Water Pipit

Water Pipit

 

I came across this water pipit a few weeks back in the high Alps at Col de la Columbiere where we were just above 1618 metres.

I've always seen them before in Cornwall at sea level.... quite literally on the sandy shoreline at Marazion.

Note the long claws locked around the stem of the plant!

Water Pipit_

Foxes ..... near home!

A very slow shutter speed has created an impression of this fox running across a field.

I knew it was too dull to capture the photograph in crisp focus so I decided to go for the other approach. It always worked for the famous American photographer Art Wolfe so here's my attempt.

The two below are more traditional images taken in a freshly cut hay meadow before the farmer had collected in the hay.

Ring Ouzels ..... Lac de Roselend, French Alps.

Female Ring Ouzel carrying food

Still working through some of my images from the recent IFWP congress in the French Alps.

We spent quite a lot of time in a swampy area where ring ouzels were feeding and carrying food off to mobile young in a rocky scree.

It was pleasing to see them taking many of the large flies that seemed to like the taste of my Cornish flesh!

Female Ring Ouzel collecting food

Male Ring Ouzel

Ants "farming" green aphids.

Ants and green aphids

An interesting image showing ants "farming" green aphids on a dock stem near Lac de Roselend in the French Alps.

I took this last week and have since read up a bit on the process and it seems it's not in the interest of the ants to eat the greenfly but better to feast on the sweet, sticky honeydew secreted by the aphids.

The ants are not happy just having the leftovers, but will gently massage the back and rear end of the aphid to make the aphid produce honeydew on tap. (Much as a farmer will milk a cow!).

Such is the 'relationship' between aphids and ants, that ants will even take the eggs of the aphids back underground to their own nests. Not to store for food, but to nurture them until hatched, whereupon they are taken back to a host plant - ready to start producing the much sought-after honeydew food for the ant colony.

My thanks to http://www.gardenseeker.com/ants.htm for their info.

A Dolphin encounter this morning. 3rd July 2014.

Common Dolphin

 

An early morning trip out to sea from home on the morning tide proved beneficial for myself and Will Delacour as we came across a pod of Common Dolphins just outside the mouth of the Camel Estuary.

There was a heavy swell as the wind had gone around to the South West making it very difficult to stand, hold on, and fire a camera.... hence the "delete" button was heavily used!

These images are not as good as on previous trips last summer but it is always a thrill to see Dolphins, especially just 15 minutes from home!