View allAll Photos Tagged CoastalDunes
The vast coastal dune fields of Namibia, Africa, are home to beautiful wildlife, such as this Springbok, sprinting up one of the dunes. They are specially adapted to this area, and can eat a plant rich in water, but bitter, which their own species in other parts of Namibia would not be able to tolerate.
Common Spotted Orchid / dactylorhiza fuchsii. Swaddywell Pit, Cambridgeshire. 07/06/22.
'ALMOST.'
An almost pure white Common Spotted Orchid which unfortunately had peaked prime condition. It bore a hint of very pale lilac on some of its uppermost flowers. There were no spots or lines on any of the three-lobed lips.
BEST VIEWED LARGE.
Scenic framing of a secluded beach surrounded by coastal dunes beyond the reach of the tides. Although usually found on flat coastlines, sand dunes can also be found “climbing” cliffs where onshore winds are strong.
If I ever decided to compile a photo calendar based on seasonal features on the NSW Far South Coast, these beach geraniums (Pelargonium australe) would be first pick for October. Some clusters always have heavily abundant flowers, being set in more sheltered sites landward of the main beach-dune system.
Auto-Takumar 55mm f1.8 Zebra wide open (10 blades) at MFD, uncropped.
Sand dunes are small ridges or hills of sand found at the top of a beach, above the usual maximum reach of the waves.
Sometimes found at the top of beaches, above the high tide mark, but not every beach has dunes. They show nature’s ability to shape our world, whether in deserts or by the sea.
Shot from Ras Mohamed National Park at low tide.
Early Marsh Orchids / dactylorhiza incarnata. Swaddywell Pit, Cambridgeshire. 07/06/22.
'TOGETHERNESS.'
Swaddywell Pit has a small but significant colony of Early Marsh Orchids growing in just one damper area of grassland. This year numbers exceeded expectation with at least c36 flower spikes.
My visit was made specifically to see them and I timed it fairly accurately, as most were in prime condition. Another orchid 'first' for me and looking gorgeous in delicate baby-pink tones.
BEST VIEWED LARGE.
Common Spotted Orchid / dactylorhiza fuchsii. Swaddywell Pit, Cambridgeshire. 07/06/22.
Only the bottom flowers open when found, revealing nice bold, deep purple markings. I'm sure this Common Spotted Orchid would have looked stunning when fully out, but sadly, too far from home to take a second look.
BEST VIEWED LARGE.
Early Marsh Orchid / dactylorhiza incarnata. Swaddywell Pit, Cambridgeshire. 07/06/22.
A detailed look at an Early Marsh Orchid flower spike. I was blown away by the delicate beauty of the flowers. Viewed from the front they had a narrow, elongated appearance because the side of each labellum folded gently backwards.
BEST VIEWED LARGE.
Pyramidal Orchid / anacamptis pyramidal. Barnack Hills and Hollows, Cambridgeshire. 04/07/21.
'TRI-COLOURED BEAUTY.'
This tri-coloured Pyramidal Orchid caught my eye by standing out among the profusion of other orchids/wildflowers on site. Only 12cm tall and in near pristine condition, an absolute beauty!
BEST VIEWED LARGE.
Sheep's-Bit / jasione montana. Minsmere, Suffolk. 14/08/20.
There were plenty of these diminutive plants along the margin between dunes and beach at Minsmere. They are a special feature of the dune grassland there and shamefully, this was the first time I'd ever noticed them ... so glad I did though!
Common Spotted Orchid / dactylorhiza fuchsii. Leicestershire. 17/06/20.
Lots of Common Spotted Orchids had appeared in a damper woodland ride, all in pristine condition on the afternoon I visited last year.
This one had very pale pink petal margins, with the usual spots, lines and squiggles in deep magenta. Eye-catching and gorgeous!
BEST VIEWED LARGE.
Common or Chalk Fragrant Orchid / gymnadenia conopsea. Barnack Hills and Hollows, Cambridgeshire. 04/07/21.
Yet again I narrowly missed the peak of the CFO party at Barnack Hills and Hollows. Although the orchids were plentiful, bright and colourful, every spike I inspected had flowers showing brown spots. This one had only just peaked it's prime.
BEST VIEWED LARGE.
Pyramidal Orchid / anacamptis pyramidalis. Barnack Hills and Hollows, Cambridgeshire. 21/06/17.
'SOME BLASTS FROM THE PAST.' (8)
An image of a small, beautifully formed Pyramidal Orchid from two summers ago.
BEST VIEWED LARGE.
This orchid has bright, conspicuous colouring and a very distinct pyramidal shaped flower spike during its early development. Although the flower spike can lose it's compact appearance with age, I still think POs are one of our easier wild orchids to identify.
Southern Marsh Orchid / dactylorhiza praetermissa. Strumpshaw Fen, Norfolk. 08/06/187.
'SOME BLASTS FROM THE PAST.' (7)
An image made a couple of years ago in the damp wildflower meadow at Strumpshaw Fen.
Southern Orchids commonly hybridise with other Dactylorizha species which means identification can be tricky. I think this is a true SMO based on the gently rounded edges on the lips of the flowers. it's leaves were broad, green and lacked any markings.
Green-eyed Flower Bee / anthophora bimaculata. Minsmere, Suffolk. 22/07/20.
My all-time favourite bee species and I only get to see them on the Suffolk coast. They are diminutive in size, ear-splitting in 'hum volume' and have the most beautiful eyes of any UK invertebrate I've ever seen.
(View large and you will see the appeal!)
This pollen-laden male had just returned to it's sealed nest burrow and was scraping back grains of sand with it's back legs. I lay inches away with my macro lens focussed on the action. By using a slow shutter speed, I managed to capture some motion blur at the bee's rear end, whilst securing sharp detail of his wonderful eye.
BEST VIEWED LARGE.
A coastal transverse sand dune looks like a perpendicular wall viewed from the ground.
Sand dunes are mounds of loose sand that are formed as a result of wind movement.
Shot with a Canon EOS 700D from Ras Mohamed nature reserve.
Common Spotted Orchids / dactylorhiza fuchsii. Lindrick Common, South Yorkshire. 21/06/20.
There were no shortage of Common Spotted Orchids seen around the meadow. All the fully open flower spikes were in prime condition and looked fabulous. There were also plenty more to show their final splendour in the weeks ahead.
This group contained the two tallest flower spikes I found ... I'm guessing about 32cm and 30cm high.
BEST VIEWED LARGE.
Frog Orchid / dactylorhiza viridis. Barnack Hills and Hollows, Cambridgeshire. 04/07/21.
'A SEARCH WELL REWARDED.'
To locate 5 x Frog Orchids last weekend involved a meticulous search, despite me having a map and directions to the general area they grew in!
This is one of the little beauties I saw, standing at the dizzy height of just 5cms! The FOs were growing in close proximity to each other, on a slope of calcareous grassland in a medieval quarry. All of them had beautiful reddish sepals which was particularly pleasing, as a previous Frog encounter was with an all green plant.
Sheep's-Bit / jasione montana. Minsmere, Suffolk. 14/08/20.
A close-up of a single Sheep's-Bit flowerhead.
There were plenty of them to be found along the margin between dunes and beach. Sheep's Bit is low growing and incredibly beautiful. Apparently the flowers are a special feature of the dune grassland between Minsmere and Sizewell and I must have walked past thousands and thousands over the years, without a second glance.
Discovering something amazing like this, then taking time to look at it carefully, makes me glad to have cast off my 'birds only blinkers' and open up new horizons!
European Adder / vipera berus. Suffolk. 27/02/19.
A stunning male Adder captured as he started to uncoil.
He'd been basking in unseasonably strong sunshine on top of an old, vegetated wood pile. To regulate body temperature, he would occasionally retreat into a shady hole within it for a while. This was just about to happen when I made the image.
BEST VIEWED LARGE.
Common Blue / polyommatus icarus. Sizewell beach, Suffolk. 15/08/20.
'SEEKING SHELTER.'
An overcast sky with just a few sunny breaks, plus a persistently fresh breeze, didn't present the greatest conditions for finding butterflies along Sizewell beach and sanderlings!
I managed to locate 5 male Common Blues in an area of low grassy dunes. They made attempts to nectar from hawkweed flowers, but whenever the wind gusted, would quickly retreat into marram grass. They sheltered head down, low amongst the grass blades, wings tightly closed. Apart from once, (when two males roosted together on the same grass blade), they chose to spread themselves out within a tussock.
Photographing them was a challenge due to the grass swaying about so much. This image represents one of only a few satisfactory record shots achieved during my time with them.
BEST VIEWED LARGE.
Dark Green Fritillary / mesoacidalia aglaja. Longstone Edge, Derbyshire. 30/06/20.
'CAN YOU FEEL THE SWAY?'
When I reached the top of Longstone Edge, the light was great but there was a fresh, gusty wind which set the vegetation rocking in every direction. Far from ideal for photographing Dark Green Fritillaries ... and these hyper-active butterflies were my target that day!
There were a pleasing number of them on the wing but all very mobile. Eventually I found a small group of Musk Thistles which were favoured (occasionally), as a source of nectar. I decided to wait there.
Sure enough, single butterflies powered their way in to them but on landing, became either obscured or just made the briefest touchdown ... and off. Finally this individual landed and stayed. S/he worked around all the flowers in turn, coping very well as the wind tossed them about. It was impossible to make the sort of images I had planned, so I just fired away and hoped that I'd get something in focus. This is about the best left in a small set after the majority were assigned to the Trash bin!
Have just noticed it had lost one of it's antenna.
Common or Chalk Fragrant Orchid / gymnadenia conopsea. Barnack Hills and Hollows, Cambridgeshire. 21/06/17.
I only managed to find this single Common Fragrant Orchid spike that looked pristine and undamaged, its full beauty locked away inside the closed flower buds.
It was growing quite close to a group of 8 x CFOs that had peaked their prime and were beginning to wither and brown.
Yellow-wort / blackstonia perfoliata. Swaddywell Pit, Cambridgeshire. 24/08/21.
I can vividly remember finding Yellow Wort for the first time in 2018, at Devil's Dyke, Newmarket. The plants, scattered along the calcareous grassy embankment, immediately struck me as different. On closer inspection I got fascinated by their upright, grey-green stems and the waxy looking fused leaves growing around them. Certainly not a plant I had ever encountered in lowland Derbyshire.
Fast forward to late summer this year, on a first visit to Swaddywell Pit. There I got reaquainted with Yellow Wort on a mind-blowingly grand scale! There were literally thousands growing in some places on site. When I saw the cup-shaped yellow flowers in the morning, they were fully open. By the early afternoon however, they were well on their way to closing up completely, such is their habit. An impressive spectacle ...
BEST VIEWED LARGE.
Common Blue / polyommatus icarus. Longstone Edge, Derbyshire. 06/07/16.
I am really struggling with butterfly/insect macro photography this year, postponing many trips aimed at specific species, all because of unsuitable weather conditions.
The year is marching on apace and many species have already finished their flight periods.
*(These have been assigned to 2017's 'hit list' and will have to be targeted next year.....what a sad state of affairs.)
The Common Blue was one of only eight butterflies (from four different species), that I found at Longstone Edge recently. The colours on its underwings are faded and worn, it has lost the tip of its r/h forewing - another reminder that time moves on and nothing lasts forever.
Lesser Redpoll / acanthis cabaret. Straws Bridge, Derbyshire. 10/02/21.
'COLD WEATHER BONUS.'
The recent icy weather certainly forced birds to become bolder in their choice of feeding places.
I came across this LBJ feeding on Rose-bay Willow Herb seeds, right beside a track at Straws Bridge. Initially it was just me and the bird, offering a great photo opportunity! Not for long though and my heart sank when a woman appeared with a pushchair and dog. I felt sure the LR would be off immediately. Wrong! It didn't flinch a muscle, just tucked into the seeds.
Yet more people passed, dog walkers, noisy children on bikes and scooters yet still it continued feeding.
What an understated little star of a bird, it made my day :-))
BEST VIEWED LARGE.
Dark Green Fritillary, (male) / mesoacidalia aglaja. Lindrick Common, S. Yorkshire. 09/07/17.
This male DGF was just beginning to look a little worn.
BEST VIEWED LARGE.
The top left forewing shows some of the colourful wing scales have been worn off. Also, two areas of the same wing's margin are missing, most probably due to getting snagged on something sharp like bramble thorns.
Common Blue / polyommatus icarus. Longstone Edge, Derbyshire. 06/07/16.
The Common Blue was one of only eight butterflies, from four different species, that I found at Longstone Edge on a recent trip.
My visit was made on a day with a summery (rare) feel about it -warm, sunny and a light breeze. I had optimistically deemed it as an ideal butterfly day. How wrong I was with such a meagre tally of sightings! This little butterfly, although past prime condition, was very obliging.
Other non-butterfly goodies that I enjoyed included Skylarks, Meadow Pipits, Redstarts, Wagtails, Swallows, Ravens, Buzzards, Red kite, a few lingering Mountain Pansies, wonderful scenery and peace and quiet. Not a bad day out after all!
Early Marsh Orchid / dactylorhiza incarnata. Swaddywell Pit, Cambridgeshire. 07/06/22.
Swaddywell Pit has a small but significant colony of Early Marsh Orchids growing in just one damper area of grassland. This year numbers exceeded expectations with at least c36 flower spikes.
My image gives close-up details of a few flowers on a spike. They are a delicate baby-pink colour and if viewed larger, you can make out the two slightly darker loop markings (infilled with tiny spots), on each labellum. Also diagnostic are the side edges of each labellum which are turned backwards. Finally, those long, protruding bracts just can't be missed can they!
BEST VIEWED LARGE.
Pyramidal Orchid / anacamptis pyramidalis. Lindrick Common, South Yorkshire. 20/06/20.
I've never seen Pyramidal Orchids growing at Lindrick Common on any of my previous visits, so to find at least 25 plants was a treat this year. They were well distributed around the rough meadow grassland, their vibrant colours making them quite conspicuous. The majority of spikes I looked at closely were in near prime condition, surprising as it seemed rather late in their flowering season. This group of three looked particularly attractive amid the green vegetation. Check out some of the long, tubular spurs that are visible if the image is viewed large.
BEST VIEWED LARGE.
Sheep's-Bit / jasione montana. Minsmere, Suffolk. 14/08/20.
'THE COLOUR PURPLE.'
A single plant bearing three compound flower heads. Using selective focus I captured the middle one in detail. Viewed large, you can see the unruly flamboyance of the tiny purple tubular flower petals.
BEST VIEWED LARGE.
Lesser Redpoll / acanthis cabaret. Straws Bridge, Derbyshire. 10/02/21.
'RIGHT DAY, RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME.'
I came across this solitary Lesser Redpoll during the recent icy weather. It was feeding on Rose-bay Willow Herb growing by the side of the track close to the bridge. Thankfully it took no notice of various passers by (or me and my camera), because food was it's number one priority in order to survive the bitter conditions.
BEST VIEWED LARGE.
Pyramidal Orchid / anacamptis pyramidalis. Barnack Hills and Hollows, Cambridgeshire. 21/06/17.
'SOME BLASTS FROM THE PAST.' (9)
As fresh as a daisy ... even though it's not. This newly emerged, pristine Pyramidal Orchid had the promise of a few weeks of summer ahead of it - a tiny gem that would burst into colour once the flowers opened.
BEST VIEWED LARGE.
European Adder / vipera berus. Suffolk. 27/02/19.
'BASKING.'
The largest of two Adders that I photographed basking on a vegetated wood pile, three years ago. This one had a dusty appearance and showed damage to the tips of some scales.
I remember it was an unseasonably hot, late winter's day when they were found lying coiled, close to each other. Moving very slowly, I was able to set up my tripod and chair at a respectful distance and enjoy observing their behaviour. They would noticeably flatten their bodies whilst basking to increase the surface areas, or would disappear into crevices in order to cool down.
BEST VIEWED LARGE.
Common Blue / polyommatus icarus. Stanton Sidings, Derbyshire. 07/08/17.
Male Common Blue sitting it out on a not so pleasant summer's afternoon. He was starting to look a bit frayed round the edges!
European Adder / vipera berus. Minsmere beach, Suffolk. 03/04/23.
'RANKING IN AS No 1.'
Presenting a very showy female adder, found basking on top of some dead gorse in the shelter of sand dunes at Minsmere.
Her rich reddish-brown colour tones were absolutely stunning. She ranks as No. 1 ... THE most beautiful female adder I've ever seen. It was very hard to tear myself away from her!
BEST VIEWED LARGE.
Thought these were sticky-bun boletes (Suillus granulatus ) but it seems I was on the wrong track. Found on pine forest floor in old coastal dune sand at New Brighton, Christchurch, New Zealand. ID suggestions welcome.
Now leaning towards Giant flamecaps (Gymnopilus junonius)
images.app.goo.gl/diW5bFVxzPfv75fy9
HD PENTAX-DA 20-40mm f2.8-4 Limited.
European Adder / vipera berus. Suffolk. 27/02/19.
'SNAIL, SNAKE, STICKS.'
Photographed basking along the top of an old, well vegetated wood pile - a wonderful sight.
This male gave an unobstructed view of it's own unique scale pattern at the back of it's head. The head patterns vary from individual to individual, sometimes only subtly, but nevertheless different. By observing them, individual snakes can be recognised which is important for recording and monitoring purposes.
BEST VIEWED LARGE.
Large Elephant Hawk-moth / deilephila elpenor. Strumpshaw Fen, Norfolk. 09/06/16.
The last three evenings were the annual UK 'Moth Nights'.
Moth-trapping events were organised around the country to raise public awareness of these fascinating creatures as well as record species..
I would imagine that rainstorms and localised flooding forced many events to be cancelled.
The theme for this year was 'Hawk Moths' and I had looked forward to seeing what local Derbyshire traps lured in.....sadly, this was not to be!!!
It's not all bad though, as a moth trap was run at Strumpshaw Fen last Wednesday night. Several of the hawk-moth captures were placed on a reed screen the next morning, to warm up AND, joy of all joys - I WAS STILL THERE!
(The reed screen gives a rather distracting background to the images but I'm not complaining. Myself and many other visitors were able to get close to three very obliging species of hawk-moth. They were absolute beauties.)
Common Blue / polyommatus icarus. Stanton Sidings, Derbyshire. 07/08/17.
I am definitely faring better locally with sightings of second brood Common Blue butterflies than back in May-June. Even so, their numbers aren't as high as in previous summers.
(The last word in that sentence is used ironically, based on the 'summer' we are currently enduring!)
I disturbed this male CB on my local brownfield site late one afternoon. The yellow bokeh could mislead you into thinking it was sunny and pleasant when in fact the weather was ominously 'moody', threatening another rain shower and blowing strong gusts of wind. Clearly, the CB had been seeking shelter and roosting among the vegetation. He fluttered half-heartedly before perching upside down on the seed head. Luckily, a profusion of yellow Ragwort flowers behind provided the splash of colour needed to showcase the butterfly.