Well, it’s been a while since my last post and I can honestly say I have no idea where the time has gone but it sure has been hectic. The exhibition was a great success and a huge thank you to all that made it, it was great to meet and talk to so many people and as promised here are just a handful of comments that were left in my book:

“Thank you for sharing your excellent pictures – they are so inspirational – awesome.”

“A truly inspiring exhibition. Your photos are absolutely stunning and magical.”

“Stunning images! Creativity with great technical ability”

“A truly wonderful exhibition, Victoria has a very special gift! The talk was fascinating and most entertaining, packed with delightful stories that support the pictures – inspiring.”

“Have never seen wildlife photographed so spectacularly.”

And one of my favourites by a young boy “EPIC”

I am humbled by so many wonderful comments that really help spur me on and drive me towards the next exhibition, still looking for a venue so if you know of anywhere please get in touch! Although the exhibition has now been taken down, all the magnets, keyrings, calendars, cards and framed images have now joined my stock for the craft fairs, details of which can be found hereby clicking on this link Craft Fairs 2012 so if you’re in the area why not pop in and say hello, I’d love to see you.

So, onto other matters. I finally finished the video of mine and Chris’s trip to Madagascar which can be watched by clicking on this link: Madagascar Video and despite the horrendous weather we have been experiencing, I have continued to follow the dipper family on the River Axe. There is some bad news though, dippers nest early in the year and with all the rain we had there was a flood on the river and the dippers lost their first nest, but this didn’t deter them and I observed them collecting more nesting material once the river level receded. For weeks I have only been seeing one parent except on one occasion when the second adult came out form under the bridge to have a quick feed and disappeared back under the bridge again. Spending so much time with these little birds has enabled me to capture some different and unique images of their daily life.

First up is a peaceful image of the dipper having a clean on a rock as the river flows by.

A rare shot of the dipper in the waterfall looking for insect larva.

And one of the dipper sitting still long enough for me to capture it with its reflection!

I have also been able to capture some video footage of one of the adults going about its daily life of foraging and preening, just click on this link Dipper video footage. I will be continuing to follow these birds throughout the summer, capturing more images and footage and will update with further news in a few weeks, but if you can't wait that long then you can keep up to date via the flickr album Dippers on the River Axe.

Away from work, wedding plans have been going well and the dress has been started and with the wedding less than 10 months away excitment is definately growing along with the work load! Time to get back to article writing for now, details to be annouced in a few weeks. Keep safe and dry if you can and thank you for reading.

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.