This post will be my first entry to the (very) newly created Community: Photo-essay. It already looks to fill in a useful niche, for my content at least. I often write about wildlife, and feature lots of pictures, but sometimes its not focused on wildlife in the right way for the Amazing Nature community, and the photo's aren't always of a consistently high enough quality to warrant adding to the Photography Lovers Community
Here in Photo-essay, It is all about using photos with some text to help tell a story... and I've plenty to talk about!
So? Where am I today?
Today, I have returned back to the Nature Reserve at Sherwood Forest. Regular readers may remember I actually visited here earlier this year. I visited with parents back in February, I thoroughly enjoyed it and mentioned in the post that I hoped to return later in the season to see how the wildlife and environment has changed.
Two months have passed, and when I heard parents were returning, I immediately jumped at the chance to join them
The most obvious difference was just how green everything looked. A huge difference to the mostly bare branches from the previous visit. There were plenty of flowers which have started to appear including the White Dead-nettles seen above.
There was also a lot of insect activity:
A type of Hoverfly (or sometimes called Flower Fly - Baccha elongata seen feeding on the nectar of the White Dead-nettle flowers.
A tiny micro moth - Esperia Sulphurella
And then a Beetle, a 10-spot Ladybird
And then I saw a pair of Weevils, and look! The smaller Weevil looks tired so the larger Weevil is giving him a piggy-back... what a lovely gesture!
What do you mean it isn't a piggy back?!
Well, whatever they may be up to, I'm pretty confident they are of a species of Weevil called Nedyus quadrimaculatus
Anyway.
Sherwood Forest is full of trees (obviously), but there is also some different habitats including the heather and heathland seen below.
So here we have Silver Birch Trees on the edge, some Heather in the middle, and then on the right hand side is a patch of yellow which is the flowers from the Gorse bushes
Getting close up to the Gorse flowers, I spotted another Beetle, this was a 7-spot Ladybird
And then I spied a Fly!
I dunno what species this is (maybe a type of Muscid?) but it still worthy of a picture, its just as interesting and important as any other species I will see today.
And then I saw some different Bees. The first was one of the White Tailed Bumblebees:
And then the 2nd is a Common Carder Bumblebee. Both were Queens, and both were feeding on Dandelion flowers, in preparation of building their nest
It was getting quite warm in the sun now as we were walking around the reserve, but there was still plenty to see. Further along the path we found a bird table...
Great Tit on the left, Blue Tit on the right
Coal Tit
Coal Tit, with a Dunnock loitering suspiciously in the background!
One of the biggest differences compare to the visit 2 months ago was the abundance of flowers. Lots of different species, and spread all over the place.
Lots of Cowslips and a couple of Dandelions
Bluebells
And then this one. I think this is might be a group of Ground Ivy? I need to work on my Plant ID. If my partner was here she could have told me!
EDIT - I have now been corrected that these are in fact Red Dead Nettles (closely related to the White Dead Nettles at the beginning of this post)
And then back to birds again. We saw a very friendly Robin, presumably used to being around lots of people as this is a popular and busy Nature Reserve.
Very photogenic, and very professional too! He was so patient and giving, allowing me plenty of time to get the shot I needed... just a class act all round!
The Blue Tit however, was a rank amatuer in comparison. 10 minutes I spent watching him flit back and forth, and this was the only shot I managed that wasn't blurred or out of focus, or missing from the picture all together. He needs to ask that Robin for tips!
And finally, to end this post on a high note, I spotted the one (and only) butterfly today.
It was a female Orange-Tip, and I have to thank my Mum for spotting it as I was distracted trying to take a photo of that pesky Blue Tit
Considering the trip was arranged at the last minute, it turned out to be a great day. It was warm, the sun was shinning. I got a chance to spend time with family and catch-up on recent events, I got to see plenty of wildlife, and wild flowers... and I got some half decent shots as well.
All in all, it was a great day. And who knows, maybe I will be back in another few months time and see what Sherwood Forest looks like in the Summer!
All names confirmed and checked via Wikispieces
Further Research from UK Moths and NatureSpot
Bird Identification checked via the RSPB Website
If you have any thoughts or opinions on this article then I'd love to see your comments.
And if you really like the content then maybe you would like to upvote or re-hive it.
Check out my website for more of my work.
Aww soo cute little bird, yellowish flowers looks so beautiful.
loved to visit your photography post😍
Nice pics. Most wildlife seems to scarper before I can get my camera out, but robins can be obliging. e.g. this one
I've not explored Sherwood, but tend to just drive past when heading north. We have a fair few of those plants in our garden, including the 'ground ivy'. I don't know what it is called. Plenty of dandelions anyway.
!PIZZA
Thanks Steve, Lots of patience required, but the tame Robins make it easy lol!
I'd recommend it as a place to visit if you have chance, though just be warned that it is a popular location (cos of Robin Hood etc) so can be very busy at the weekends
Welcome to the #photoessay community , always nice to see a fellow nature and macro photographer joining the community. Looks like i need to get out to the forest too and see how things are developing there at the moment.
Thank you, a lot of the stuff write doesn't fit neatly into a particular community, so a more general 'Photo Essay' one is a great idea...
And yes... the season are always marching onwards, always something new to see :-)
Great to see you here , love the nature walk in the forest and the well captured details along your path.
I do share your obsession with insects :) red robins however not so lucky with finding those in front of my camera.
Thank you! (I take it you are the person behind the new community?)
Well I'm sure you know the most important skill in wildlife/nature photography is patience (with a sprinkling of good luck as well!) so keep trying and I'm sure you'll find a friendly Robin to photograph soon :-)
i'm indeed guilty of setting up this community and also @hive-15966 😉
A good read as always Dan (and, of course, some fab shots).
Cheers Brian, you'll have to give bird spotting a go at some point, will make a change from those big noisy planes and bikes!
I'm not sure I have the patience mate 😁
A great photo-essay
!LUV
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Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it!
!LUV
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Thanks for the support!
What a spectacular Photo-essay! Your photos are wonderful and I'm so glad to find you here in this new community!
Thank you very much, I'm pleased you enjoyed it. :-)
And to be fair its a great idea for a community (actually surprised there wasn't one like this before now!)
!LUV
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It is a community that fills a need for me, so I hope it does for others as well! I hope everyone joins in and comments on each other's posts and makes this an active place to be!
Hi @dannewton,
Thank you for participating in the #teamuk curated tag. We have upvoted your quality content.
For more information visit our discord https://discord.gg/8CVx2Am
$PIZZA slices delivered:
@steevc(1/5) tipped @dannewton