Hunstanton Birds

There were impressive numbers of birds on the beach at Hunstanton yesterday, probably more than usual as it was a spring tide so the mussel beds were exposed at the very low tide. Curlews remain my top wader both in flight and camouflaged feeding on the ground but Bar and Black-tailed Godwits are near contenders. The cameos between the Egrets and other waders were amusing and showed their relative size against the Herring gull and Redshank

Meet Misumena our Macrophotography Model

Yesterday the RPS and CCC Nature Groups held a very informative Macro workshop led by David Smith of OM-Systems. Although he had his own model, Frankie, the Ghost Mantis, I think Misumena 1 and Misumena 2, a couple of flower spiders, stole the show. This is M2 parading rather attractive dark green patches and stripes - excellent for hiding in Meadow Sweet flowers.  They can change colour (not sure of the timescale of the changes) and often those in Buttercups are bright yellow. 

These are mainly single shots at F13-F18 but the last two are an in-camera jpeg stack versus a stack done from Raws in Zerene stacker.

Snow Buntings

 It is not often that a species gets a blog to itself but the Snow Buntings at Titchwell on Sunday occupied us for much of the morning and were a delight to photograph as they lured us further and further along the beach. Difficult conditions as there was a very strong wind so sand was blowing up and sometimes obscuring the birds. I like the three birds with recession in the second image and the last image would make a very tricky jigsaw!

Garden Safari - Powers of Camouflage

While hunting for insects in my small meadow area, I became aware of a very small spider on top of a dandelion head. It is about 3mm long, called Zilla diodia, and quickly camouflaged itself as a bract. An equally crafty Dock Bug took the appearance of Buddleia bark complete with hole while the Zebra spider's stripes broke up its outline as it ran around. Finishing with a range of other mini inhabitants of the garden.

Drought Declared in East Anglia

A few images from an early walk in Toft where everything other than large trees are now the colour of straw. The Hares and Rabbits and our Golden Retriever, Ted,  matched with the environment perfectly.