Great Crested Grebe Courtship Dance

Spring was definitely in the air this morning with the Grebes performing their courtship dance and starting a bit of nest construction. There was a lot of head turning and bobbing at all possible occasions.

Ely Cathedral Park

Images from a sunny walk in Ely Cathedral Park where I got intrigued by this old spreading London Plane tree. I couldn't find the origin and age of this tree though there is a Plane tree in the Palace garden that is said to be the oldest in England planted in 1630. 

Spring Flowers Closeup - Sexuality in the Primrose

All the years I have been photographing flowers, I was under the impression that Primroses were examples of  "unisexual" monoecious flowers where either the stamens or the carpels are missing in all the flowers in a clump.  Researching how the primrose ensures an even distribution of 'male' (pin-eyed plants) and 'female' (thrum-eyed plants), I discovered they are in fact bisexual but have different arrangements of the male and female parts - see diagram.

 Most of these are taken with a Fuji compact X100 V fitted with a X4 plus a X2.5 diopter close up lens in combination giving very close focus.  

Redpoll: New Species for Garden List

We were excited to see a pair of Redpolls in the garden yesterday. The male was looking resplendent with his red breast and cap. The female on the feeder shows how small they are compared with the Goldfinch. The male was ringed - presumably a British ring - anyone any  info on this?

Pinhole Images Toft

These are taken with my pinhole camera - still amazes me how an image can be produced with just a pinprick in silver foil. I failed to get my hole quite central so diffraction occurs with the bright lights and there is a bit of distortion on the lower edges of the frame. The exposures in the church were around 60 seconds and outside 0.6 to 1.5 seconds.

Ash Die-Back and Woodland Birds

Hardwick Wood is one of East Anglia's Ancient woodlands and its Ash trees are suffering badly with Ash Dieback - the tell-tale white twigs can be seen in the woodland panorama with close ups to follow. The fungus Hymenoscyphus fraxineus causes the lethal disease and represents a substantial threat. It was detected in the UK for the first time in 2012 and is now very widespread. The fungus blocks water and nutrients moving in the tree's vascular system, causing a restriction in water movement that leads to a significant leaf loss, bark lesions and then the dieback in the crown of the tree itself (hence the name). The loss of the Ash trees will affect the wood - there will be fewer trees for the nesting Buzzards and Kites though hole-nesters such as the Tits, Woodpeckers, Nuthatches and Tree Creepers may gain temporarily