Back - With a little help from my friends.

Creepie, Crawlie, Stingy, Bitey - Ian is back!

It has been far too long and for that I apologise! How many of you are still out there? (Please do post comments at the bottom of the blog) It is almost a year since I came home from holiday to find messages from family and friends asking if I was aware of some offensive comments that had been posted out of the blue on Facebook.

Not a nice end to a great holiday but at least with the comments being made publicly, family, friends and even casual acquaintances were able to see how unnecessary, ill-informed and cruel the comments were. The number of messages of support I received were amazing. Since then though, my online presence has been limited to say the least and most of my communications have been in private messages. One persons thoughtlessness has caused so much hurt to so many people. This is why you have not heard much from me in the last year......

However, my passion for wildlife and the desire to share my experiences remains as powerful as ever, and still I make the daily forays around the garden and in the forest with my camera at the ready. Despite all of our traveling around the world, we never fail to be amazed at the beauty and diversity that exists right here in our own back yard.

Helped as always by my incredible wife Gerry and more recently by my amazing Grandson Ewan and adorable Grand-daughter Olivia finding bugs and other creatures has never been easier!

Ewan helping a slow worm to 'Pose'

I have started to sort through the pictures I have taken since my last entry and there are quite a few!

Hardly a day goes past without one or other of the little ones coming in giggling with ants, woodlice, beetles or other bugs crawling up their arms to be photographed. I accept full responsibility for their obsessions.

Ewan again with the tiniest newt we have ever seen!

So, to get back into the Blog scene here are some of the pictures I have taken this year. Please do leave a comment or two, it would be great to see how many of you are still out there. AND! from now on, it will not only be my hands holding the creepy crawlies - the little ones are fearless too :-)

First - a couple of very different plants taken in the New Forest at a lovely little water filled gravel pit near Burley just before we spotted a beautiful grass snake gliding through the water.

The first picture is the type of thing most people would photograph. Some stunning lilies. Impossible to miss on a summer day.

The second is featured in one of my many talks. The 'Sundew' is amazingly beautiful but is sadly missed and even trampled on by most people. Only when you get down on hands and knees do you really see it in detail. Look closely and you can see the husks of the flies who have been tricked into landing on this beautiful but deadly plant - yes, it is carnivorous!

 

On this day we were lucky that our walk coincided with the migration of baby frogs as they left the safety of their birth pool for their own territories. they were EVERYWHERE! Ewan and Olivia LOVED them and Ewan was more than happy to pick them up and pose for us. Olivia was also happy to hold them, but had to be stopped from 'Hugging' them too tightly.

 

Always one of my favourite subjects - ants are so challenging to photograph. They never stop moving. While woodlice are Ewans favourite bugs, ants are Olivias. While we discourage her from handling these big wood ants, she loves to get the little garden variety running up her arms.

 

 Yes, I have posted better pictures of Damselflies before, but this one was really unusual. White and silver in colour - it looked quite 'Robotic'. Found by Naomi and Ewan I was called away from my snake hunt and told to bring my camera. A real family affair!

  

Beetles are Ewan's responsibility! This little dung beetle was intercepted as it hurried towards a VERY fresh pile of horse manure! It took 4 hands (with Ewan's in the middle) to get it in the right position for a photograph after which Ewan placed it in a good position for its reward - a giant pile of poo!

Ewan's greatest find so far this year! I had spent weeks trying to locate a stag beetle to show him. Then one day he comes in from our garden, cool as you like, to show us what he had found. Aren't they magnificent creatures? By far our most impressive beetle and in our experience and despite all of our travelling, second only to the rhinoceros beetle we saw in Indonesia last year!

 And now a few shots from our sunny picnic on Badbury Rings. A day of sun, laughter, picnic and of course BUGS!

A very colourful Crane Fly

Look what I have found Oma and Opa!

Yet another one we hadn't seen before!

Beautiful!

Come out come out wherever you are!

Been to the rings so many times, but this was the first of these beauties to keep still and pose for us! Normally they flit around like there was no tomorrow!

Chased a trillion grasshoppers and finally caught one! 2 Nice pictures. Thanks yet again to Ewan!

And in close up :-)

Well, That's enough for the moment. These were just a  few of the photos I have taken recently, I will try and get another post out in the near future.

Remember to keep your cameras ready and take a closer look at every log, leaf and flower. There is more around you than you realise! Don't kill them! Take a picture and appreciate the variety and beauty that is everywhere.

Thanks for dropping in, hope you enjoyed my mini-world! Watch this space! Next time, I will try and make the post a bit more structured :-)

Want to be alerted when I publish new posts? Let me have an email address and I will be happy to notify you.