Category Archives: Flora/Fauna

Dec 14 2021
Leave a comment
Daily Post, Flora/Fauna, Landscape

Above Bassenthwaite Lake

Monday 13th December 2021, 11.40am (day 3,763)

Sheep portrait, Bass Lake, 13/12/21

As the country spirals back down into a stupid, paranoid and self-deluding feeling of ‘safety’, I’ve given up trying to talk to anyone about this so will just carry on doing my thing, including all activities which are health-giving and beneficial. The Lake District seems a fine setting for just that sort of thing. This is the National Park’s 150th appearance on this blog; an average of over once a month, which emphasises its value. ‘Work from home’? Bollocks to it. That will kill us all, faster than anything else.

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,
Nov 30 2021
1 Comment
Daily Post, Flora/Fauna

Jonathan — world’s oldest living land animal

Sunday 28th November 2021, 3.10pm (day 3,748)

Jonathan is a giant tortoise, originally from the Seychelles but resident at Plantation House in St Helena since the 1880s. It is not known exactly how old he is but there is good documentation that he is at least 189 years old, and possibly older. This makes him the oldest land animal on the whole planet, at least among those for which there is evidence.

I was thinking at first, it’s a shame that he doesn’t know he’s a record breaker. But — you know — he looks like such a cool dude, that I think he probably does.

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,
Nov 21 2021
1 Comment
Daily Post, Flora/Fauna

Canary

Sunday 21st November 2021, 1.30pm (day 3,741)

Canary, 21/11/21

Specifcally, a yellow canary (Crithagra flaviventris) — a name which seems a little tautological, but that’s the particular species which resides here on St Helena. They have done very well since being introduced, as there’s thousands of them, all over the island as far as I an tell. And very attractive birds they are too. I like this shot — it was trying to hide away in the undergrowth, but I shot it (metaphorically) all the same.

Tagged , , , , , , , ,
Nov 15 2021
Leave a comment
Daily Post, Flora/Fauna

Baby flora

Sunday 14th November 2021, 1.55pm (day 3,734)

St Helena flora, 14/11/21

A new place means a new ecosystem, and new flora. I have absolutely no idea what these babies (they are about the height of my hand) will grow into — cacti perhaps, but that’s just a guess. I don’t have a garden here as such; these are growing at the top of the rocky bank at the back of my house, that currently marks one of the limits of my world. But they’re something cute to look at, all the same.

Tagged , , , , , , ,
Nov 13 2021
1 Comment
Daily Post, Flora/Fauna

Little f***ers

Friday 12th November 2021, 11.45am (day 3,732)

Ant army, 12/11/21

Four (or, if you count like the St Helena Government, three) days into quarantine and I already have enemies — namely these little ants that seem able to get into sealed boxes and packets of food, march across my ceiling (as here) in regimented lines, turn up anywhere and everywhere. They’re irritating rather than harmful but I am still on a war of extermination. It gives me something to do, anyway,

Tagged , , , , , , ,
Nov 11 2021
1 Comment
Daily Post, Flora/Fauna

The mynah birds check me out

Wednesday 10th November 2021, 2.40pm (day 3,730)

I’m in quarantine, meaning I know that for another week, I can photograph only what is within, or seen from, the house I occupy. It’s a very nice house, with a superb view, but still, I have pretty much already worked out what shots might be worth trying, and will just have to pick my way through them, in a kind of drip-feed way. For a start, I am not putting up the view just yet, because today was cloudy, and there’s no sense blowing that one until the light is at its best.

Therefore, we’ll start today with some of the local fauna. My talents as a naturalist are not great but I’m 99% sure these are mynah birds — if they’re not, they’re doing a damn good impression of them. The one on the right fluffs himself up dramatically, as they check out the new human on the block.

Tagged , , , , , , , ,
Oct 28 2021
Leave a comment
Daily Post, Flora/Fauna

The flock works out

Wednesday 27th October 2021, 11.30am (day 3,716)

Many pigeons, 27/10/21

The community of pigeons that live in Hebden Bridge town centre sometimes act as one, particularly when it comes to their group callisthenics. They take off en masse, circle round for a while, then all land again. This flock was so large that here you see both the ones nearby, and those in the distance, already further round the circuit. Military exercises spring to mind — the ducks must be worried.

Tagged , , , , , , , ,
Oct 22 2021
Leave a comment
Daily Post, Flora/Fauna

A splash of autumn

Thursday 21st October 2021, 1.05pm (day 3,710)

Leaves, 21/10/21

Can’t say I had the greatest day at work today but at least it was sunny outside. A walk in the woods helped, a little. I guess because these trees are more sheltered than most, they’ve barely begun to turn yet — just the merest splash of autumn has hit them, thus far.

Tagged , , , , , , ,
Oct 20 2021
Leave a comment
Daily Post, Flora/Fauna, Hebden Bridge, Urban scene

Geese crossing

Wednesday 20th October 2021, 11.50am (day 3,709)

Geese crossing, 20/10/21

The second day in a row to feature a pic of birds asserting their rights over human-designed territory. These geese had decided they were crossing the main road in Hebden Bridge this morning, and that’s just the way it was. In the end, the woman in the dungarees saw them safely to the other side.

Tagged , , , , , ,
Oct 20 2021
Leave a comment
Daily Post, Flora/Fauna

Pigeon bouncers

Tuesday 19th October 2021, 1.30pm (day 3,708)

Pigeon bouncers, 19/10/21

Seen in St John’s Gardens, Manchester. This used to be a cemetery, hence the existence of this decorative cross in the middle, and obviously it’s a good vantage point to keep an eye on humans eating their lunch around the garden (as I was at this point). The impression given by these three pigeons, particularly the butch one on the right, is of nightclub bouncers, ready to pounce on any slight infraction of behaviour.

Tagged , , , , , , ,
← Older posts
Newer posts →