Orchids

Hello again, I hope you enjoyed my post on adders I will be continuing to work with these over the coming years, there is still the grasshoppers to come (including some pink and oranges ones!) but this post is all about orchids. Unfortunately I have been a bit strapped for time to get out to photograph orchids this year due to other work commitments and their short flower period but I have managed a couple of trips that have been wonderfully successful to both old favourite spots and brand new ones.

I have found orchids in woodlands, fields and grassland and really looked at things differently this year as part of my Somerset Project. Instead of just taking beautiful pictures, I have both taken a step back and shown them in their habitat and got up close and personal to show their textures, so here are some of my favourite images.

Bee orchid - Ophrys apifera

Green-winged orchid - Anacamptis morio, both the normal purple variation and the much paler pink variation, both were in abundance at this new site.

Early Purple Orchid - Orchis mascula

Greater Butterfly Orchid - Plantanthera chlorantha

Common Spotted Orchid - Dactylorhiza fuchsii

Unknown orchid - I found this close to greater butterfly orchids but it doesn't look anything like them and can't find anything that looks similar so if anyone can help with an identification that would be lovely.

Well, that's it for orchids for now at least! These for part of my on-going project capturing the smaller things in Somerset and I'm hoping to produce a wonderful book to accompany the project which will be full of photos and the stories behind them but I have a way to go before that stage!

Next up will be grasshoppers and my work with them and then a new project based just down the road in Wiltshire which I have just started but very excited about. I'm heading away for 10 days but there will be plenty more when I get back and lots of new images from a different part of the UK.

For now, thank you for reading, please share with friends and family and take care.

Victoria x

Foxes, a whole post dedicated to foxes!

Hello, hope you are all well and managing to stay dry! So, we've had hedgehogs, next up is foxes and a whole post full of wonderful images of these creatures. But just before I start with the photos just a quick update on the webinar, it went very well and was a lot of fun so a huge thank you to all those that logged. If you missed it don't fear it is now available to watch/listen to on the archives in your own time, just follow the link below and scroll though until you get to me!

Webinar

So, on to the foxes and a whole selection of different images to celebrate this animal.

These are truly beautiful animals with such wonderful expressions, behaviours and colours! Hope you've had fun looking at the foxes. Not sure what will be next you'll have to wait and see! 

Just before I go though, don't forget the Christmas craft fairs for some wonderful and unique animal themed Christmas presents and cards, we'll be at the Cheese and Grain in Frome this Saturday (24th) 10am - 3pm and at the Warminster Civic Centre on Sunday (25th) 10am - 4pm so why not pop along and pick up something special and say hello! 

Dippers & Damselflies

Well, it has been a very busy few weeks, another very successful talk at the museum and just over one week left until the exhibition closes so if you haven't been yet, time is running out! The last day is Saturday 9th June and I will be there in person most of the day so why not pop along and say hi and you can ask me as many questions as you like.


I have been continuing to work at the caves part time which has allowed me fantastic access to a family of dippers on the River Axe and they have been busy collecting nesting material and feeding on the insect larvae in the river. I will be following their progress through the season and keep you up to date, fingers crossed for healthy and bouncing chicks in the near future! But for now here are a couple of images of their daily life so far....

Just coming up with an insect larva but before it broke the surface tension of the water








I will keep up-dating the album on Flickr as this progress so do please checking back, here's the link: Dippers

I have also been out and about with one of my favourite insects with all the good weather we've been having, the damselflies of the Somerset Levels. There is one particular photo I've been trying to perfect for some time now and finally managed it so here it is:

And something slightly different, I spent quite a while with this character as it made its way up the grass to the top and eventually started warmng its wings

but it's not just damselflies, as of a few weeks ago I had never photographed a mayfly so it has been on my list and I finally managed to capture the following image as they were emerging from the water

 I have a few more mini projects in the planning stages at the moment, so fingers crossed I will be able to bring you news and of course images and maybe even some video over the next few months! I have been trying out some new and more creative techniques (all done with in the camera of course) and these images will start to pop up on my pages so I shall leave you to hunt them out and let me know your throughts, to get you started here's one of a lovely woodland in spring sunshine complete with bluebells

I can see the next few months being very busy, with things picking up at the caves with school holidays, plenty of wedding planning and the mini projects I will certainly be busy and keeping out of trouble! Well, this is it for now what ever you have planned for the weekend and weeks ahead have fun.