Hampshire Closeup

We are spending a 9 days in Hampshire with friends exploring some of the nature reserves etc. Unfortunately the weather doesn't look very good this week for insect photography with cool temperatures and cloudy or rainy skies. I expored some local meadows yesterday evening in light drizzle and was surprised how many different flies etc were sheltering in the foliage. I also found a grassing-loving Shield bug - the Tortoise Shield Bug, which I hadn't encountered before. the first is an Ichneumon wasp, Orgichneumon maybe - the family of Ichneumons is so vast that many have not been given common names or even scientific ones. (X100V plus closeup filter)

Wet New Forest

 It rained heavily all day Sunday adding to the already very sodden ground. On Monday morning we had a heavy snow fall but there was only a sprinkling left when I went for a walk on the Ober Water Trail. The warm colours in the swollen stream were intriguing especially where trees were reflected in the flowing water

Bournemouth on a Windy Day

The wind was force 7 or 8 today - much to the delight of the surfers.
It also resulted in two North American birds turning up in Poole Harbour- a Ring-billed Gull and a Long-billed Dowitcher