Butterflies from North Somerset (UK)

The following butterflies were clicked at a small grassy patch right next to the lake were the previous birds (posted as another blog entry) were snapped.

This has to be my best butterfly pic till date!

Here's some more of the same species - Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria)Here's one snap of its underside.One last one!

And here's another species - Comma (Polygonia c-album)

And one of them both together.....
(You can see the less cooperative Comma flying around in the background)

A few birds I saw at the Telegraph hill park in Brockley, South London this morning.The ever so delightful Robin (Erithacus rubecula) makes even the dullest grey cold morning a pleasure with its beautiful songs and even better colour.

At the pond was the wise old Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea) patiently waiting at the edge of the water ready to strike.

I was wondering what the streaks of dark blue colour along it's long neck are for? and I'm sure it has to do with helping it camouflage into it's surrounding.

Probably it's to deceive the fish thats looking up from the water into thinking that the Heron is just part of the reeds along the ponds edge! I think this BnW image makes my point more apparent. Though I understand that research has shown that at least some fish can distinguish colours.

Just back from a quick visit to Dubai, every time I go there I find so much change. I keep hearing of these giant projects they are building and all the ecological damage it is creating and though that's completely true and horrible there is another side to the story.

As Dubai and most of the gulf cities are drastically changing its landscape and natural habitats by exploiting their Oil money certain species of birds and insects (some of which are surely not native to the Arabian peninsular) are now making the most out of these large man made environments. The following set of bird pictures were snapped at the newly built gardens and lake at the Dubai Media City(above).
Growing up in Dubai I hardly remember seeing these Common Mynas (Acridotheres tristis) out in the open (though they were quiet popular pets!), but today you could see one at every street corner... in the green lawns along the main road... in the parks... every where..

Later this Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis) surely caught my attention... Though they are naturally found in the this region of the world they seem to be doing quiet well in the huge water bodies spring up as part of the all the new large scale developments .. be it gated-housing estates.. golf course .. or economic zones...

And the last set of images is of yet another bird quiet familiar to the Arabian coast the Western Reef Egret (Egretta gularis). Once again doing quiet well in these conditions.

And apparently there is enough food to go around!

Though this is not a justification to blatantly mess around with nature and wreak havoc with natural habitats(that took centuries to form), I am always amazed at the pace at which 'Life finds a way'... But I sincerely hope that a more sustainable development model will be adopted sooner rather than later!!!

My Butterfly pix of 2007

At the end of every year one of the e-group that I am part of - Butterfly India - asks its members to submit what they consider their best snap of the year. I chose this one : (Read on below to know why)

Since I haven't been living in India since a few years now and I visit only on short break I didn't have a huge collection of Indian Butterfly pix for 2007 to pick from, nonetheless I decided to share this one as my favourite for the year gone by.

I chose to share this image because it portrays yet another aspect in the life cycle of these beautiful creatures - as someone's meal.

The image shows the Clytia form (mimicing the Common Crow) of the Common Mime Butterfly (Papilio (Chilasa) clytia) being devoured by a Praying Mantis.

And thanks to Mr. Kiran Srivastava (kiranjo@vsnl.net) I know that the Praying Mantis is of a Creoboter species.
Check this link to know more about this species of Mantis - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creobroter_gemmatus

And last but not the least - Wish you all a great year ahead! Happy 2008 !!

Common Indian garden birds

At home for a few days of Christmas break and it feels so good to be able to go out and enjoy the sun, the weather, the blue skies!!

Here's some snaps that I clicked at my Uncle's place in Kannur, Kerala of some very common Indian birds.

Indian Pond Heron (Ardeola grayii)

Loten's Sunbird Cinnyris lotenius

Oriental Magpie Robin Copsychus saularis

White-cheeked Barbet Megalaima viridis

Carmine bee-eater

As horrible weather has kept me captive of the indoors I decided to try my hand (after a long time) at one of my old passions - Sketching. Sadly all I could find last night as I sat down was one Black pen. Nonetheless I had a go at a Carmine bee-eater (Merops nubicus) from photographs of the species I had take a few months ago at the Rotterdam Zoo.

Here it is .......
Here are some of the snaps.

Completely fell in love with the colours on these beauties.

These birds have a range including most the Northern Sub-saharan regions of Africa.

Though quiet small the Aviary at the Rotterdam Zoo has some great birds and offers great photo ops.

Snapped this Common Tern (Sterna hirundo) while I was crossing the Channel on my way to London.

Birding @ Scheveningen Beach

As I prepare to leave my home for the last two years in Rotterdam, I made a small trip to the Scheveningen Beach in The Hague. While strolling down the cold sandy beach I laid my eyes on a lot of bird activity on a small rocky pier covered in green sea weed and moss.The main inhabitants were the Herring gulls (Larus argentatus)
But on closer inspection I found some Ruddy Turnstones (Arenaria interpres) amidst the Gulls. Though these are quiet common waders in this part of the world and also quiet frequently sighted along coastal areas back home in India (And surely at Uran and Sewri in Mumbai) I always managed to miss them, although I am not sure if I had seen them in Uran during the first Mumbai Bird Race.
So most probably this is another 'lifer'. Here some more snaps of the Turnstones.

I shall end this (probably) last posting as a Dutch Resident with this snap of the sun setting into the North Sea.