A summery day for insect photography

ALL IMAGES © WILLIAM BERMINGHAM 2012

Ergh. Exams. Whine whine whine, moan moan moan. 

This blog update comes from the deepest recesses of university exam season. With my first exam in just 2 days time, this morning's sunny weather brought some welcome relief (and vitamin D) to my pasty revision cave complexion!

Taking study breaks are important. and with my knees just about recovered from last summer's tandem escapade to Paris, the Wetland centre is suddenly just a few mins away on my trusty fixed-gear bike.

First off, a little extra plug for the London WWT Centre. 

**THEY NOW HAV OTTERS PEOPLE!! AND THEY ARE JUST WONDERFUL!**

Pictures will follow in a later blog post, but I really recommend a visit to see them.

The otters were not the aim of my visit today, however. I had set myself *REVISION RULES*

i) 1hr only.

ii) NO hides.

Summer at the centre offers a whole lot for everyone. Despite being a weekday, the centre was heaving with people ans school groups, all scampering about enjoing the sun and nature. With my limited time window, I wanted to quickly find a location to get results. My first piece of luck came in the waterlife gardens. Searching for bees, I instead spotted two dragonflies caught in a spiders web. The silken threads were so fine you could hardly believe the insects were stuck - they looked more frozen mid flight between the flowers.

Speaking of flowers, there certainly are plenty around at the moment. Lots of mootings about the various orchids that are out at the centre at the moment - I particularly wanted to find a bee orchid, but no luck today (only 1 hr remember!).

My second photo spot found me over towards the sandmartin bank. There is a nice wooden bench here with a wildflower bank surrounding it. With the warm sun beating down, I sat watching buff tailed bumblebees bzz about. It was, however, the beetles that got my camera shutter firing. I think this fellow is a common flower beetle, but his emerald green colours looked great in the grasses.

Sticking with beetles, I also managed to snap a couple of shots of an ever familiar ladybird :)

So finally (its late, im sleepy, revision has warped my brain). The last couple of pics (and indeed the first couple of the honey bees) were all taken just outside the wetland center in the lovely flower bed that greets you on arrival. Flowers, bees and bugs aplenty, I particularly like the snap below of a cardinal(?) beetle on a cornflower - with the chaotic cornflower stems making a fascinating background onto which the tiny detail of the beetle stands out.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this installment. Im always open to comments, tips, bug identifications and general chatter! And remember, BRITISH BEES NEED YOU. BEE-BEE FRIENDLY TODAY!!!

ALL IMAGES © WILLIAM BERMINGHAM 2012

Bees and Bugs

So. My last post was about beeeees, and people seemed to like that.

So....

As I am in a revision cave and unable to go to the wetland centre, I thought i would dig out a few more pictures of our insecty friends for this blog update. Lets start with dragonflies. Beautiful and deadly, I think I speak for everyone in saying that these ancient creatures are almost universily fascinating. Their method of flight, their massive variation and vibrant colours ensure they will appeal on some level to most people.

The folwoing 3 shots showcase some dragonflies from 3 countries; Holland, the UK (LWC) and Singapore respectively. Identifications/trivia comments welcome!

This last photo is the one I am most proud of, and I wouldn't have snapped it without the sharp eyes of my girlfriend spying this chap sitting oh so perfectly atop a flowering stem. A copy of this one is hanging in my hallway and always reminds me of warmer climes!

Now, for those who have had a gander at this blog before, you will know that first and foremost I tend to snap our feathery friends. But I must say, its quite rare that I actually use my bird photos for anything other than to browse through occasionally. In terms of picking photos for more daily viewing like my laptop background, it's my more macro themes shots that tend to win out. Here are a couple of shots that have previously graced my computer

And now i really must return to revision. Lets finish with a couple more bees :D

All images © William Bermingham 2012

Bzzzzzzzzzzz!

The weather is London is WONDERFUL. 

Hot sun, cooling breeze and clear skies for a few days has been a huge uplift in the mood of the population. The parks are full, BBQs lit and revision is firmly on hold for a couple of afternoon hours!

So with this backdrop of summery goodness, I thought it would be an opportune time for a blog post about BEES.

Bees are brilliant. Buzzing about from flower to flower, they are the the herralds of spring and summer. These first two are a couple I snapped today at the London Wetland Centre :)

The LWC is a great place for photographing these fluffy chaps. Their flower beds draw in bees and bugs from all around and the variety of flowers gives the photographer some lovely variation.

Being very much an amateur at this photography business, Ive always found my bee photographs are more down to luck than anything else. The one below is one of my favorites. With a slightly slower shutter speed, I somehow manged to catch a bee in vertical takeoff from this wonderfully vibrant purple flowers.

And finally, these were some of my first bee pictures. Proboscises deployed, for me, these images capture the anticipation of a tasty nectar treat!

 

REMEMBER: Our bees are in trouble. If you can, a bee friendly garden is a great way to support our pollinating friends!

http://beekind.bumblebeeconservation.org/finder

All Images © William Bermingham 2012

The 12 days of May-Time

On the 12th Day of May-time, the Wetlands showed to me...

12 (hundred) swifts a-swifting,
11, Martins a-nesting
10, Geese a-swooping














9, Gadwall floating













8, Bees a-buzzing

7 Wrens a-dancing













6 Herons a- sleeping

5 Shiny lapwing

4 red legged shank




















3 Ringed plovers











2 Distant Dunlin












... and a tern fishing by the tow-er

For the love of mud

It's a fine line between mud and sea.

For the past few weeks, London has been stuck in that very British of paradoxes: A rather rainy drought. Now before you close this page in disgust, the weather is not the focus of this post. There will be no more mention of dought-brellas or drought-ingtons, believe me I am as frustrated by these throw away remarks as you dear reader. 

No, today I want to focus on the devastating effect a fairly insignificant amount of rain can reak when it all decides to come at once. Just a few days ago, I stumbled upon a BBC article which made me feel very sad indeed

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17966324

All about the country, it seems that our much needed environmental hydration has tipped the scales to flood in some crucial areas. Those worst affected are the wonderful wanderers of the shoreline, the dippers in the mud, the snipes, shanks, plovers and all other birds that wade.

But I must confess to something. Yes, I am sad that the loods around the country are seriously impeeding the breading of our native waders. They are lovely birds and a joy to watch as they quietly move about the banks, ignoring the hum drum of the other birds. But their plight has also given me an opportunity to pull together a few of my snaps from my Christmas in New Zealand :) So here they are.

Lets start with this chap. Snapped down on the southern coast of the South Island, this is a Variable Oyster catcher. Interestingly, this fairly rare bird is the only oyster catcher that has a pure black variety. The population as a whole, true to their name, vary somewhat between a pied pattern to full black as you head south down the coast.

Im pleased to say that the group we saw seemed to be doing very well indeed, shepherding their clutch of chicks accross the petrified forest that made up the shoreline.

Any just to finish off this post (Ive been terribly busy recently organising events and preparing for exams that words are failing me somewhat), here are a couple of snaps I took of pied stilts up in the Mount Cook region. This delightful little bird introduced itself from Oz around 1800 and is thriving in its new home. Interestingly, I have read that they are masters of distraction when it comes to leading potential preditors away from their nests. Some have even been seen feigning injury to draw a foe over and away from their nests. A nice little account can be found at the link below.

http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/wading-birds/3

So there you have it. A little expose for the waders. Spare a thought for them during this rainy rainy spring time

All images © William Bermingham 2012

Sniping

Ok, so quick apology first. In the last installment of my blog, I said my next post would be a duck-tacular, and it quite clearly is not. This post is in-fact about just one particular bird, the Snipe.

 

Snipe are a fairly regular siting at the London Wetland Centre - though by no means an easy one! They are lovely little waders, with a long beak and fantastic camoflague. You can often see one or two from the WWF and Wader Scrape hides, but it takes a little while to get your eye in and pick them out between the reeds. Consider the picture below practise!

 So why has this humble little bird caused me to shun my ducks? Well, any regular visitors to the Wetland Centre will have experienced what may as well be called the "Snipe Effect." Sitting in a hide, all will be quiet (well, excusing the periodic firing of my camera shutter... sorry to all those silent binocular users out there...), quiet that is until a Snipe potters around a bank and into view. 

"LOOOOOOK! ITS A SNIPE!" is the frenzied whispering that then spreads from watcher to watcher and all will huddle about to get a view.

What the Snipe think of all this, I dont know. They always seem extremely serene, dipping around in the shallows. Whatever is going on out on the lake, coots beating everyone else up, geese honking or seagulls zipping about, the humble little snipe just bumbles around as if nothing in the world could cause him bother. Im sure there is a lesson for London in there somewhere...

 So here is to the Snipe. A beautiful little bird and a real gem to spot to the London Wetland Centre. They are amber listed too, so it is great to see so many seeming to be so at home in our big city!

 Until next time :)

All images © William Bermingham 2012

Bloggers Block

Many things have happened since I last updated my blog. Christmas came and went, my birthday too. The NHS Bill waxed, waned and got crow-barred through parliament, Syria is still blowing itself to bits, and today MPs have finally realised that Heathrow probably isn't up to dealing with the Olympics.

So I think its about time I popped some photos on here to hopefully provide a little distraction from the fraught world we all live in! I have some treats too - with it being so long since my last post, I have a whole bunch of photos to pick from AND they include some from my Christmas-time trip to New Zealand!

So, lets get the ball rolling with some birds from the other side of the world.

*QUACK* ...okok, so an Albatros may not actually quack, but I think in this picture he is at least thinking it! Taken just outside Dunedin Harbor, S.Island, NZ, we were really lucky that out tour boat left the harbour just as a fishing vessel was returning. The result? A whole bunch of Albatros that swooped around us, wondering if we too had discarded fish to feast on. The light was beautiful and the proximity of the birds meant I managed to get some nice portraits of their incredibly expressive features.

Just round the corner from the relative bustling of Dunedin city is the Otago Peninsula. It is FULL of wildlife and well worth a trip. The albatross I captured were taken just off the peninsula, and indeed there is even an albatross colony up on the headland. But these mighty birds are put in there place by the wonder of the New Zealand yellow eyed penguins. A local farmer called Sam took us to see them in a little secluded cove on his land, via an exciting ride in his long wheel base Landy! They are quite simply a delight to watch. Coming ashore to their nests in the evening, the penguins waddle around the pristine sandy beaches. We were lucky enough to see two of the birds arrive together and dance with each other on the foreshore.

These penguins are not only wonderful, but they hold the unfortunate title as one of the most endangered species of penguin in the world. Lets hope the great work by these chaps continues to help their number rise! http://yellow-eyedpenguin.org.nz/

INTERMISSION: Here is a Dolphin.

Ok, enough NZ wildlife. I will post some more highlights from my trip in following posts. Lets come back to London and the WWT centre just to round off.

With such a lovely March, I managed to escape my placement for a couple of odd days and get myself to the WWT hides to unwind and get some snaps. As some of my previous bloggings show, I continue to have a love for water in my pictures, and to indulge this, I've recently spent some time focusing on the diving ducks.

Its a tricky business trying to capture them as the breach the surface of the water after a dive, and i certainly haven't even come close to improving my methods, but here are some results so far.

 More to follow I hope! And a couple may feature in *sneaky spoiler alert* my forthcoming post on a collection of duck portraits! (I am determined to be a more consistent blogger again!)

And finally... I hope this blog has provided a little distraction from the trial and tribulations of the world around us. If it encourages some people to see the nature that survives even in the depths of London too, then I feel I have done a good thing! Here is one of my favorite birds of all time. Taken on the path just outside the WWT centre, this long tailed tit was nest building - but quite frankly, I prefer to think that he always sports such a smashing moustache!

All images © William Bermingham