David's calendar for Cornwall Hospice Care, 2020 is now being sold in all Cornwall Hospice Care shops around the county.  Please support this important charity by purchasing one.
David and Sarah have just spent a fortnight on the Isles of Scilly.  David has been experimenting with an underwater housing for his DSLR, these are some of his first shots and show: a well-camouflaged common goby; grey seal; juvenile pollock and a shore crab.  The two photos on the left were taken with a 100mm macro lens; the two on the right were with a 16 to 35mm lens.  Thanks to Jo Clegg for her help in identifying some species, see more of her photos at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/abstractnature/
		David has had a busy few days.  Above and below are shots taken in St Ives.  Above right is Lanyon Quoit at night; left is Chun Quoit on a windy evening and below left are some hornets flying around their nest.
On the 3rd of September David went along to help Becky Curtis with her WI phone photography day, which was a great success.  He went for sunrise and stayed until the harbour went into the shade in the evening.  The picture on the right was taken early in the morning with a long exposure; the two below were taken in the early evening.
David took Cornwall Wildlife Trust Photo Group to Windmill Farm for a day of photographing dragonflies and other insects.  Here is a selection of four photos of common darters taken on the day.  From top left: a pair in mid-flight; a female photographed early in the morning with dew; a pair egg-laying and finally a newly-emerged individual.
A few weeks ago David's attention was taken by a swimming caterpillar in his pond.  On closer inspection there were a lot of them eating bogbean which looked quite devastated.  David reared some of these caterpillars to check their identity.  They were gold spot moths and very beautiful too.  You will be pleased to know that the bogbean is now recovering.
David's latest article for Nature TTL has been published, this one is on the rules of composition, follow this link to see his articles: https://www.naturettl.com/author/david-chapman/
David and Sarah had a week away in their van on The Roseland.  Here is a crop pattern near Portscatho and a hummingbird hawkmoth in Portscatho (their wings beat 85 times per second!)
Here are a couple of dragonfly photos taken this month.  A female keeled skimmer in dew and a male beautiful demoiselle (look closely and you will see another winged insect hitching a ride on the back of the demoiselle!)
Are you looking for inspiration for what to photograph in summer?  Then read David's article on the Nature TTL website here: https://www.naturettl.com/author/david-chapman/
Since David got back from Hungary he has spent some of his time photographing green woodpeckers in his meadow where he has also photographed the young rabbits.
David spent a week in Hungary with friends at the beginning of July.  He took many photos of which only a small selection is viewable below: bee-eater; crossbill; greenfinches; great crested grebe with young; hoopoe; little owl; otter with perch; squacco heron; red-backed shrike; tree sparrow.
David's latest article for NTTL has been published, this one is on long exposures in landscape photography.  To see the article, and his others, follow this link: https://www.naturettl.com/author/david-chapman/
Two visits to West Pentire in the last week offered two quite different weather conditions.  The poppies and corn marigolds are looking splendid!
David and Sarah have had a few weeks away in the motorhome.  They visited The Chilterns, The Cotswolds and Salisbury.  The weather wasn't always great!  Here are a few photos taken on the trip. From top to bottom, left to right we have: hoary plantain at Winterbourne Downs; Temple Island, near Henley; Monkey x Lady Orchids; Adonis Blue butterfly on common spotted orchid; Hambleden Lock; Henley; Henley; Salisbury Cathedral; Arable Farmland near Salisbury; Brown Hare; Bee Orchid; Common Spotted and Hybrid Orchids; Lower Slaughter and Upper Slaughter in The Cotswolds.
David and Sarah have many pairs of blue tits and great tits nesting in boxes around their smallholding but they also have one pair utilising a natural hole in an old holly tree.
David has started to contribute articles to naturettl.  So far he has written two, follow this link to see them: https://www.naturettl.com/author/david-chapman/
The broad-bodied chasers, which have emerged from David's pond, are now mating and laying eggs.  Below you see a male; the female flying and egg-laying and the eggs.
David has been busy photographing spring flowers in various parts of Cornwall.  Here are four recent images showing gladioli (whistling jacks) with Logan Rock; bluebells at Wheal Owles (Poldark's mine); oxeye daisies at Kynance Cove; thrift at Bedruthan Steps.
An evening in Penzance to see the Scillonian coming in, also saw some lovely summer plumaged male turnstones at Battery Rocks.
It has been a great year for plants in David and Sarah's pond, below are bogbean and common water crowfoot.
Springtime in Cornwall means lots of colourful wildflowers.  Here are some bluebells, spring squill and thrift on the coast at Prussia Cove and Land's End.
David's mum has been staying for the last couple of weeks.  She has been keen to get out and help take photos, so here are a couple of the results as well as a couple of broad-bodied chasers encouraged to emerge from their pond in the warm spell over Easter.
David had his first moth-trapping session of the year.  Not much variety but a couple of new species.  Below you might be able to see: early grey (top left and bottom left); angle shades (top right) and Hebrew character (bottom right).
David has just spent a week in Devon writing an article about wildlife at three locations: Stover Country Park (mostly woodland and water birds); Slapton Ley (mostly woodland, water and sea birds) and Wembury (rock-pooling).  Here are a few of the images David took, from top left: mallards landing on the lake at Stover CP; mute swan at Stover; long-tailed tit with feathers; mandarin, male displaying; Slapton Beach; coot; broad-clawed porcelain crab; Risso's crab with eggs.
David took members of Liskeard Camera Club to Tehidy for the day to lead a photographic workshop.  The photos of swans, below, were taken before the day started when the swans were actively engaged in their natural behaviour.  Top right is a photo of a lesser celandine taken with a telephoto lens (one of the techniques David demonstrated) and top left is the biggest surprise of the day, a yellow-bellied terrapin (presumably an animal which was once kept as a pet).
Thanks to Sarah Thompson for letting David have the hornet's nest which she extricated from her attic.  This nest won't be used again by the hornets but it did make an interesting photographic study.
David had a morning out with Malcolm Bishop at Trebah Garden (you can see Malcolm's images at: www.malcolmbishopphoto.com ).  Trebah is looking great and will continue to do so through the spring and summer.  These images might feature in David's calendars of Trebah Garden in future years.  His 2020 calendar will be on sale in the garden shop soon.
David has cover photos on Cornwall Life (national edition) and Cornwall Today in March and April 2019
David and Sarah have just spent two weeks in The Seychelles.  They spent five days on Bird Island, three days on La Digue and five on Praslin.  Between exploring the islands David managed to find time to take some wildlife photos.
The beach at Anse Cocos, La Digue
Sarah makes friends with a giant tortoise		Brown Noddies
Barred Ground Dove		Crab Plovers
Brown Noddy flying low over the beach		WhiteTern
Cattle Egret feeding on flies in fish market		Ghost Crab with newly hatched turtle
White Tern		Great Frigatebird
Madagascar Fody, male		Seychelles Blue Pigeon
Noddies on a beach on Bird Island		Seychelles Fruit Bat
Seychelles Black Paradise Flycatcher, female		Blossom at the Botanical Gardens
Seychelles Sunbird, female		Crested Tern
On the 15th of February David had a day out with friend Chris.  They started with the glossy ibis at Helston, then went to the boating lake where they saw Mediterranean and ring-billed gull, amongst others, and finished at Pentire Point with the short-eared owls and kestrels.  Below are: glossy ibis; herring gull bathing; male kestrel hovering and a compositional shot of a short-eared owl making the most of the last rays of sun on one of its perches.
David has just supplied Land's End hotel with 65 framed photos which are to be hung in their guest's rooms and some of the open spaces.  Here are two of the images chosen:
Over the last two evenings David has been to talk to St Mabyn Gardening Club and Wild Roseland group in St Mawes.  On each occasion he took advantage of the good weather to take some landscape photos nearby.  Below are two photos, one of The Rumps and one from Carne Beach, Roseland.
There have been a few glossy ibises in Cornwall this winter.  This is a bird which breeds in the Mediterranean area; most migrate to Africa for the winter but Cornwall is mild enough and we have plenty of wet grassy areas, which they like.
On Saturday 2nd of February David took a trip to The Cheesewring and took a few snowy photos.
Below are some photos which illustrate points which David will refer to on some workshops he has planned for the next few days:
Try a wide angle lens from very close, maybe using a remote release?		Get down low with a telephoto lens and deliberately get things in the way to create blur
Look for quirky shots and be ready with settings for action photography		You will need continuous shooting mode and AF continuous as well as fast shutter speed, 1/4000th sec
Look for interesting action and use fast shutter speed in this case 1/2500th sec		Try using slower shutter speed to be creative, 1/10th sec (for this try manual focus!)
Shoveler drake from kneeling height		Same bird, same location, taken seconds later but with camera at water level
A sunny afternoon after a period of wind and rain was a good time to visit the short-eared owls, here are a few of the photos David took today.
An afternoon on The Lizard started with sunshine at Kynance Cove but then turned cloudy for some slow shutter speed shots around Lizard Point.
David visited Marazion at dawn with Wadebridge Camera Club.  After photographing The Mount and having breakfast he spent time with the pipits again (rock and water pipits shown below) along with a house sparrow bathing in the car park.
These three show a sequence from before sunrise to after.
A day out at Trevose Head and Bedruthan with just a few brief moments of sunlight.
David's photo of Kynance Cove in the snow, taken in February this year is going to be featured on the cover of Cornwall Life, December 2018.  This will feature on the cover of the national edition of Cornwall Life but not the local edition (not sure why that decision was made!).  Inside this magazine (both the local and national editions) David will tell how he planned the day and took the photos which include Church Cove; Lizard Point and Kynance Cove.
David and Sarah have just come back from a trip to Scotland which included Shetland and a week on Fair Isle.  Here is a fairly random selection of photos.
David's photos have been used on the covers of Cornwall Life (October) and Cornwall Today (October and November) 2018