Welcome to my latest account of my lack of photographic exploits!

I hope everyone is well and keeping safe during these unprecedented times.

 
In these times of the virus which is affecting the whole World, I have put my photography on hold. Only venturing out occasionally to do a bit of macro (close-up) photography in the garden or on local exercise walks. Just sitting in the garden for an hour can be rewarding. Birds are busy collecting nesting material and the local red kites are doing their aerobatic mating displays above. It makes a change to watch nature go about its business without a camera. Many times on my walks I would take a camera with me but never take it out of my bag! This is one of the best times of year with the Summer visitors arriving and new life all around us. 

House sparrow (Passer domesticus)House sparrow (Passer domesticus)
Chinnor, Oxfordshire.

House sparrow collecting nesting material

This year I had plans to visit new areas. I have a few days booked on the Isle of Mull mid June which I very much doubt that will happen. I maybe able to reschedule for later in the year but nobody knows what will happen.

With all this spare time it has given me an opportunity to tidy up my hard drives. I have over 30K images in my archives, many of them are unedited! So expect to see some more unseen work! A lot of it is stuff I had forgotten about. I must make a point of processing all my photos after a trip in the future instead of leaving them to collect dust!!

Dark-edged bee-fly (Bombylius major)Dark-edged bee-fly (Bombylius major)
Chinnor, Oxfordshire. Dark-edged bee-fly (a first for me!)

Snake's-head fritillary (Fritillaria meleagris)Snake's-head fritillary (Fritillaria meleagris)
Oxfordshire's iconic flower.
Chinnor, Oxfordshire.

Snake's-head fritillary, Oxfordshire iconic flower.

Forget-me-notsForget-me-nots
Chinnor, Oxfordshire.

Forget-me-nots in the garden.

I've never photographed so many flowers as I have in the last month! A subject I am enjoying learning about. The problem is it takes me ages to identify what I've photographed!

Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta)Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta)
WWT Slimbridge. Red Admiral

I apologise for the shortness of this blog. I just hope next months episode will be more productive. We should start seeing more juvenile birds and more visitors from the Southern hemisphere such as swallows, warblers or even cuckoo. Just hope I can see them from my window!

Please continue to upload your photographs to my Photo's Page. There are some great photographs being posted.

Many more of my images can be viewed on my flickr page and Instagram.

Thanks

Steve