Falmer Farmland

July 23, 2014 by Words | 2 Comments

It’s still hot! The fields are quiet and everything is moving at a leisurely pace. This is the view of the fields hidden behind the small wood at the edge of the car park at work. There are certainly worse places to be. The campus itself is outside the South Downs National Park. The fields are inside it. I’m standing on the boundary line.

Wheat fields

Wheat fields

In the distance, cattle were quietly grazing. I hiked over in that direction at lunchtime.

cattle

cattle

There was one more treat as I left work. Three buzzards emerged from the woods. They headed away, but not before I unpacked the camera and took this shot.

buzzard

Camera note: cattle and buzzard photos taken with the Canon 7D and EF 400mm f/5.6L USM lens. The wheat fields photographed with the EF 24-105 F4L IS USM lens.

Posted in Cattle, Farming, Landscape, South Downs National Park Tagged , , , |

Swallows at Seven Sisters

July 22, 2014 by Words | 4 Comments

In keeping with my new found discipline of keeping posts relatively well-focused (though I can’t always manage that with the camera), here’s a selection of photos of swallows seen today at Seven Sisters.

swallows

swallows

swallows

swallows

Meanwhile our mini heatwave is continuing, with temperatures up in the mid-70s°F, but thankfully no sign of the storms that punctuated the heat towards the end of last week. The weather looks set to continue for several more days at least. Are we actually going to have a summer this year?

Camera note: all photos taken with the Canon 7D and EF 400mm f/5.6L USM lens.

Posted in Birds Tagged |

Falmer Butterflies

July 21, 2014 by Words | 4 Comments

With the launch of the annual ‘Big Butterfly Count‘ this week I’ve an excuse to post some more photos of butterflies. These were all seen as I walked around the edge of the University of Brighton Falmer campus today, in glorious sunshine. I’ll start with the very pretty (and very numerous) common blues.

Common blue butterflies

Common blue butterflies

Counting them would be tricky. They are very small and emerged like dust from the path as I walked along.

Easier to count (perhaps), although they are rarely stationary for more than a moment, are the marbled whites. They tend to keep to the long grass which makes photographing them a little bit hit and miss. This is a relative hit.

Marbled white butterfly

There were also peacock butterflies, the ever-present meadow browns, and this (less common) ringlet butterfly.

Ringlet butterfly

The other very common species is the cinnabar. Actually a moth, and in this case in the caterpillar stage. They were very easy to spot on the forest of ragwort in the fields beyond the campus fringe.

Cinnabar caterpillars on ragwort

The closing photo was taken towards the end of the walk, as I was heading back down from the hills. To the right you can see the curved roof of the Amex Stadium (Brighton and Hove Albion’s home), the University of Brighton campus (and my office) is just to the left of it; and in the distance is the University of Sussex. Everything beyond is part of the South Downs National Park.

The Amex Stadium, the University of Brighton Falmer campus

Camera note: most of the photos taken with the Canon 7D and EF 400mm f/5.6L USM lens. The cinnabars and the landscape were taken with the EF 24-105 F4L IS USM lens.

Posted in Amex Community Stadium, Butterfly, caterpillar, Landscape, South Downs National Park Tagged , , , |