28th April 2026 There is a large hatch of mayflies from the lodes at Wicken Fen, most likely Drake Mackerels Ephemera vulgata, that climb into the sky and are then carried on the brisk, easterly wind. Up to three hobbies hunt them at the edge of the Adventurers’ Fen, sweeping in low over the water…
Category: British Wildlife
Stodmarsh – displaying great crested grebes
18th March, 2026 The pair on the small mere in front of the David Feast hide at Stodmarsh are starting to nest build and also starting to court. They never quite reach the weed carrying climax of their intricate display but they come together often to dance and preen together, and briefly mate on a…
Stodmarsh – hunting hen harrier
St Patrick’s Day In the bright afternoon, a female hen harrier flies low over the ground and always into the sun to ambush the teal and snipe near the Marsh hide. She never manages a kill but comes very close; the snipe screech and take off and the teal flock splashes into the middle of…
Hadlow Tower and Shipbourne Church from Ightham Mote
The well-trodden path onto the greensand ridge rises from the narrow and perennially damp valley in which Ightham Mote is hidden and eventually gives a spectacular view across the Medway valley to the next sandstone ridge beyond. The church in the middle distance is in the small village of Shipbourne with Hadlow Tower and a…
A Norfolk Barn Owl
Four in the morning and a barn owl hunts over the hay meadows for another hour before heading to the barns where there is surely a brood of young waiting to be fed; it is a fruitless hour of quartering and the occasional dive into the sward before reappearing empty handed. The grasses, mainly false…
June butterflies and orchids
A hot and dry June brings out the bee, fragrant and pyramidal orchids here on the North Downs; it seems a good year for them all even though the ground is parched. There are also droves of meadow browns, marbled whites and skippers. The dark green fritillaries are on the greater knapweed Centaurea scabiosa in…
More Spring butterflies and other insects
It has been a great spring for insects in Kent with a spell of uninterrupted warm, dry weather through April and May. The holly blues Celastrina argiolus are all over the hedgerow dogwoods Cornus sanguinea laying eggs on the flower clusters. The small blues Cupido minimus at Fackenden Down are plentiful at the base of…
Little owl on the old brick wall
The old farmyard buildings hold a pair of barn owls and little owls. The scolding blackbirds always let you know when they are about. The little owls are likely to nest somewhere in the abandoned livestock pens and the crumbling brick wall is a favourite perch. Of course, this photograph is as much about the…
Peregrine hunting dunlin at Shellness
At high tide at Shellness, which usually falls in the middle few hours of the day, a peregrine often runs in to try to take a dunlin or ringed plover. The start is marked by the sudden rush away of the dunlin flock. The oystercatchers gathered on the ness and curlews in the saltmarsh all…
Spring butterflies in Kent
The local butterflies seem more abundant than last year and the recent, warm weather has only helped them along. The photos were all taken in Kent on trips to Stodmarsh National Nature Reserve, Shellness in the Swale National Nature Reserve, Mereworth Woods, and Fackenden Down Kent Wildlife Trust Nature Reserve.
A Snettisham Spring Tide
The high tide on the Wash at dusk on the 1st March before the ‘big spring’ the next morning occurs on a quiet, still evening. At Snettisham Beach, a mile north of the old gravel pits, the oystercatchers come down the water’s edge in a constant procession of small flocks that fly just over the…
Brancaster Beach, Norfolk
The last visit here was in a hideous midwinter gale a couple of years ago, but the weather in early March is crisp and clear with hardly a breath of wind. The tide is out and the gulls, oystercatchers and redshanks work the shallow pools and channels along this huge stretch of beach that sits…