Just a little doe at twilight.

 

Starlings and ....

 Starlings and hawthorn berries.

Starling in the blackthorn - with sloes.

And back with the hawthorn berries.

More deer

 

Fallow deer at Dyrham.

Badger up close

 Curious badger

A little gentle competition over the snacks

Twilight Wildlife at Midsummer

In the clover field on a warm evening and under a setting sun, a roe deer buck is lying the clover enjoying the cooling breeze coming up the hill. He is quite well hidden and cannot be seen from the nearby path.  The light conditions make photography tricky, so the images are a little blurry. 

And here he is standing up. 

He is soon joined by another spectacular wild mammal.  Trotting across the field somes this fellow.

And this is interesting - on the evening before, and for the first time, what seems to be a little family group of roe deer.

Looking more closely: a doe and a youngster, maybe a yearling. 

And finally just a few seconds of the buck running. 

Midsummer badgers on the lawn.

 These full grown badgers come into the garden every night for some snacks and probably also some water. It is hot this midsummer and again the ground, as back in May, has become hard and difficult for them to excavate in their eternal search for worms. A few snacks may help them during this difficult time. 

And here is a close-up!

Just a little roe deer at dusk!

The sun was setting and he quietly walked into the field, which was not long mowed but in which, as you can see the clover has recovered fast and other wild flowers are in bloom.

He paused to 'beat up' a taller plant - a ragwort I think - and then he sat down closed his eyes and rested.

This is the time of the 'rut' for the roe deer, when the males compete for the females and he may have been tired and he may have been defeated but it was nice to see him, so here are some photos and a short snippet of film.

 

On the Somerset Levels - July 2020

Where great canals cut across the flatlands and a national nature reserve abuts an RSPB one.

Photographs from the Shapwick Heath National Nature Reserve and RSPB's Ham Wall on a day of sunshine and heavy rain. A day when small and colourful snails left the grass to rashly cross the path and when many mother swans showed off their young families. 

The great Glastonbury Canal

One of the colourful snails of the fenlands

Canada geese

Young mute swan

Sibling swans

A young coot

A successful pair of mute swan parents

This mother or father seems to be a single parent but is exceptionally efficient at keeping their brood in line.

A spectacular great white egret - a species that has been breeding in the UK only since 2012 

Great crested grebe on the nest - maybe time for a second brood.

Red admiral on blackberry blossom.

The Beautiful Bugs of Mid-Summer

Butterflies are the sentinels of summer - markers of sunshine and warmth.

Peacock butterfly shining in the late afternoon light.

Silver-washed fritillary - a beautiful big orange butterfly - with grey 'washed' underwings.

The red admiral.

Bumble bee on pincushion flower 

Red admiral again/

Common solider beetles enjoying a party on a platform of hog weed flowers.

The eggs of a butterfly - a couple have hatched. The butterfly is the small white or cabbage white and the food plant is my cabbages! The patch of eggs is about 4mm across.

And here they are just hatched and hungry.

Small white (adult)

Another peacock.

And another...