gathering pollen in a Cheshire garden.

Tags bird, Common Kingfisher, CosPhoChal, Hatherton, Honey Bee, House Sparrow, mating, OM Zuiko 300mm f/4.5, OM Zuiko 50mm f/3.5 macro, Swanley