Suffolk Stags

A cracking large male Stag Beetle in the garden yesterday.

Night Magic  - Suffolk

A common, resident species throughout England, the Leopard Moth trapped last night was a first for me - a striking and large moth! I have also started to befriend the little Wood Mouse, mainly with chocolate cake & can now approach him to within a few inches . . . . 

Woodbridge Wood Mouse.

Another regular night visitor to our Suffolk garden is this perky little Wood Mouse which visits the peanut feeder most nights. . . .these images were taken with 105mm Nikon VR macro lens, handheld.

A few more Shetland & Fair Isle  images . . .still working through a number of memory cards from this successful Spring trip, including a 16GB card so a lot of time on the computer these last few days. 

Puffin Passion . . . 

A few more Fair Isle images from last week, this time my favourite seabird - the Puffin!

What a Stag Night!

Back in Suffolk after another enjoyable trip to Fair Isle & Shetland. A treat last night was seeing a large annual visitor to the garden - the Stag Beetle. Up to a dozen were observed over the garden, several of both sexes landing on the roof, allowing for excellent close up views & photo opportunities. A rare & thinly distributed species in the UK, Suffolk  is one of the Stag Beetles remaining strongholds in Britain. Also trapped in the moth trap last night, 2 Lime Hawkmoths (images below) as well as Privet, Elephant & Pine Hawkmoths. A new species for the garden was a nationally scarce 'Festoon' moth.

Out on the Raz . . . .

Fair Isle - June 2009

Fair Isle continued  . . . .

A few more images from the last couple of days on Fair Isle. Numbers of migrants have been low so I have been concentrating on seabirds & flight shots. Migrants have however included Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, 1 male Red-backed Shrike, 1 male Red-breasted Flycatcher. Also a single Corn Bunting, Common Crossbill, Common Rosefinch & 2 Marsh Warblers . . .  

R-B-Fly

Yesterday we  awoke to news of an adult male Red-breasted Flycatcher which had been trapped in the Vaadal. What a stunning bird, having only seen autumn birds before this was a real treat .  The weather on Fair Isle has been really pleasant with  light northerlies for the last few days & an amazing amount of sunshine  - I have been immersed in seabird photography & increasing my image library stock . . ..

In the middle of a superb trip to Shetland & Fair Isle. . . Here are a few recent shots, lots more to come! . . . .