British Wildlife Photography Awards
28th March 2023
I have regularly submitted photographs to the British Wildlife Photography Awards (BWPA) and had them featured in the Exhibition and book. After a closure of the competition during Covid, it re-opened in 2022 and the launch Exhibition and announcement of winners was held in March 2023 in Bristol. I was very pleased to have been judged runner-up in the Animal Portraits category with this image of a male Willughby's Leafcutter Bee. I have a particular interest in the UK’s solitary bees and like to photograph the species that visit our Staffordshire garden. I had seen this male Willughby’s leafcutter bee...
Read More In a Staffordshire Garden
30th May 2022
Shortly after we moved to Staffordshire, I started compiling a Blurb photo-book featuring the insects and other invertebrates that I was photographing in the garden. I've finally finished it! I used the supplied BookWright package to produce the book. This is an example of the user interface: It's all quite intuitive to use, allowing upload of images and lots of options for selecting fonts and layouts. Anyway, the book can be Previewed and Purchased here if you're interested!
Read More Solo Exhibition of Still-life Photography
25th September 2019
Just over a year ago, I read an interesting article about a still-life photography technique. It involved using diffused torchlight to illuminate a still-life composition. Each element of the composition is lit separately and all of the elements are combined during post-processing. I was determined to master the technique and to develop my own style and "look". I made reasonable progress and entered a selection in the 2019 Ludlow Seven photographic contest. This is run by the Photo Space gallery in Ludlow, Shropshire. I was one of the seven winning photographers. I was also judged "Peoples Choice" by visitors to...
Read More A garden springtail survey
15th February 2017
In 2009, Dr Paul Ardron published an article describing a number of “alien” springtail species that he had discovered at various UK locations including Sheffield Botanical Gardens and the Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall. Some were new to the UK, some new to science. It was speculated that they may have been introduced on imported plants. Since then, some of the species have been reported from various locations around the UK; this year I found one of them (Katiannidae Genus nov.1 species nov.) in our Staffordshire garden. The rather unusual name denotes the fact this member of the Katiannidae...
Read More Garden Bee Update
29th June 2016
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Read More It's Springtail Season Again!
01st February 2016
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Read More Some Garden Surprises!
01st July 2015
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Read More Spring Bees in the Garden
02nd June 2015
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Read More Garden Bee-hotels
30th April 2015
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Read More It's been a long time, but a new blog post!
14th April 2015
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