David's puss moth larvae have now all formed pupae and will remain there until next spring.  Below you see a sequence of photos from top left: a very early stage of a larva; a fully grown larva; the cocoon that the larva makes when it pupates (Can you spot this?); finally an adult puss moth.
David and Sarah have just had a week away in Hampshire.  David was writing about wildlife in the area for a motorhome magazine.  This involves visiting nature reserves and photographing the landscapes and the wildlife.  Photographing nature reserves can be quite tricky because many are not necesssarily photogenic, they tend to be quite scruffy, disorderly places!  Anyway David was up and about at 5am most mornings and did his best to use the best available light, here are four photos from the trip showing: Magdalen Hill (Butterfly Conservation site near Winchester); Broughton Down (Hants and IOW Wildlife Trust); a chalkhill blue butterfly roosting on harebells (the main target species for David) and Martin Down (National Nature Reserve).
David's latest article for Nature TTL has just been published.  This is about how to photograph moths, to read this article follow this link: https://www.naturettl.com/how-to-photograph-moths/
Below are two very different photos taken in the last few days.  To the left is a photo taken of the arable fields at Boscregan Farm, near St Just.  The flowers are mostly purple viper's bugloss and corn marigolds and in the distance you can see Sennen Cove.  To the right is a photo taken in David's garden.  The rabbits enjoy grazing on the weeds taken out of the flowerbeds, particularly the bindweed which would be useful if they could be trusted only to take the bindweed!
David has two families of woodpeckers spending much of their time around his land.  Both have two young.  One is the great spotted family, photographed a few weeks ago, the other is a green woodpecker family.  Below right are the two youngsters born this spring. Below left is one of the puss moth larvae that David is raising.  This is very small, about 8 mm long.  It has just shed its skin for the first time and is seen in the process of eating its previous skin.  The two dark prongs is the skin which once covered its forked tail.  This photograph was taken with a special lens, the Canon MPE65, which allows for ultra macro images.
David has been encouraging orange-tip butterflies by planting their favourite food plants: garlic mustard and lady's smock.  As a result he had several caterpillars this spring some of which he raised in captivity.  The purpose of this was to allow him to find one of their chrysalises, which are notoriously difficult to find.  Below you see a chrysalis and a female orange-tip butterfly.
David's latest article for Nature TTL has just been published.  This one is about photographing heathland flowers: https://www.naturettl.com/how-to-photograph-heathland-flowers/ The photograph, right, shows Cornish heath, an endemic species found only on The Lizard.
Below are a couple of photos that David has taken in his garden over the last few days.  The young blackbird had a real struggle to swallow this large cherry.  On the right a female house sparrow takes a bath in a new bird bath that David has set up specially to photograph the birds.  We need a bit more hot sunny weather for this project.
Saturday was a lovely day with light winds and some sunshine at dawn.  David had invited a couple of friends round to photograph moths and was relieved and delighted to find a trap bulging with beauties.  The best catch of the year so far including some eyed-hawkmoths (left below) and burnished brass moths (below right).
Below are a couple of photos from a session spent with two young great spotted woodpeckers and their mother.  On the left is one of the youngsters.  On the right is a shot of the mother but look carefully and you will also see a young one.  When young the great spotted woodpecker has a red crown.
Below are a couple of photos taken this week.  On the left is an elephant hawkmoth on ox-eye daisies.  To the right is a grey squirrel reaching across to grab the seed feeder in David's garden.  David photographed this while photographing young great spotted woodpeckers....more on those in a day or two.
The mallow is now in flower on David's meadow.  Here are two photos of it, one with a poplar hawkmoth.
An evening at Zennor, David walked up the hill photographing flowers along the way.  Below are: greater stitchwort among bluebells; cuckoo spit on cow parsley; cow parsley and finally a sunset from the summit of Zennor Hill.
David has been working on a few photographic projects in his garden.  Top row below are a male greenfinch drinking and a robin bathing in the bird bath.  Below that to the left is a common carder bee flying in to feed on a foxglove flower.  To the right is a ruby-tailed wasp.  This insect lays its eggs in the same hole as a mason bee egg and when its larva hatches it feeds on the larvae of the mason bee and the pollen collected by the adult mason bee for its larva.  It is a very small insect but incredibly brightly coloured!
Now here's a rare event.  On Tuesday David went out for an evening of photography.  He chose Gurnard's Head with good friend Malcolm Bishop.  The two views below were taken from Porthmeor Point, the first shows the view west towards Pendeen Watch and the second is of Gurnard's Head.  The flowers include oxeye daisies, sheep'sbit scabious, thrift, sea campion and English stonecrop.
Saturday the 16th of May was Sarah's birthday.  David bought her a selection of bee-focussed products, because Sarah loves bees.  He also made her a bee house comprising of bricks, blocks, wood and canes, all with holes which can be used by mason bees.  Within hours of putting the insect house in place the mason bees were flying in to lay eggs, leave pollen and seal their cells with mud.  Here you see one flying to its bamboo home with mud.
David has been taking photos to demonstrate the amazing camouflage of moths.  Below are peppered moth (top left); great prominent (top right); buff-tip (bottom left) and for contrast a close up of a crow's feather complete with water droplets after a splash of rain.
If you pick up a copy of the May issue of BBC Wildlife magazine you will see this photo of a nightingale by David on a double page spread.  This photo was taken in Suffolk a few years ago.  There is also a photograph of hemlock water dropwort by David in the same magazine.
Here are a couple of images captured in the last few days.  On the left is a pair of mason bees mating (David has encouraged these bees by providing thermal blocks with holes drilled in them) and on the right is an image of May blossom (hawthorn).
Over the last few days David has been putting out wool to encourage birds to collect it for nesting material.  There have been blue tits, house sparrows, jackdaws and, most often, goldfinches.  Here are a few pics.
David has seen four common stinkhorns on his smallholding over the last couple of weeks, this seems very early in the year for this distinctive fungus, which is usually found in summer and autumn.  Here is one of them close to a patch of bluebells.  Also below is a male large red damselfly on cotton grass, one of many seen in the last few days.
Below is a selection of pics taken by David over the last couple of days.  First there is another shot of a crab spider on the ceanothus but look carefully and you will see that this one has caught a honey bee, look even closer and you will see that the honey bee has a varroa mite on its back.  I would suggest that having a mite of this size had made it weak and more vulnerable to predation but the other crab spider on the same bush had also caught a honey bee at the same time, this one without a mite.  To the right of this is a bluebell photo taken with a 300mm lens on David and Sarah's smallholding.  Bottom left is their first hawkmoth of the year, a poplar hawkmoth.  Bottom right is a celebration of the fresh green foliage on the trees, this a sweet chestnut.  Spring has sprung, the cuckoo is back on Godolphin Hill, David  & Sarah saw a red kite a couple of days ago and the first broad-bodied chaser of the year was in the garden yesterday.
The ceanothus bush in David and Sarah's garden is looking amazing this spring and has been the focal point of a lot of insect activity.  Below are photographs of a crab spider with prey and a honey bee in flight, notice the bee has full 'pollen baskets'.  David is about to write an article for SAGA about which plants are good for wildlife in gardens.  This will be published in June but until then please keep up with his latest SAGA articles here: https://www.saga.co.uk/magazine/authors/david-chapman
Before Corona Virus really kicked in David and Sarah had a trip to The Maldives.  They wanted to snorkel and see lots of fish and this is the place to go.  David had purchased an underwater hosuing for his Canon 5D with dome ports for the 100mm macro lens and the 16 to 35mm wide angle lens.  Below is a selection of images.  David will be including these, and more, images in some of his talks in the autumn. From top left: Como Maalifushi (four photos); sheephead parrotfish; five saddle parrotfish; striped triggerfish; hawksbill turtle; longnose parrotfish; sergeant major; mixed fish over reef; oriental garden lizard; two photos of an octopus (these were amazing and were a highlight of the trip!).