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Written by Jeff Clarke
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Tuesday, 27 September 2011 08:04 |
Image conscious
All images unless otherwise stated © Jeff Clarke 2011
In recent days I've been busy with the Dot2Dot ladybird project for RECORD. The Local Biological Record Centre for Cheshire. The purpose of the project is to engage Cheshire primary school children in locating and identifying ladybirds, so that we can add records to the distribution maps. This project will contribute to the forthcoming 'Provisional Atlas of Cheshire Ladybirds' which I'm just beginning to write and hope to complete over the winter.
As part of the process I'm starting to try and get some better images of the ladybirds of Cheshire. I'm getting a bit frustrated with the quality of my images. I've got good gear, Canon 100mm macro lenses, Canon 7D SLR and yet most images come out soft and some downright blurred. I normally put blurred shots down to the user, but I'm pretty sure there is something not quite right about the camera focusing. Time will tell!
I've put up a few of the latest images but they all needed significant work in Photoshop to get them to an acceptable standard. |
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Written by Jeff Clarke
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Friday, 09 September 2011 19:27 |
A Few Days in Spain
All images unless otherwise stated © Jeff Clarke 2011
I returned earlier today from a short sojourn to NE Spain; part of a research trip and forward planning for Co-leading a university trip in April 2012. My companion for the trip was Paul Hill, a fellow ecologist, owner of Bioquip and first and foremost a naturalist. We enjoyed superb weather, at times too good, with temps in the mid 30's Celsius and blue sky's. This gave us plenty of time to indulge in a bit of opportunistic photography. We had a pretty lucky few days and the pictures above give you a flavour of what NE Spain has to offer, though I failed to get shots of the many Nightjars we had feeding around us at our base camp. I'll add more details to this blog in a day or so but for now I hope you enjoy the images! |
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Written by Jeff Clarke
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Sunday, 21 August 2011 20:50 |
The Unexpected Invert
All images unless otherwise stated © Jeff Clarke 2011
You never know when a new species is going to come your way. Admittedly if you study invertebrates the odds that you will find something different are rather better than if you only ever record birds, or mammals. On Saturday 20th August I was leading a 'Bumblebee and Bugs' walk for the Friends of Runcorn Hill when one of our party, David Watmore, potted a fly and brought it across for me to identify. It was obviously a hoverfly, a large one at that. I suspected that it was a Volucella species and wondered if it was Volucella zonaria. I retained the specimen and took it home for further ID. I consulted my copy of Stubbs and Falk and it was immediately obvious that it wasn't zonaria, but another candidate quickly became apparent. Further detailed examination soon determined it to be Volucella inanis. I couldn't recall ever having seen this species before. I then checked the map records of RECORD and the NBN Gateway. No records for Cheshire. I then contacted Paul Hill who is the Cheshire Hoverfly Recorder and he confirmed that it had not previously been recorded in the county. Its amazing what you can find even in nature reserves that overlook one of Britain's most industrialised landscapes, complete with soon to be commisioned incinerator. |
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Written by Jeff Clarke
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Friday, 08 July 2011 14:46 |
Cerdanya Tour 2011 (Iberian Wildlife Tours & Jeff Clarke Ecology)
All images unless otherwise stated © Jeff Clarke 2011
What memories will our clients have of the recent tour of Cerdanya in the Pyrenees? The fantastically dramatic limestone ridge of the Cadí Moixeró? The Telecabina ride ride to the top of the Tossa d'Alp? Picnicking amongst high alpine forest surrounded by Citril Finches? Watching Apollo butterflies glide by on floppy wings?
The tour began on the 28th June and we arrived back in the UK late on the 5th July. As we approached our base at Prullans the potential of the area was immediately apparent. Our clients rooms in the lovely Hotel Muntanya faced across to the Cadi ridge and superb wildlife could be found with a few minutes walk of the hotel door.
Our first full day found us exploring the limestone plateaux around Orden and Talltendre, here we found a myriad of butterflies, a dazzling variety of meadow and rock garden plants all backed up by some sensational birds, the pick of which was probably the fabulous Rock Thrush. On subsequent days we built an astonishing list of species, but more importantly we were able to enjoy some outstanding wildlife encounters that will remain vivid recollections for years to come. I'm sure those with a botanical interest will bring to mind rummaging around a small gorge on the south face of the Cadí-Moixeró ridge teasing out botanical treasures such as Ramonda & Reddish saxifrages. Butterfly highlights included the iridescent beauty of Scarce Copper and Lesser Purple Emperor. Hidden mountainside meadows bounced lepidopteral abundance and here could be found real prizes like the Mountain Alcon Blue and the Niobe Fritillary.
Day flying moths werew also a feature of the tour, particularly numerous were the various species of burnet moth, but my particular favourite was probably the Scarlet Tiger moth which we found at a number of sites. Down in the wetland areas of the Segre Valley on a particularly hot and steamy day we enjoyed a great number of dragonflies and damselflies, which darted and skimmed around against the background music of Nightigales Garden Warblers.
So much to see and enjoy but I suspect one image will remain indelible for all of us. The dramatic and wonderful sight of two Lammergeiers cruising along a limestone ridge before circling low over our heads as we enjoyed one of Teresa's famous picnic lunches. Pure Joy!
If you are interested in hearing about the tour details for 2012 please
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Written by Jeff Clarke
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Sunday, 29 May 2011 16:36 |
Mountain High
All images unless otherwise stated © Jeff Clarke 2011
One of the joys of wildlife tour leading is getting to show and share so many wonderful sights with other people. My tour of the Picos de Europa in May 2011, in partnership with Teresa Farino of Iberian Wildlife Tours was exceptional not only for the variety of flora and fauna to be seen, but also the witnessing of some fascinating and rarely observed animal behaviour.
In comparison to last years tour Spring 2011 was very advanced in its season. As a consequence we enjoyed a significantly different combination of animals and plants during the 10 days in the region.
We arrived in Spain via the Brittany Super-ferry 'Pont Aven', from which we had close up views of Striped and Short beaked Common Dolphins and then joined Teresa and our Australia participant at Santander. From here we headed for Liencres Dunes seeing many superb dune plants, though the highlight was an unexpected Nightjar which we accidentally disturbed from its daytime reverie, much to the alarm of the local Wren population.
Post lunch We headed for the Picos de Europa and entered via the imposing limestone gorge of La Hermida. We settled the clients at the El Hoyal Hotel in Pesaguero and so began our explorations of the majestic mountains and valleys of this extra-ordinary part of 'Green Spain'.
A full tour review will be produced in due course and anyone seriously interested in joining future tours will find much greater detail posted there, however this blog is just a taster of what it is possible to find and enjoy in this mountainous wonderland.
The flora of the Picos de Europa are justly famous and the star attractions for most people are the myriad orchids which abound in the meadows and woodlands. With Teresa's vital local knowledge this tour excelled itself with at least 36 different species, many in high abundance. The most flamboyant species was arguably the exotic and aptly named Lizard Orchid.
The tour enjoyed fantastic weather, partly due to to Teresa's knowledge of weather patterns in the Picos, the sunshine brought forth a multitude of species, dominated by various blues and fritillaries. Some of the 'secret meadows' we were able to visit had so many butterflies dancing across the flower tops that it was difficult to keep track of all the species we were seeing. By no means the rarest, the Black-veined Whites were for me a picture of elegance, but with so many species how do you choose a favourite?
The sunshine also brought out the reptiles and we had stupendous and exciting, if slightly grisly, images of a Grass Snake consuming a Midwife Toad and more unusually a large Smooth Snake killing and eating one of its smaller brethren. Lizards were very plentiful and apart from the expected Common Wall Lizards it was a real bonus to find Large Psammodromus and Ocellated Lizard.
As usual mammals were harder to come by but persistence paid off with Southern Chamois in the high mountains and Daubenton's Bat's watched by torchlight feeding over the river close to the hotel. The only Southern Water Vole we actually clapped eyes on was in the talons of a Common Buzzard seconds after it plummeted to the ground a few metres away from us. What must it be like to have vision like that?
Each suitable weather night we would put out the moth trap (you need special licenses to do this in Spain) and we caught a huge variety and number of species, including many that would be familiar to UK naturalists,such as Peppered Moths and Elephant Hawk-moths, however we also caught many species either very rare or non-existant in the UK, including the largest moth found in Europe, the gargantuan and 'Vulcan bomber-like' Giant Peacock Moth. what a beast!
A dabble in local waterways, both running and still, brought many new species, the highlight of which was probably the White-clawed Crayfish, though it was hard pressed by the resplendant Marbled and Alpine Newts, rigged out in their breeding regalia.
By the time we finished the tour we had seen a superb range of birds, though we had to work hard to see some of them. One encounter stands out from all others. High in the mountains above the clouds we searched the boulder fields for one of Europe's most charismatic birds. Snowfinches and Alpine Accentors vied for our attention but eventually had to concede the crown of 'Paragon of the Peaks' to a dazzling limpet of a bird. Here before us was a bird that even as a child had captured my imagination and as ever it did not disappoint. We had prolonged and at times super-close-up views of the imperious Wallcreeper. It wasn't quite the end of the tour but it certainly felt like we had climbed to the highest pinnacle. Still images never quite capture the essence of a living creature, certainly not one as breathtaking as this one, but I hope you enjoy one of the many pictures I took of the female that spent perhaps 10 minutes within a few metres of where I stood gazing in wonderment. Pure joy!
Teresa and I would love to share our enthusiasm for this place and its unique wealth of wildlife with you. If you would like to find out more about our 2012 tour please click here. |
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