Welney Wildfowl Trust

The water levels on the Ouse Washes are too high for anywhere other than the main hide to be accessible. This added to the very poor light levels yesterday didn't give a lot of opportunity for photography but I did enjoy these starlings - obviously discussing the state of their world! Very few swans evident at Welney so I went for a drive around Pymore and discovered fields full of very muddy Whoopers!

(Some images are from my rather underpowered not-very-modern camera phone!!

 

Cambridge Botanic Gardens 2

 A few more images from our visit to the Gardens on Saturday including my first Bees of the year busy collecting from Winter Honeysuckle which is in full bloom. In the wooded areas some very impressive thorns and the plasmodium of a slime mould showing how wet it had been prior to our visit.

Third Water Survey at Paxton Pits

Yesterday, we did the last of this year's three water fauna surveys at Paxton Pits - here are a few of the creatures we found. The IDs are tentative in some cases where the diagnostic features are difficult to see in a photo. Others, like the leeaches are easier where the species are separated by the numbers and positioning of the eyes.

Destruction of Local Wildlife Habitats

It took me several days before I could do my 'daily' walk around the footpath in Toft that goes along the Mill Lane Drift down the side of the allotments and back along the stream into Toft Wood as I had heard the large machinery at work earlier and feared for the worst. 

We no longer have a stream - just a V-shaped deep drainage ditch and the Badgers and hedgerow birds (including Whitethroats, Dunnocks, Wrens and Blackbirds) have lost a valuable breeding habitat. 

Full Spectrum Photography - Autumn Rain

I took my full spectrum Lumix camera for a walk in the rain and concentrated on flowers, berries and leaves. Rather too slow shutterspeeds as light was very poor but I like the colour palettes. There is some channel swapping of background colours in Lightroom but often as taken.