Nature through the eyes of my camera

How often do you hear people confuse crickets with grasshoppers? There are several differences although they look similar. The grasshopper goes out during daylight hours while the cricket goes out at night. The grasshopper is larger than the cricket. The grasshopper comes in colours of: neutral, green, grey or light brown. The cricket comes in bright and dark colours. Grasshoppers can fly and jump while crickets only usually jump. The cricket also has longer antennae. The cricket makes a chirping sound by rubbing its wings together, while the grasshopper rubs its wings with its hind legs. Grasshoppers hear through ears situated on the base of the abdomen while crickets hear through an organ situated on the front legs. There are several different types of both English grasshoppers and crickets. Some of these are shown below. Dark Bush Cricket (Pholidoptera griseoaptera) The dark bush cricket can be found in southern and central England and south wales. ...

I hadn't realised until recently that there are 46 species of ladybird resident in Britain. Only 26 of these have the spotty, round look that most of us are familiar with. There is the seven spot red with black spots and there are also orange, yellow, brown, black and white and they also come with stripes, patches and streaks. The seven spot ladybird lays tiny yellow oval shaped eggs near aphid colonies. The eggs hatch into larvae about 1mm in length. It eats up to 60 aphids a day and within a few weeks is 6mm in length. The larvae has a grey/black body with bristles and tufts and yellow patches. It sheds its skin four times as it grows. When the larva is fully grown it sticks itself to a leaf (or some other surface) by its tail. It then sheds its larvae skin and becomes a pupa. Within a week or two the new adult finally emerges. The pupa case splits open and the beetle climbs out. At this stage the beetle is a yellow colour. Within hours the first sign of...

Fermyn Woods Fermyn Woods in Northamptonshire is a diverse site with grassland, ponds and woodland. It is known for its variety of butterflies and I was not disappointed, though I will have to return to find those that I missed. Below are some of the wildlife images taken during my visit. The Silver-washed is the largest of the British Fritillary and possible the most beautiful. It is mostly confined to woodland in the southern part of the country. The Marbled White is one of the few butterflies that has seen an increase in numbers as the climate has warmed. It is best seen in weak sunlight first thing in the morning or late afternoon when the wings are held open to absorb the sun. The Gatekeeper is abundant in the lower half of the country and has also benefited from the warmer climate. The Gatekeeper's habitat is among tall, wild grasses growing beneath sunny, shelter shrubs. The Small White can be found over most of the country. It is not popular ...

Strumpshaw Fen is a RSPB nature reserve on the Norfolk Broads. You can walk through a variety of wetland habitats, meadows, woodland and reed beds. There is much wild life to be seen and on a recent visit I was delighted to get good shots of the Swallowtail butterfly. The Swallowtail butterfly is one of the rarest and most magnificent of the British butterflies. It can now be found only on the Norfolk Broads. It feeds almost exclusively on milk parsley. When new materials (rather than reeds) were found for roofing houses after the first world war, reed beds were no longer maintained and the milk parsley was swamped by other sorts of vegetation. Without milk parsley the Swallowtail could not survive. It wasn't until the reed beds were managed again that the milk parsley and the Swallowtail started to re-appear. The Eyed Hawk moth (Smerinthus ocellata) is found mostly in the southern half of the UK. It can be seen between May and September in woodlands and garden...

For a while now I have wanted to get some decent images of Kingfishers. I have walked by the rivers and sat in hides but to no avail, until last Thursday. It was a bright day and I felt optimistic as I made my way to Lackford Lakes. I headed for the 'double decker ' hide and waited. There had been sightings earlier in the morning. I hoped they would appear again. Within half an hour a Kingfisher was perched and the shutters were being released. It flew to a perch closer to where I was seated and I was able to get some great shots. Next time I'll hopefully get some shots of a Kingfisher fishing!

The grey seal is the larger of the two seal seen around our coastline. The grey seal can be distinguished from the common seal by its nose. The nostrils are set apart and parallel, not V shaped as on the common. The male is much heavier than the female and darker in colour. They come ashore to mate and give birth, usually between October and January. The bulls can become very aggressive during mating and the cows will often fight back to protect their pups. Some of the images portray this behaviour.