Frogs, just frogs

Hello! Things have been a little hectic since my return from Romania a few weeks ago with getting stuff together for a fund-raising weekend and working on getting all the new stock together ready the autumn and Christmas craft markets. But I haven't forgotten about my promise of a post dedicated to frogs and here it is at last! All these images were taken in the pond in my parents garden so it just proves that you can create a wonderful wildlife habitat and don't need to go far for some wonderful images.For a long time I have wanted to photograph common frogs in duck weed, just one of those things I wanted to do and there certainly was a very thick blanket of the stuff on the pond. I had popped over to help clean up the pond and cut back the plants that had got wildly out of control and ended up spending a large amount of time photographing the froggies! Here are just a few of my favourite images from that afternoon/day working on the pond, I have to say they really are charismatic little creatures all slightly different in appearance and slightly different in attitude it would seem with oncoming closer and closer to the lens! Without further ado here they are both in colour and in black and white, enjoy! 

Well, I hope you enjoyed the images as much as I enjoyed taking them. I'm happy to say that we did complete the work we needed to on the pond that day although we are still working on some aspects to make it more wildlife friendly. Aside from the good population of frogs, there is at least one toad although a little camera shy, some newts and for the first time in years a dragonfly has been spotted! I feel I will be spending some time in over the next year investigating the pond and also the rest of the garden, you would be surprised how many of my images are taken so close to home! 

Time to go and get everything ready for the first craft market of the season, if you are in the area we will be at the Guildhall in Shaftesbury from 10am - 4pm with some of the new stock, including the brand new card collections and small gift sets. If you have not read it yet, my next journal entry is up and running just click on the Nat Geo link to the side of this post, it's all about arthropods and why there is so much diversity and abundance in Transylvania. 

I am now taking bookings for talks in 2014, so if you are a member of club that you think will be interested please do get in touch, I tailor every talk to the interests of the group I am talking too, so whether it's nature locally or from far flung places, I have something for everyone! 

Whatever you are up to, have a great weekend. 

Wedding & Honeymoon

Wow, what a couple of months it has been! We had the most incredible and amazing wedding, all the time, effort and work that we put into making it personal was definitely worth it and it was so wonderful to be able to share our special day with so many friends and family. Here are just a couple of photos from our day courtesy of  Thomas and Paul from Willowstone Photography, a huge thank you for capturing our day perfectly. 

 

We had a week at home to sort out work stuff and pack for what would be an incredible 2 week adventure to Borneo for our honeymoon. It was a long flight and by the time arrived in Borneo we were exhausted, we were welcomed to our first stop the Rasa Ria Hotel right on the beach and decided to just chill out and book onto a trip to see the orang-utans for the following day so all that was left was to get some sleep! The next day after breakfast we headed off to see the orang-utans in the forest, we weren't to be disappointed! After chilling out the rest of the day, we watched the most incredible sunset then had a wonderful dinner in a gazebo on the beach! 

Borneo Sunset

Orang-utan in the forest

Atlas Moth

Next stop was the Borneo Rainforest lodge, deep in the heart of the rainforest, we arrived after a short flight and 2 1/2 hour drive but wow, what a place! Paradise in the forest, just perfect and we would spent a few nights here exploring the area with our personal guide and enjoying some wonderful food! There was so much we wanted to see, but top of the hit list was the Wallace's flying frog, we saw not one but two at their nest site, not to mention many many more frogs along the way! We also saw several wild orang-utans, some otters on the river and an Atlas moth! So here are just a couple of photos from our stay at the lodge:

Wallace's flying frog

Frog silhouette

Forest lizard

 After an incredible couple of days it was time to hit the road again and head for the Myne Resort on the banks of the Kinabatangan River where we hoped to see proboscis monkeys, pig-tailed macaques, long-tailed macaques, orang-utans and maybe even the Borneo pygmy elephants and a trip to the Gomantang caves to see the spectacle of millions of bats leaving the caves at dusk and we would spend the next few days exploring the area by boat with the odd trip into the forest. A lot happened in these few days, we saw so much, too much to go into here, but there were definitely some highlights so here goes!!! 

Baby pig tailed macaque

Praying mantis in the forest

Baby long-tailed macaque waking up in the jungle

 And now for the elephants, we found them and spent and amazing hour watching them eating and playing by the banks of the river and even swimming in the river!

baby elephant

A helping push in to the river

The Eye

Elephant greeting

Playing in the river

Alas, it was time to move on again and this time to Sepilok and surrounding area to see the orang-utans, proboscis monkeys and then on to Lankayan Island for a couple of days of paradise to finish our trip around Malaysian Borneo. First stop were the proboscis monkeys, these really are funny creatures with their big noses and crazy soft grunting sounds they make, not only did we encounter these but also some silver leaf monkeys and ...... a baby get ready for some cuteness! 

Female proboscis monkey

Male proboscis monkey

Proboscis monkey in the trees

Captivating eyes

Orang-utan silhouette

Baby silver leaf monkey

A couple of shots from the island paradise of Lankayan, the restaurant and us watching the sunset with a nice glass of wine to end what was an incredible and very special two weeks.

These are of course not all the photos, so if you would like to check out more of the images then head over to my website or Facebook page where you will find all kinds of different images! It really has been the most amazing and special couple of weeks and I am looking forward to many more adventures with the most incredible and loving man in the the world, a huge thank you to everyone who helped to make these few weeks possible. 

So, what next ............. 

Well, I head out to Romania to start the Nat Geo funded research for the Transylvanian Wildlife Project, not before I've had chance to capture some blossom and flowers before I go (that will be in the next post) and for Chris, well it is time to get the athletes ready for the Olympics! Stayed tuned for another update soon.