First Butterflies

Small Copper

In Dutch: Kleine Vuurvlinder. In Latin: Lycaena Phlaeas.

 MAE © 2012

The last butterfly I took a picture of was a Small Copper back in October 2012. There could have been more butterflies later, but I just did not look for them afterwards. However, there were not so much butterflies anyway last year. A combination of available flowers and the bad weather of last Summer resulted in a significant lower amount of butterflies. This trend will hopefully not continue, because I wouldn't want to think about what would happen to the balance in nature.

Back to the Small Copper; I have only seen one ever, but it is a beautiful little insect. You can find them almost anywere, which is just as well, since I only spotted this one.

Today I finally spotted butterflies again. In fact they are all from the same family: the Nymphalidae. All three are active in the early Spring and can be found in open landscape and grassland. They are the Comma, the Peackock (both seen today at Copse Wood, Middlesex) and the Small Tortoiseshell (seen earlier today at Croxley Common Moor) respectively.

I did see one or two Brimstones  as well (in Dutch: Citroenvlinder. In Latin: Gonepteryx Rhamni) but they did not want to be caught in front of my camera. Let's  just hope there will indeed be more butterflies this year. The signs were positive today, since they were all chasing each other in packs of four. These proceedings have hopefully resulted in some reproduction.

Comma 

In Dutch: Gehakkelde Aurelia. In Latin: Polygonia C-Album.

MAE © 2013

Peacock

In Dutch: Dagpauwoog. In Latin: Inachis Io.
MAE © 2013

Small Tortoiseshell

In Dutch: Kleine Vos. In Latin: Arglais Urticae
MAE © 2013

Small Birds

Taking pictures of small birds is no job for the impatient camerman! They are most of the time very active and they will almost always hide behind a small leaf or are too far away to properly spot them. And once you think you have a good camera angle, you have to react quickly with your zoom and autofocus, because they are flown before you know it. Therefore it is with some pride, that I can show some results. 

Long-tailed Tit MAE ©2013

The Long-tailed Tits that I have seen so far, fly up and down from tree to tree or bush in an almost regular pattern. They can be seen in woodland, farmland hedgerows, scrubland, parkland and gardens. In winter they form flocks with other tit species. Once you have seen them,you will not forget the distinctive long tail and their beautiful black/white/brown colours.

They are very social birds, and will constantly call each other. They eat insects and caterpillars. In Dutch they are called: Staartmees; in Latin they are called: Aegithalos Caudatus.

Long-tailed Tit MAE ©2013

 Blue Tits MAE ©2013

The most common and well known of the tits is the Great Tit (in Dutch: Koolmees; in Latin: Parus Major). But being common, does not mean being ugly. You can see a picture further down.

These however are Blue Tits (in Dutch: Pimpelmees; in Latin: Parus Caeruleus).

They eat insects as well as nuts.

Great Tit MAE ©2013

Robin MAE ©2011

The Robin cannot be left out from this blog. They have the most beautiful songs and they are not shy at all. They will not fly away when you try to take a picture, which does help.

I have regularly seen a Robin sitting next to me when I was working in the garden. Just inspecting my hard work...

In Dutch: Roodborst. In Latin: Erithacus Rubecua.

Chaffinch MAE ©2013

And finally one other very well known bird: the Chaffinch (in Dutch: Vink; in Latin: Fringilla Coelebs).

It took me quite a while, before I could take a picture. Which is a shame, because they have beautiful colours.

They can be seen wherever there are trees.