David had an early morning at Chyverton Nature Reserve to check out how much activity there was.  In fact there was less than might have been expected.  The dry weather has had an impact on the amount of water for dragonflies.  However, this wasp spider saved the day, photographically speaking.
This week David had a day out with the Cornwall Wildlife Trust Photography Group to Windmill Farm on The Lizard.  The main aim was to photograph dragonflies.  Here are photos of a male black-tailed skimmer in flight and a male red-veined darter at rest.  The red-veined darter is a rare dragonfly in the UK but is now regular at Windmill Farm.
David is currently working on a project to photograph some of the wildlife using his meadow.  This meadow is unimproved grassland, dominated by rabbits that graze the grass very short.  In it there are plenty of ants which attract woodpeckers to feed.  In particular there is a family of four green woodpeckers which feed there most days.  There is also a fox family of which one or two will occasionally venture out into the open to be photographed.
David has had a few days in Devon writing an article for MMM, a motorhome magazine.  The trip included a few days near Braunton.  Below are photos of the view across the Taw Estuary from Braunton Burrows and a marsh helleborine on the dunes.
David and Sarah have just had a holiday in Iceland.  The weather was interesting with some beautiful sunny days mixed with fresh snow fall at the end of June.  They spent the longest day inside the Arctic Circle on the island of Grimsey and had a wonderful stay on another island called Flatey.  The landscapes are amazing and the wildlife brilliant.  David enjoyed photographing many birds, particularly waders and seabirds, some of which can be seen below. From top left you see: Siglufjordur, Fresh snowfall on the hills, Flatey, puffins on Grimsey, Hellnar church, Kirkjufellsfoss, arctic terns dive-bombing, black-tailed godwit in flight, puffin in flight, oystercatcher preening, redwing in song, snow bunting singing, Slavonian grebe, red-necked phalarope (female), harlequin duck (pair), razorbill wing-stretching.
David has just spent a few mornings photographing great spotted woodpeckers at the nest.  The woodpeckers used a purpose-built nest box on David's smallholding.  Two young woodpeckers were raised.  Here we see one of them clamouring for attention and in the second photo being attended by the male.
David's latest article for Nature TTL has just been published.  This looks at subjects which can be photographed through the summer and includes swallows and martins, marbled white butterflies and flowering grasses.  To the right is a photo of cocksfoot grass (it can be rewarding to concentrate on a common subject and photograph it nicely).  For more follow this link: https://www.naturettl.com/nature-photography-inspiration-summer-uk/
David and Sarah have just had a few days away in Wiltshire, exploring West Woods (a bluebell wood near Marlborough), the Kennet and Avon Canal and Pewsey Downs with its white horse.  Here are a few pics including a green hairstreak butterfly, a small blue butterfly and a grey wagtail.
David has started writing a nature diary for Cornwall Life, the first of this series is published in the May 2022 edition which is out now.  Below you can see the two double page spreads which concentrate very much on David's photography.  Watch out for his monthly feature picking out wildlife which can be seen in Cornwall and a location to visit each month.
Last night saw David's first moth-trapping session of the year.  For April there was a good selection of moths including the two photographed below: a male muslin moth and a pebble prominent.
		If you pick up a copy of Bird Watching Magazine this month (May 2022) you will see a photograph, on the cover, of an avocet taken by David.  Inside you will find many more of his photos, if you care to look!
Long-tailed tits are the glorious subject of David's latest feature on Nature TTL.  If you want to learn more about these beautiful birds or how David photographs them just click on this link: https://www.naturettl.com/how-to-photograph-long-tailed-tits/
		David's latest article for Nature TTL has just been published.  This looks at subjects to photograph this spring, the opening shot is of cowslips, taken with 300mm lens with 1.4x converter from a low-angle and backlit.  To see the article follow this link: https://www.naturettl.com/nature-photography-inspiration-for-spring/
The mute swans at Tehidy Country Park were making a splash for a photographic workshop led by David yesterday.
David visited Hannafore Beach for a rock-pooling trip with the Wildlife Trust Photo Group.  They found a wide range of creatures thanks to the expert guidance of Heather Buttivant.  Below left is a photo of a spider crab which has dressed itself for camouflage.  Afterwards David drove home past Trethevy Quoit, near St Cleer, to take some photos for a forthcoming Cornwall Life article.
David's photo of lambs playing is on the cover of The Caravan and Motorhome Club magazine for March.  Inside the magazine his regular article looks at how to photograph farm animals.
		This grumpy-looking tawny owl is sitting in the entrance to a nest box that David made a few years ago.  A fairly sure sign that it will be raising another brood there this year.
David's latest article has just been published on Nature TTL, this is on 'How to use Water in your Landscape Photography'.  To the right are two photos which demonstrate the use of a polarising filter (without and with).  To see this article click on the link below: https://www.naturettl.com/how-to-use-water-in-landscape-photography/
		Occasionally David needs to re-process an image taken a few years ago.  Here is one that brought back a few happy memories: an osprey with a brown trout taken in Scotland.  What an amazing bird!
This week David had a day out with Cornwall Wildlife Trust Photo Group at Tehidy Country Park.  Some in the group were a little surprised that he spent much of the day with a brown rat. As usual the grey squirrels were over-friendly and over-weight!
		David's latest article for Nature TTL has just been published.  This is:  'Perspective in Nature Photography'.  The photo to the left is of southern rockhopper penguins at a rookery on The Falklands, taken with a wide-angle lens from a very low perspective.  To read the article follow this link: https://www.naturettl.com/perspective-in-nature-wildlife-photography/
The population of great white egrets is currently increasing in the UK just like the little egrets did about twenty five years ago.  Above left is a great white egret and above right is a little egret, both photographed in Cornwall this week.
David has just received a lovely email from a gentleman in the United States of America who has read David's article on Perspective in Landscape Photography.  He commends David saying: 'Thank you for a well done and beautifully illustrated article.  I would love to tell you which example struck me as the best but all of them were so good!' Above are two more photos from this article.  These show Robin Hood's Bay from two different perspectives: one from standing height the other, without moving anywhere, from ground level at the very edge of the rock pool. To see the article follow this link: https://www.naturettl.com/perspective-in-landscape-photography/
David visited Mullion Cove during some stormy weather this week.  The rough sea was breaking over the harbour wall at high tide.  If you zoom in closely on the photo to the right you will see two people behaving very irresponsibly.
		David's latest article for NatureTTL has just been published.  This is on 'Perspective in Landscape Photography' and will be followed up with a similar artricle on perspective in nature photography in a few weeks.  To see it follow this link: https://www.naturettl.com/perspective-in-landscape-photography/ To the left is Welcombe Beach, Devon
An unfortunate wren flew into David's window this afternoon.  But there was a happy ending, after resting for a few minutes on the garden furniture it flew off to carry on looking for food.
		David's latest article for NatureTTL has just been published, this is one about what to photograph during the winter.  To the left is a robin in the snow.  Click on this link to read the article: https://www.naturettl.com/nature-photography-subjects-winter/
To the right is a photo of a nuthatch taken by David.  Until two years ago David didn't see nuthatches on his land but they have now started to breed, in nestboxes erected especially for them, and make a wonderful addition to the bird life of the smallholding.
		The fungus theme continues, here a group of trooping crumble cap fungi.  This cluster of fungi grows up four or five times every autumn and dies back within a day or two.  Each mushroom is very small and fragile but beautifully formed.
David's latest article for Nature TTL has been published, this one is about photographing turnstones.  The photo to the right shows a turnstone in breeding plumage, something we see occasionally each spring in Cornwall.  Follow this link to see the article: https://www.naturettl.com/how-to-photograph-turnstones/
		Continuing the fungus theme, this is a photo of a family of 'jelly baby' fungi.  Their caps do look a little like jelly babies, but they aren't recommended for eating.
The mild damp weather has encouraged many fungi to grow.  On David's land there are lots of waxcaps growing on the short grass.  Here is a photo of a group of blackening waxcaps. They almost look like a family!
David took some members of Liskeard Camera Club to Newlyn Harbour and then to Land's End at sunset to do some landscape photography.  There wasn't a colourful sunset but they had the best light of the week.  Below we see a boat coming in to Newlyn with St Michael's Mount behind, to the right is Land's End from Pordenack Point, a classic viewpoint.
David has been taking some macro images in the last couple of days.  There are some incredible colours and shapes in the natural world, but these subjects are very small, for example the matchstick lichens below stand about half an inch tall.  Here we have the coral slime mould; amethyst deceiver (a fungus); matchstick lichen; common liverwort (complete with spore releasing bodies).  All these images were taken with a dedicated macro lens, the matchstick lichen was also focus-stacked to get sufficient depth of field whilst being able to blur the background to make them stand out.
David promised more photos of the fox photographed in the summer.  He has left it until now because he didn't want to attract attention to the specific location but the fox has now stopped visiting so it is safe to do so.  It's really the location and the behaviour of the fox that made it worth photographing so David has lots of photos of the fox with cars, people, food etc.  Here are just four.
David and Sarah have just had a trip in their van.  They went to Norfolk and Suffolk to write about their travels and take photos of the wildlife and landscapes.  Here are a few photos.  From top left: avocet; bearded tit (juvenile); Burnham Overy Staithe windmill; Cley-next-the-Sea windmill; Norwich Cathedral; Blakeney Quay; Willy Lott's House (Flatford Mill); Framlingham Castle.