July 2020 ~ Watching Buzzards develop through the summer

I have spent a lot of time working in a small woodland throughout the summer.  It was made a lot more enjoyable and memorable by sharing the time watching the development of Common Buzzard chicks.  Each time I passed by I would grab a few images and when I look back I have got quite a record of their life from fluffy white chicks to branching out and leaving  the nest.

Looking out a the big world

Stretching and growing

Buzzards are quite calm almost lazy birds and they seem quite content to just sit and watch the world and wait for food to be delivered.  Occasionally though there is a bit of life and stretching activity to liven things up.

Adult bringing in some food.

There were two chicks in the nest and both survived and fledged.  One was a lot larger and more advanced and I thought this was a female.  It left the nest about five days earlier that what I assumed was the smaller male.  I was pleased that the adults were able to bring in enough food so that both survived.  With raptors one is often an insurance policy in case of hard times with food shortages.

Two well developed chicks

It was so exciting when they began to branch out from the nest.  The big female lead the way.

Time to explore the world.

I now enjoy listening to their begging calls.  It is not annoying!  They became known as Screechy and Screamie!  Another thing I enjoy is that the photo's automatically record the dates so you are left with a record of the timescales of their development.

A very enjoyable part of this strange lockdown summer.
Great company to share in our little wood.

July 2020 Always a great month for Butterflies

It is great to see so many butterflies over the meadow grass and brambles on my local patch.  It was quite a surprise to realise that I could capture some images with my long lens.  I thought I would have difficulty holding the lens still and also getting enough depth of field.  I also didn't think that the minimum focus distance would give a large enough image in the frame.  So I was quite pleased with these few I captured:

Red Admiral

Small Tortoiseshell

Marbled White

Of course while being out with the camera other things turn up and I am always ready for the opportunities.  I managed to catch sight of these fox  cubs playing in the grass.  Keeping quite still I managed to capture a few images and spend a few enjoyable minutes.

Cubs enjoying the early morning sunshine

Posing for me

Female Muntjac

This female muntjac also came creeping along the hedge.

A most satisfying morning and I may get back into a bit more macro photography!