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Phil's Nature Pictures. Page 3.

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2 January 2010


Welcome to Phil Eyden's Nature Page No.3.



At last I have been able to get the complete set of pictures up on Phil's fab page. Such a delay and for that I must apologise to Phil and the viewers. But alas alas so much to do, so little time etc etc. However... thought seriously that I must get round to it this weekend (March 14 - 2010) as clearly there is a hint of Spring in the air as I write, and we selfishly want to encourage our man Phil to get out there for a further forage in the undergrowth, so that he can bring us Page No 4 for next year, with yet more fab photos. This is no hardship for Phil at all, as he likes a bit of a forage so he does. Clearly though and seriously, the amount of work needed to produce such pictures and of such a consistent and excellent quality is quite awesome. Yes .. quite a task indeed.

So as ever many thanks to the man himself for the effort made in bringing us such beautiful, highly colourful and truly heartwarming pictures. Hopefully they will for a while at least, take our minds of the horrible hospital situation or the dreadful DTIZ debacle. Spring is on its way...
 

 

Now to put some detail on the photos. The top shot is marvellous and we are delighted to put it in pole position. It was taken as the sun sinks in the west behind High Meadow here in Dover. Phil, intrepid as ever, and showing no fear of the gathering gloom that awaits us all when the sun sinks, carried on regardless to bring us this excellent pic. Its of a..wait til I check the notes here.. a Meadow Brown, taken appropriately in High Meadow. A real winner.

Next shot down are those gloriously delicate white ones and two together here as well, something of a coup I would guess. These are Marbled Whites and again were taken in High Meadow here in Dover.

The little brown chap, and you will forgive I'm sure the highly technical terminology, on the left of the smaller pictures, is a Skipper. On the right hand side is a Small White.. Both taken in central Dover.
 


The beautiful orangle coloured chap resting on the equally beautiful yellow flowers above is a Painted Lady. And it was taken on the very local Shakespeare Beach here in Dover. The sharp eyed amongst us will keep our wits about us and watch out for all these varieties in highly local locations in the months to come. Easy to spot perhaps but not that easy to photograph, not in any detail.

Immediately above is another cracking picture. This one is a Ringlet and it was taken in Canterbury's Blean Woods although Phil says you dont need to go that far afield to see one, as they should be a familiar visitor to the famous White Cliffs all around us.

The scary looking guy on the left is not really scary at all, it is just an excellent close-up of the Painted Lady in stunning detail there ..really wonderful to see. Once again, well done Phil all round.
 
Hope all enjoy the page now in its full completion mode. Roll on Nature Page 4.
 


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Section Two.


 




At the time of writing this section, we are in the middle of the bleak midwinter with only a miserable January ahead of us. Glorious Spring is feeling a long way off and Summer that much further away. What then to do to cheer us all up??...yes thats it...treat us all to some of the glorious colours of nature in high summer... through Phil's pictures. If they dont warm up your bones, they should at least warm the cockles of your heart!
 

Our long time forumite friend and tip top intrepid Nature Man, Phil Eyden, has been out and about in search of the fantastic, yes indeed, while you and I might lazily soak up those gloriously sunny days in an old deckchair, doing nothing at all productive and probably with a newspaper on our heads, or heavens! even a knotted handkerchief! ( can you picture the image), Phil is out there at one with nature, slowly making his cautious way through the barbled garbled undergrowth spotting this winged creature and that...and all for our benefit.

As ever Phil has come up with some great shots and I know from the postbag that lots of you out there enjoy the pictures. So please leave a comment below, its open to everybody and Im sure Phil would love to see it.

 

 

Okay let us try and put some detail on the pictures. Phil as ever has sent in good notes as yours truly would be more than a tad lost trying to name names.

Top two shots in SECTION TWO show on the left, the COMMON BLUE, although the name says COMMON BLUE, we dont believe they are all that common, Phil did well to capture this one 'on film' as it were. It was taken at Samphire Hoe. The one of the right is "impossibly rare" says Phil, "and only exists on about half a dozen isolated patches across the whole of southern Britain, Exmoor is the only other notable spot. This one was spotted in one of these colonies, Blean Woods near Canterbury, so I've included it anyway as it is so unusual. It is in fact called a HEATH FRITILLARY and as we say, from Blean Woods. There are probably only a few thousand in the UK." Well there we are...rare indeed.

Just below the top shots the next pic down shows the GATEKEEPER variety of butterfly. Phil did not have to do too much intrepid exploring for this one as the lovely butterfly casually landed within camera range in his very own back garden. A beautiful shot indeed..ah lovely, lovely..

Next picture with the rich deep colours is the FIVE SPOT BURNET MOTH. This one was found on Western Heights on one of those beautiful balmy days.
 


On the left above we have the gorgeous RED ADMIRAL butterfly, which was taken in Balfour Road here in central Dover. Which shows how important it is to keep vigilant and to keep your camera at the ready if you want to capture such shots as these.

The picture below, number six, is the COMMA, and this was taken in Blean Woods in Canterbury. A cracking picture this one, showing the supremely delicate nature of these beautiful creatures.
 


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