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Written by Jeff Clarke
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Sunday, 30 January 2011 21:55 |
Orangy Boom!
All images unless otherwise stated © Jeff Clarke 2011
I spent Sunday the 30th January leading a Ladybird workshop at World Museum, Liverpool, as part of Merseyside Biobank's
'Identification Training Sessions' programme for biological recorders.
The entomology collections at the museum are seriously impressive and definitely worth spending some time studying. For today's
session I'd also collected a number of live specimens which gave the participants plenty of opportunity to become familiar with
some of the locally found species, this included local scarcities such as Adonis and 11-spot Ladybird.
I think most of the people went away better prepared and with a few handy tips at their disposal when it comes to separating some of the potential confusion species. The main point I tried to stress was that the spotting and patterns on Ladybirds can be variable but
shapes are consistent, which means that some likely confusion species are readily identified, irrespective of the similarity in their patterning. I'd like to express my thanks to Guy Knight the Entomology curator, Tony Parker, Carl Clee and Paul Hill for their
assistance during the session.
Two of the participants, Chris and Ben Miles, phoned shortly after leaving whilst en-route to Lime Street Station, to say they had found a substantial number of Orange Ladybirds hibernating on the stone pillars that surround the park at the rear of St George's Hall.
After we had packed away we decided to pursue this piece of information and sure enough with a little more guidance from Chris
we soon located a massive assemblage of this attractive ladybird (by far the biggest I've ever seen). We certainly counted 469
separate individuals, though I suspect the real total was well over 500, scattered around on the pillared walls and trees within the
park. This is impressive when you consider that until fairly recently this species was regarded as one of the scarcest in the UK.
Perhaps the most important point is that this fantastic natural sight was right in the heart of one of England's great cities, set
adjacent to some truly beautiful civic buildings. As they used to say in the adverts "The futures' bright, the future's orange". |
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Written by Jeff Clarke
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Sunday, 23 January 2011 21:45 |
Sand and Snow
All images unless otherwise stated © Jeff Clarke 2011
On Saturday 22nd January I joined my Wilmslow Guild Adult Education participants as I led them on a day bird watching along the North Wales coast. We started at the delightful, if slightly incongruous setting, of Rhos on Sea. A genteel Victorian seaside resort, the town makes a great location for a spot of wader and seabird watching. The incoming tide soon drove an impressive number and variety of waders close to the sea defences, where they eventually took refuge from the innudation. Among the regular waders such as Ringed Plover, Turnstone and Dunlin, we were lucky enough to find a couple of Purple Sandpipers.
We then repaired to Llandulas for a spot of lunch and a bit of scoter watching. On the water here we found Greater Scaup, Red Breasted Merganser, an obligingly close Razorbill and a goodly number of Red throated Divers. A fast moving boat far out from shore displaced an astounding number of Common Scoter, I guesstimated a minimum of 10,000; a memorable sight!
Final stop of the day was Kinmel Bay in search of something a little different. We were not to be dissapointed. Among the dunes local birders had been inducing a small party of Snow Buntings to extend their loyalty to the spot by feeding seed on a couple of beached logs. A bit of judicious fieldcraft enabled me to get within photographic range without disturbing them. A fitting end to a very enjoyable day in the field! |
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Written by Jeff Clarke
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Sunday, 09 January 2011 22:35 |
Fonetography - The Exhibition
Brindley Theatre Gallery
8th - 22nd January 2011
In 2010 sixty eight people of varying ages, from as young as 6 to over 70 years, and with limited experience of photography, took
mobile phones cameras into some of the Woodland Trust sites within the Runcorn and Warrington areas in North-West England.
They explored the potential of the mobile phone to introduce them to their local woodlands and to look at them from a fresh
perspective.
270 images were selected for the exhibition which was placed at The Brindley Theatre gallery in Runcorn between the
8th & 22nd January 2011
The Woodland Trust & Jeff Clarke Ecology would like to thank all those who took part in the Fonetography project during 2010.
Special thanks go to The Brindley Theatre and Runcorn City Learning Centre, who helped so much to make the project and the
exhibition a reality.
If you would like to participate in the Fonetography project during 2011 please contact the project deliverer
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
, or the
Communitiy Project Officer for the Woodlands Communities Project.
Fonetography is supported by Natural England and funded by Big Lottery |
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Written by Jeff Clarke
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Friday, 24 December 2010 15:50 |
An Apple A Day
All images unless otherwise stated © Jeff Clarke 2010
It's not often one gets the chance to have two bites at the cherry, or in this case an apple. I was returning from a job in the south of Cheshire and diverted towards Tesco's in Northwich. There had been reports of upwards of 120 Waxwings in the area.
The birds were obvious on arrival and by following their flightpath I soon found their favoured feeding site, an apple tree on the nearby railway embankment. Just for once the site gave eye level opportunities, which makes a change from the usual 'up the bum' shots you get of these birds, as they frantically feed on berries of a Rowan above your head. Also their feeding style was much more relaxed. I was soon joined by fellow Waxwing enthusiast Paul Hill, owner of Bioquip and supporter of the RECORD, the Local Biological Record Centre for Cheshire. Initially the sun was from an awkward direction, but after 3 hours and over 300 images I finally left satisfied but not satiated. Hope I get another chance before the year is out. I still haven't nailed my killer flight shot. |
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Written by Jeff Clarke
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Sunday, 19 December 2010 23:20 |
Revolution
All images unless otherwise stated © Jeff Clarke 2010
If your work takes you outside at curious times of day compared to the mass of humanity then you may be one of those lucky people who get to see some wondrous and seldom observed events, that few others get to witness. The majority of my most vivid encounters seem to coincide with the rising and setting of the sun.
Is it because few people are abroad at this time and therefore wildlife is less intimidated by our oppressive presence? Is it simply the changing of the shift that maximises opportunities at both ends of the day? Is it the stilling of the air and a keening of the senses? Or more likely the fact that these factors converge to a point of perfect balance.
We are mostly, as a species, blind to these moments because our modern lives have desensitised us to the nuances of the natural world. We are so divorced from the raw elements of our existence that few of us ever stop to just look and observe, to watch without speaking, to feel the turning of the planet on it's axis, gauge the moment when the wind switches direction, the fleeting moment of the pinnacle tide. These are things we can all do, it's just that we've mostly forgotten that we possess these abilities.
With our global economies, our 24/7 rolling news and the world wide web, we have managed to shrink our planet along with our attention span. We are astoundingly clever and profoundly stupid, we can build a telescope to image the vortexing of a distant galaxy spiralling into a black hole but we can't save the Yangtze River Dolphin. We can find the Higgs Boson, but then stand idly by as an onrushing Tsunami of extinction hurtles our way.
We live in a world where more people care about Katie Price's latest 'adventure' than they do about the fraying fabric of this fragile earth. We proclaim ourselves as guardians of the planet, whilst plundering it's resources at an unsustainable rate.
Nature has a way putting things back in balance but unless you sense the change in the wind how will you know when the tipping point has been passed. You may not be able to stop the Tsunami but you should at least be able to sense its approach. Somehow I don't think you'll be able to get an App for That! |
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