Photo Blog

I love observing nature through the changing seasons both in my Norfolk wildlife garden and the surrounding countryside. I blog about wildlife gardening as well as about Norfolk butterflies, wildflowers and other flora and fauna that I come across. Bookmark my Norfolk nature photo blog to keep up to date with my photographic adventures.

Late Spring by the Pond

After a long chilly spring, the first and second week of May saw high pressure finally arrive in East Anglia and our meadow and pond burst into a hive of belated activity as temperatures soared into the 20s.

I saw my first Large Red Damselfly, my first Yellow Flag Iris and my first Broad-bodied chaser dragonfly, whilst the Ragged Robin started to reach full bloom. Our butterflies also got busier with Holly Blues out and about early, dancing along the native hedgerow. It seems to be a good year for them. With my Garlic Mustard and Dames-violet also in flower, Orange-tips and Green-veined white butterflies have now made an appearance too, though sadly in ones and twos.

Yellow Flag Iris flower spike

Pink Ragged Robin flowers

Large Red Damselfly

Butterflies and Blackthorn Blossom

Peacock butterfly, Aglais io, nectaring on early Blackthorn, Prunus spinosa, blossom

Every year I wonder when and which butterfly species will be my first sighting of the year. Often its a “classic” springtime butterfly like a Brimstone or an Orange tip butterfly, but this year it was actually a Nymph family butterfly instead.

Out of nowhere on the 17th March, a Small Tortoiseshell appeared, it landed, pausing briefly to bask on some bare earth, only just long enough for an ID then darted off in the stiff breeze.

The sighting was so fleeting, however, that it was only really when I caught sight of this Peacock butterfly, Aglais io, a week later, with is vivid diversionary eyespots, frantically nectaring on newly opened blossom on the still leafless Blackthorn branches several days in a row in my native hedgerow that I really felt that spring was finally on its way and warmer days were not too far off.

It was also a timely reminder of just how vital a habitat a mixed native hedgerow is for our early pollinators. Blackthorn, Prunus spinosa, and other early flowering Prunus species for example are particularly important both for newly emerging butterflies, bees and hoverflies as well as acting as caterpillar hosts once their leaves burst and eggs hatch.

Its often overlooked in favour of exotic non native evergreens or plain old fencing, but by the time its warm enough to spend any time in the garden my native hedge is so thick my garden’s totally private. Hopefully as wildlife gardening becomes more popular and awareness of just how bad things are for insects and the remaining wildlife that depends on them, the popularity of mixed native hedging will start to increase.

At last, it is spring!

Blackthorn,Prunus spinosa, flowers even before its leaf buds have opened

Pear Tree Blossom

The mild, sunny weather conditions have been just perfect for our fruit trees. The blossom on our heritage Norfolk pear trees has been simply divine…

And Breathe... Spring is here!

Just when you think you really can’t take it any more, finally the temperatures drift up, the first Blackthorn blossom appears in the hedgerows on still naked stems and you know that Spring, at long last, is here.

Smoothly Enters the Newt

A surprising number of tadpoles survived this year's late snow and frosts to hatch out, proving that nature has long coped with such seasonal extremes. Once hatched, a tadpole's lot does not get easier by any means, because along with the warmth, their nemesis the Common newts have returned.

Common newts, also known as Smooth newts, predate heavily on tadpoles and frogspawn in springtime, and male Common newts can be spotted due to their vivid orange and black spotted underbelly which is a temporary colouring worn during the mating season.

Male Common or Smooth newt in orange mating colours

Common newt hunting among newly hatched tadpoles

Smile, Its Spring... For A day!

Hopefully the treacherous weather will not be too damaging to this year's frogspawn. Hard to believe just three days ago my wildlife pond was an amorous hotspot with over half a dozen frogs busy making frogspawn. Today the pond is frozen over again and the ground has at least 2 or 3 inches of snow being swept around by the "mini Beast".

Frog nestled in pondweed in a wildlife pond

Three in a bed.... male frogs swarming aorund a female.

Frog amongst fresh frogspawn

Smile! Its spring

Smile! Its spring

Springtime in der Eifel

Spring has well and truly sprung with a couple of weeks of glorious weather in the UK and the continent. Here a small selection from a short trip to the beautiful Eifel Nationalpark on the German-Belgian border, with lush meadows dripping in springtime wildflowers and vivid dappled green woodland trails bursting with life...

New season's foliage in deciduous woodland on the slopes

Apple tree blossom on a hot sunny circular walk around a 45 thousand year old Meerfelder Maar - a volcanic crater and lake or "Maar".

Wildflowers and butterflies were very similar to those in the UK with cuckoo flower, dandelions, stitchwort and marsh marigolds and dandelions in the downland meadows.

An enticing dappled woodland trail on the Lieserpfad hiking route

Signs of Spring - Insect and Amphibian Emergence

At last...! Some milder days in between the blustery weather, ones when you can really feel the sun on your back. Slowly more signs of spring are present. Insects start to emerge from their overwintering. Though I've yet to photograph my first butterfly of the season (a brimstone on 25th March) I've enjoyed watching out for the early emerging bugs, bees and, that renowned augury of springtime, the first amphibian frogspawn.

My first sign of early spring insect life was this female Minotaur beetle. One of 8 British "Dor" beetles, she emerges in March and roams woodland and pastureland. Despite their size and fearsome looks, Minotaur beetles are herbivores feeding on ruminant dung. After mating she will dig a burrow up to a metre long to lay her eggs.

My second insect sighting was while out gardening. I saw the most gigantic queen buff-tailed bumblebee crash land and nectar furiously on my white crocus. She clambered across our daisy-filled "Meadow Mat" at a surprising rate of knots, looking like she was on a mission, perhaps seeking a nest site to  establish her colony for the season. Sometimes known as the Large earth bumblebee from their latin name Bombus terrestris, Buff-tailed bumblebees are one of the earliest bees to emerge in spring and also among the largest to visit gardens in Europe. 

Looking closely you can see some mites hitching a ride on her thorax. Unlike some mites, they are not parasitic but are in fact harmless detrivores, who survive by living in the bumblebee nest and providing a cleaning service to the colony, feeding on old beeswax and other detritus.

mites-on-bumblebee

And last but not least, frogspawn arrived to our pond on the 26th March this year, 4 days later than last year and in smaller quantities. With a greater amount of protective pond plants established, hopefully the tadpoles will stand a better chance this year against our hungry newt population.

Spring Orchids

Green-winged Orchid

Early Purple Orchid

The arrival of May means we are entering late springtime, augering the arrival of warm days and our early orchids. Here are two you can see readily in Norfolk, the Early Purple Orchid (orchis mascula) that can be seen in ancient woodland where it is often a companion plant to bluebells, and the very small Green-Winged Orchid (Anacamptis morio), a later flowering orchid happiest in open unimproved grassland. 

After the whites greens and yellows of early spring now pinker palette emerges among our countryside wildflowers. Amongst others, both the pretty red campion (silene dioica) and herb robert (geranium robertianum), one of several elegant native geranium species, come into bloom during in the month and if you're lucky, you might even see an early poppy.

Lush Springtime

For me, springtime is as much about the pure whites and lush greens, the fresh background colour palette against which the more vivid yellows, pinks and lilacs that pretty spring wildflowers display their wares to early pollinating insects. At this time of year the woodland floor becomes a pastel mosaic of early spring wildflowers such as greater stitchwort, water avens as well as bluebells and campions all in a mad dash to flower and seed before the renewed tree canopy shades their light for the summer season until autumn leaf-fall arrives.

Signs of Spring

At last...the first days when you can feel the warmth of the sun on your back... aconites and snowdrops in full bloom... realising sunset is well past 5 o'clock...it must mean spring is on its way. These photos of pretty snowdrops and winter aconites were taken on a recent snowdrop walk on Lexham Estate in aid of their ancient church.

Happy Valentines Day

The days are getting longer and it won't be too long before we start to see frenetic activity as spring begins to show signs of its impending arrival and our native wildlife start to feel romance in the air. Here are two emerald damselflies in a heart shaped embrace reminding us that love is in the air...