Unlocking landscapes
I got to spend the afternoon wandering around the Adur valley recently. The River Adur runs through West Sussex where it reaches the sea at Shoreham. There are wonderful views of the South Downs, especially from the area I was wandering around. This landscape fascinates me because it was once a much wider and wilder… Continue reading Macro 📷: a ruby-tailed wasp in the Adur valley
Another week and it’s another spider post. This time, it’s a spider that also likes posts. One evening a couple of weeks ago I had logged off from work and went out into the garden to look at something other than an email. It was a warm evening and the sun was dipping below the… Continue reading Macro 📷: the fencepost jumping spider
I know that this blog has focused a lot on spiders this year. My spider knowledge is basic and these posts, their photos and required dip into spider ecology (arachnology) helps me to improve that knowledge. I recently purchased a spider ID guide (Britain’s Spiders by Bee, Oxford and Smith) and it’s helped me to… Continue reading Macro 📷: the zebra in the room
One day last week I noticed a small clutter of, well, things on the garden fence. From a distance they looked like a smudge. At closer viewing they were tiny spiders all bundled together.… Continue reading Macro 📷: spring spiderlings
I visited the family home last week and, despite heavy rain most of the time, managed to spend an hour papping the inverts in the garden. The garden has good views of London’s ever-changing (and IMO, degrading) skyline, not that the inverts much care. The view is a bizarre localised battleground, with neighbours trying to… Continue reading Macro 📷: gearing up for London’s planthoppers
I came back from a walk yesterday and, customarily, went straight to wash my hands. Looking in the mirror, I noticed something small dangling from my hair. Having just been on a walk my nature senses were fine-tuned and I realised it was an invertebrate. Looking more closely and removing it from my hair with care, I realised it was, one – alive, and two – a jumping spider.… Continue reading Macro 📷: the oak jumping spider returns
The jumping spiders are a group of beautiful arachnids (spiders and arachnids are not insects FYI) that are renowned for their cartoon eyes and ‘cuteness’. There is something very ‘floofy’ about them.… Continue reading Macro 📷: is that a nationally scarce spider sitting on the fence?
What do nomad bees do? They’re parasites of solitary bees, with some species laying their eggs in the sites of others. Their eggs hatch and the larvae consumes the eggs of the host, before eating its food stash. Not nice in human terms (because we’re all so lovely) but definitely something that has been occurring for many millions of years.… Continue reading Macro 📷: this bee is Goodenough for me
This morning I recorded a 3 minute video zipping through the key areas of my garden and how they support wildlife.… Continue reading Macro 📷: how I garden for wildlife (in 3 minutes) – video
Over this bank holiday weekend it’s the City Nature Challenge (CNC) where people the world over submit species records to iNaturalist and into the project. As of 10pm on Sunday 2nd May there have been 631,418 sightings submitted. Amazing!… Continue reading Macro 📷: City Nature Challenge 2021 (in the South Downs…)
