honey bee gallery updated

just a quick non-picture post (…on a photo blog!), to say that I have updated my honey bee gallery.

continuing my work with the Laboratory of Apiculture and Social Insects (LASI) at the University of Sussex, I attended the first of their Hygienic Behaviour Workshops and took photos of the afternoon’s course. I really admire the attempts of connecting with the (in this case) bee-keeping community. It is refreshing to see such a strong link between research, conservation and community.

more uganda pics

decided against a further night in Kampala on the way back to the UK and headed down to Entebbe on Lake Victoria to have a look around. I managed to visit two of the well-known attractions there.

the first was the excellent Botanical gardens, with its curious vervet monkeys and the second was the Uganda Wildlife Education Center. once Entebbe Zoo, but now redeveloped into a conservation/education facility. it has a mandate to rescue and rehabilitate injured, confiscated and/or orphaned wildlife, as well as featuring only wildlife that occurs in Uganda. this is a really refreshing approach and makes a change from forcing a polar bear to sweat it out or watching a equatorial animal battle with the cold.

filmy ferns; exciting as ferns get?

went to the Sussex Wildlife Trust Reserve, Eridge Rocks, to look for the Tunbridge Filmy Fern (Hymenophyllum tunbrigense). this small, rare fern looks more like a moss and despite its main distribution being in the west of the UK, occurs at various places in East Sussex.

being a humidity loving species, and having had a long period of dry weather, I wondered if I would be able to see any that hadn’t dried up. despite the glorious first light, I decided to concentrate on finding the filmy fern and it was only when I looped around the sandstone outcrops and reach some of the north facing walls that I finally spotted some.

the sandstone really is an incredible habitat for ferns and bryophytes, it appeared to me that there were many species of liverwort and moss seem creeping over the steep walls. as I struggle with the botany of vascular plants, I don’t think I will be leaping into this world just yet. will just stick to the showy or rare!

Budugo Forest Reserve, Uganda

it is always easy/lazy to veer towards hyperbole, but enjoying a chimpanzee habituation day in the Budongo Reserve, Uganda, has to be one of the best wildlife experiences I have ever had.

this unique opportunity allowed me and a guide to spend an entire day in the semi-deciduous tropical rainforest of the reserve, simply watching chimpanzees. thanks to my knowledgeable guide, and a fair bit of documentary watching on my part, I was amazed by how much behaviour I saw; feeding, courtship, mating, young playing, males showing off, many types of communication and to beat it all, I experienced my first ever chimpanzee fart!

it was an utter privilege to spend time in this unique environment. as soon as I left I realised I needed to go back again.

and here’s a very small slideshow of some of the pictures I took.

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lesson learned; bats rarely keep still

many thanks to Amanda, who runs the Hurstpierpoint Bat Hospital, for spending an afternoon allowing me to photograph her “inmates”. despite arriving in a less than perfect state (having been cat victims and the like), the bats looked in remarkable condition – all I am sure down to Amanda’s experience and care. she was able to show me a wide variety of bat species, all of which are thankfully relatively common not rare in Sussex.

I was keen to get some clean, id type shots, so we made a “studio” in her dining room (of all places) and brought each bat in for its star turn. this type of shot would never be possible in the wild, and we were keen to be as quick as possible to prevent any distress to the bats.

Serotine bat (Eptesicus serotinus)

Noctule bat (Nyctalus noctula)

I must say that this was my favourite species. probably because it looks a bit dog-like…and the fact that it was a touch overweight!

Natterers bat (Myotis nattereri)

45khz Pipistrelle bat (Pipistrellus pipistrellus)

Leislers bat (Nyctalus leisleri)

55khz Pipistrelle bat (Pipistrellus pygmaeus)

the only one that “got away” was the Brown Long-eared who despite a few attempts, didn’t want to sit on a pretty log, while I crept up on it with a camera. don’t blame it really.

garden pests now available for public consumption

bit of old news here, but thought I would mention it anyway.

am very pleased to announce that my recent work on garden pests (as well as garden “friends”) is  now being represented by GAP Photos and you can see my portfolio of garden images on their excellent website.

I am not ashamed to say that it took me 3 attempts over 2 years to convince them they were very explicit about the type of imagery they required and I finally worked out what they wanted!

GAP Photos are one of the leading suppliers of garden and plant photography and I look forward to working with them in the years to come.

pill woodlouse or pill millipede

you may have seen my earlier post showing the uncurling sequence of a woodlouse. I managed to find it’s millipede cousin.

the pill millipede (Glomeris marginata) is often confused with the pill woodlouse (Armadillium vulgare), they can be distinguished by a shiny casing and having more legs than the woodlouse. I love how the individual plates of armour fit together; it’s so perfectly designed.

beautiful rose chafer

now that autumn is almost upon us – have you seen the leaves changing already! -am managing to catch up with some shots taken earlier this summer.

took, what I thought was a nice sequence of this beautiful rose chafer (Cetonia aurata) feeding on a flower.

this beetle is a member of the Scarabidae or dung beetle family, and apparently is very fast at flying (due to the fact it keeps it’s wing cases down during flight). there was no chance of me seeing this though, as this beetle was so engrossed in feeding on the nectar and pollen of this flower!

exmoor ponies

was lucky enough to spend a week on Exmoor at a beautiful farm near Horner Wood. it was meant to be a family holiday, but there was no chance I would leave my camera behind. I managed to duck out of parental duties one evening and head up to the moor above the farm to photograph a group of 12-14 Exmoor ponies.

this hardy native breed of pony is said to be one of the most primitive. there are meant to be 140 still living freely on Exmoor. this makes them an ‘endangered’ breed according to the Rare Breeds Survival Trust. you can find more information at the Exmoor Pony Society website.

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lesser stag beetle

much smaller than the better known stag beetle, this lesser stag beetle walked across my path in stanmer park. wish all my subjects were this easy to find.