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!).
David has been seeing a lot of summery wildlife including crab spiders, common stinkhorn fungi and large red damselflies to name but a few.  This morning (18th of April) he took advantage of the light rain to get some photos of the leaves of tree lupins, these photos show red campion in the rain drops.
Tree blossom is one of the most colourful signs of spring, here we have apple blossom (left) and goat willow (right), both photographed on David's smallholding.
We are having some fantastic weather this spring and the wildflowers are responding accordingly.  Last year we planted, or transplanted, a number of plants into the various parts of our smallholding and here are two that have flourished as a result (and despite the rabbits!).  Left are cowslips and right is bugle.
Last night David set a moth trap and this morning photographed a few of the moths.  It is still quite early in the season so there wasn't a huge range of species but there is always something of interest including below a March Moth (obviously doesn't know it's April!) and a Muslin Moth.  Above are a Nut-tree Tussock Moth (what wonderful names!) and an Early Thorn Moth.  All images were taken using focus-stacking to get the whole subject sharp.
David's latest article for Nature TTL has just been published, follow this link to see it: https://www.naturettl.com/how-to-photograph-spring-coastal-flowers-in-the-uk/ Here are a couple of photos which feature in the article, a fulmar in thrift and a close-up of sea campion:
Last year David and Sarah planted a lot of snakeshead fritillary bulbs in their top field.  This spring they have been delighted to see so many of them coming through.  Here are two photos taken in a heavy dew after a frost.
David's latest articles for Nature TTL have just been published online.  The two photos above feature in an article entitled 'A Wildlife Photography Guide to Cornwall' which focusses on some of the special places and creatures found in the county.  Follow this link to have a look: https://www.naturettl.com/a-wildlife-photography-guide-to-cornwall-uk/ (Photos above show: silver-studded blue butterfly at Upton Towans and Prickly Stick Insect) The photos below feature in an article entitled 'How to Photograph Dragonfly Emergence', these show a broad-bodied chaser emergence.  See this article here: https://www.naturettl.com/how-to-photograph-dragonfly-emergence/
		David visited Chapel Porth for a sunset on 3rd of March, there was some good light combined with a lovely view of Wheal Coates and St Agnes Head.
David has the cover photo on the March edition of Cornwall Life.  This photo is of Crackington Haven with heathland in flower.  Keep an eye out for this when visiting newsagents or, in months to come, dental waiting rooms and doctor's surgeries.  If you are really keen you could buy a copy!
		Storm Dennis brought strong winds but poor light (photographically speaking), but on the 17th of February, as the storm was passing through, there were a few moments of sunlight and David went to Sennen Cove to show the drama of the big sea.
On the 13th of February David led a one-to-one workshop where he concentrated on the beaches of Porthcurno and Pednvounder.  The winds had whipped up quite a rough sea which created a bit of drama in what must be one of the most beautiful locations in Cornwall.
David went on a rock pooling field trip on 11th of February.  This was led by Jasmine and Jo Clegg who found an amazing number of creatures to photograph.  Below are a few.  From top left: shanny; St Piran's crab (next to a common hermit crab); grey sea slug; sea spider with eggs; yellow-plumed sea slug; spiny starfish; snakelock's anemone; stalked jellyfish.  See Jasmine's instagram page: www.instagram.com/jazzysea
		On David and Sarah's smallholding there are a number of over-wintering chiffchaffs.  This one was spending some time picking off insects which were attracted to the blossom on this tree.
David has been photographing a starling roost in West Cornwall in recent weeks.  Tonight the conditions were ideal and the starlings were kept up for a long time by a few buzzards, a peregrine and a sparrowhawk.  The sparrowhawk features in one of the photos below.