Photos, videos and docs of Gavin Johnson, with the keywords: "nature"

Hungry House Sparrows

nobody@ipernity.com (Gavin Johnson) — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 15:03:47 +0000

I've been wondering why I've been getting through €2 or more of bird food every day recently, and today I figured it out.

I count 27 House Sparrows roosting in this bush, and there were at least another dozen in a nearby tree.

I suppose at least I'm doing my part to keep their population up!

Rolling the fields

nobody@ipernity.com (Gavin Johnson) — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 08:21:28 +0000

Gavin Johnson has posted:

Even after some nice late summer rain, the fields are brown and very dry. Flattening them for next planting is slow and heavy going.

Young Long Tailed Tit

nobody@ipernity.com (Gavin Johnson) — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 06:22:03 +0000

Gavin Johnson has posted:

Some young Long-Tailed Tits occasionally pop in to eat some of the blackfly on our beans (which is nice of them).

They're always on the move, but I managed to catch this one making his contact call to keep in touch with the rest of the clan.

Cabbage White Butterfly

nobody@ipernity.com (Gavin Johnson) — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 06:16:42 +0000

Gavin Johnson has posted:

The caterpillars have been munching through the sacrificial nasturtiums we planted for them, and have mostly left everything else alone.

The butterflies are usually very skittish, but this one tolerated me poking my macro lens in its face for a while before flying off.

Dragonflies in flight

nobody@ipernity.com (Gavin Johnson) — Sat, 25 Jul 2026 06:38:19 +0000

Gavin Johnson has posted:

I thought photographing birds in flight was difficult, until I tried going after dragonflies! I was pleased with this one, though.

Top to bottom: A male rather ragged Emperor Dragonfly defending his patch; a Brown Darter; and a second, fresher looking Emperor a little upstream. Worth zooming is a bit to see the detail.

My wife was very patient waiting for me to get my shots, and helped explain what I was doing to passers-by on the canal who saw me pointing the camera at random, apparently empty spaces!

Hummingbird Hawkmoth

nobody@ipernity.com (Gavin Johnson) — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 12:46:40 +0000

Gavin Johnson has posted:

I didn't see any nice walls this week, but I did manage to get a few shots of a Hummingbird Hawkmoth dining on a Buddleia flower.

Grasshopper

nobody@ipernity.com (Gavin Johnson) — Thu, 16 Jul 2026 07:40:20 +0000

Gavin Johnson has posted:

Another old image that I've tweaked and reprocessed - a grasshopper enjoying a garden plant.

Emperor Dragonfly

nobody@ipernity.com (Gavin Johnson) — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 06:53:48 +0000

Gavin Johnson has posted:

Not the most artistic photo I've taken (though I quite like the reflection). This is a female Emperor Dragonfly (Anax imperator) laying eggs in a large pond.

The Emperor is the largest dragonfly in Europe, but while laying, she was frequently "buzzed" by Azure Damselflies (upper left). I'm not sure if they were bravely defending their territory, or looking to eat the Emperor's eggs.

Greylag Gosling

nobody@ipernity.com (Gavin Johnson) — Thu, 18 Jun 2026 07:16:37 +0000

Gavin Johnson has posted:

Another cute one from the WWT Slimbridge wetlands centre - a recently hatched Greylag Gosling.

Pied Avocet chick

nobody@ipernity.com (Gavin Johnson) — Wed, 17 Jun 2026 06:37:49 +0000

Gavin Johnson has posted:

We had an afternoon visit to the nearby Slimbridge wetlands centre yesterday, and saw a lot of charming birds with their young. For me, the stars of the show were the pied avocet chicks.

The winner of the feeder war

nobody@ipernity.com (Gavin Johnson) — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 06:02:18 +0000

Gavin Johnson has posted:

One squirrel finally took possession and ate in (relative) comfort.

We had to put duct tape over the boxes as the are made with a clear plastic panel on the front. That's apparently easy for a greedy squirrel to rip off, and for the local pigeons to spot the peanuts inside and spend *hours* trying to open the top!

A new generation of squirrels

nobody@ipernity.com (Gavin Johnson) — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 05:56:54 +0000

Gavin Johnson has posted:

We fill a couple of feeders with peanuts in a (mostly successful) attempt to stop the local squirrels eating our garden plants.

Two young ones have discovered the resource, and have spent the last couple of days rampaging around and squabbling noisily. Here, they are both trying to win possession of the feeder.

Bumble Bee in flight

nobody@ipernity.com (Gavin Johnson) — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 06:40:12 +0000

Gavin Johnson has posted:

Continuing the insect theme, I rather liked this 'head on' shot of a bumble bee taking off from a lavender flower.

More Azure Damselflies mating

nobody@ipernity.com (Gavin Johnson) — Sun, 14 Jun 2026 06:48:57 +0000

Gavin Johnson has posted:

Yesterday I posted an image from last year of a pair of damselflies. That must have influenced my choice of afternoon walk, as we found ourselves back at the local reservoir yesterday afternoon, and I found more of the little beauties.

I think this new image has more detail, and I like the way their bodies are bent into a heart shape.

Azure Damselflies mating

nobody@ipernity.com (Gavin Johnson) — Sat, 13 Jun 2026 07:14:07 +0000

Gavin Johnson has posted:

One of the joys of summer is to see insects flitting around when out on a walk. Sadly, UK insect populations are in decline, but there are still quite a lot of these brightly coloured damselflies around.

When mating, the blue male grasps the head of the green female, and they fly around as a pair until the female separates to lay eggs.

Fields under Chosen Hill

nobody@ipernity.com (Gavin Johnson) — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 07:55:49 +0000

Gavin Johnson has posted:

HFF! Another view of Chosen Hill, this time up the gentle slope through a field growing wild grasses for silage.

White pigeon

nobody@ipernity.com (Gavin Johnson) — Tue, 26 May 2026 07:03:31 +0000

Gavin Johnson has posted:

I think this is a pure white pigeon, as the lcal doves are rather smaller. It was kind enough to pose for me while I was out taking photographs for our local Parish website.

Cotswold Alpacas

nobody@ipernity.com (Gavin Johnson) — Fri, 22 May 2026 06:24:39 +0000

Gavin Johnson has posted:

HFF - continuing my accidental series of local landscapes, Cotswold Alpacas have a herd of 45 animals in the village of Cowley.

You can book mindful walks with the alpacas and buy their wool, but for a small donation, you can also help yourself to well rotted alpaca manure, which seems to be rocket fuel for our garden plants.

As it was a quiet day at the farm, we were also encouraged to spend a little time in the company of these charming and inquisitive creatures. (Closeup in PiP).

Alpaca closeup

nobody@ipernity.com (Gavin Johnson) — Fri, 22 May 2026 06:24:40 +0000

Gavin Johnson has posted:

A closeup of one of the residents of Cotswold Alpacas. They'd recently had their annual haircut, so were looking a little thin.

Wheat field and barn

nobody@ipernity.com (Gavin Johnson) — Thu, 21 May 2026 06:30:38 +0000

Gavin Johnson has posted:

I seem to have accidentally posted a series this week of "landscapes I can walk to from home", so here's another of those.

About 1km from Monday's bench is this field at the foot of Chosen Hill in Gloucestershire, with a rusting but still functioning metal shed at the end of the tractor tracks. If you look closely, you can see the Malvern Hills in the far background.