Paxton Pits Evening Activity

I called in at Paxton Pits on my way home from Birmingham to see what migrants were showing themselves. Certainly the Terns were active on the lake and Chiffchaff, Black Cap and Willow Warbler were all singing but no Nightingale song though three were heard recently. The Great Crested Grebe put on a good show catching and eating a small fish.

High Key in the Botanic Gardens

It felt really tropical in the Botanic Gardens on Thursday so a few hot steamy images to record the day. Some were in-camera effects (eg. first image when misted up in the Tropical Zone or overexposure as with Bee Fly), others created during  the processing

Jade Vine etc in Cambridge Botanic Gardens

Always one of my favourite photographic subjects, the Jade Vine is in flower at the moment. On the hottest April day for 70 years, the lighting was very harsh so I accentuated this but kept detail in the flowers by using fill-in ring flash.

Majorca: Wasps, Bees and Other Insects

I only used the 100-400 mm lens for taking insects so it was a bit hit and miss as regards depth of field and background (close focus 1.5 metres) but here a few insects that I managed to photograph in reasonable positions. The wasp is Polistes dominula.

Nightingale versus Cetti plus other Small Birds, S'Albufera, Majorca

As the weather warmed up and brightened, the S'Albufera sprang to life with Cetti's Warblers and Nightingales competing for attention. The Cetti's (first five) are generally secretive but on occasions come out into the open and sing profusely. The Nightingale (next two) sings generally very visibly on a branch but is such a ventriloquist that it is difficult to locate its position. Also shown Sardinian Warbler (resident species), Pied Flycatcher (migrating) and Fan-Tailed Warbler (summer visitor). We are back in England now and so wish could have been there this week when migration and breeding hopefully starts in ernest but that is the luck of the draw!

Places Visited During Visit to Majorca

Most of our week was spent at the S'Albufera Marshes - the weather was variable so we saw it in all conditions from rain to bright warm conditions on our last day (of course). The windy and cool conditions definitely reduced the number of birds present and recorded. We hired a car for 2 days and visited the mountains (along with many hundreds of cyclists!), walking at Cuber Reservoir and then the Bocquer valley on day one. The second day rained most of the morning but we managed visits to the Salt Pands at Des Salines and Son Real for its orchids.