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	13th September 2009	On a trip up to Gloucestershire I stopped off at Greylake RSPB reserve in Somerset and caught up with the Spotted Crake which had been there for some time. This shy and elusive little bird showed well, and eventually swam in front of us only about 25 feet away. I've also remembered that I hadn't posted the Spoonbill pics I took in Gwent much earlier this year, so at last, they're up!! On Sunday 13th, I dropped into the public viewing area at RNAS Culdrose to find a white wagtail on the grass, and grabbed a couple of record shots.

	8th September 2009	Finally there are some birds in Cornwall!! I went to see the Baird's Sandpiper at Marazion beach, and got pictures of Rock Pipit and Sanderling, 2 new species for me, and also of dunlin, ringed plover and turnstone. There are also, hopefully still around, at the RSPB reserve at Marazion, a spotted crake and a citrine wagtail. The Unarmoured stick insect that I photographed in the back garden was a real surprise. It turns out that Constantine is something of a headquarters for them, with a strong population, but I've still only seen the one. A colleague of Kim's says that her garden is full of stick insects, over towards St. Austell...I wonder which species they are?

	16th August 2009	Well, I finally managed to get some pictures of the Small White butterfly, one of our more common species, that you always think will be easy. Well it's taken me over 12 months to get these. Only 2 of our British species left to get, (if you don't count the ultra rare migrants), Mountain Ringlet and Scotch Argus. Guess I'm going to have to go "up north" next July. I've also posted some pictures of a male Broad Bodied Chaser dragonfly, taken at Nagshead some weeks ago.

	3rd August 2009	The house is on the market, but activity is slow...I won't go on and on about the HIP, but it is a farce in my book, you can view the details on Rightmove here: http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-26162153.html?backToListURL=%2Fuser%2Fshortlist.html%3Ftype%3DBUYING I've managed to get this website in a mess, but have finally, I hope, straightened it out, so watch out for a number of up-dates towards the end of August.

	25th June 2009	So the house is still not on the market, and the damned HIP is just a real weight around the necks of anyone wanting to sell their house. As soon as you know you want to sell your house, get 'em started on it, cos they won't sell your house without it! The worst bit, is, I'm sure that any purchasers solicitor will probably do all the searches again!!! Waste of time, and cash!!! Sorry, rant over. My camera went back to Canon on the recall, and I'm full of praise for the great service, and excellent job they did. Well done Canon! Got some shots of Silver-studded blue finally, down at Penhale Sands in Cornwall, including a female with some blue on her hind wings that I cannot find a photo or illustration of anywhere in the literature, or on the web!! Might be a new aberration perhaps?

	13th May 2009	Back in the Forest this week, talking with estate agents with a view to getting the house on the market, but of course we have to get a HIP first these days! A quick visit to Clarke's Pool Meadow on sunday produced 5 different colour forms of Green-winged Orchid, and a female Orange Tip, and a trip out with Chris Grady on monday found a Tree Pipit, albeit only a record shot. I'll post more info about the house sale when it's sorted, in case anyone's interested!!

	7th May 2009	Well, finally got round to updating the site after some 6 weeks or more. I haven't been terribly busy in the photographic area, but have managed to get some new Chough, Dunlin and Green-winged Orchid shots along with Stonechat and Whitethroat, and some new Cornish views. Hopefully next week I might get round to looking at the rare varieties of Early Purple Orchid on Rodborough Common. The area around the Lizard and Kynance Cove is quite a rich area at this time of year, with three of the species above pictured there. The GW Orchids were back in East Sussex, but unfortunately the Alba variety that I had seen on that site were not showing this year.

	25th March 2009	Well, I've cracked how to make the Overview link direct to the species pages, so all that stuff on the 19th about system generated galleries is no longer in force!! I've also added some pictures of what I think might be Pugsley's Marsh Orchid, and I would welcome the views of anybody with an opinion.

	19th March 2009	Whilst I have workmen here, I have used the time, on this lovely day, to develop an aid to orchid identification, in the form of a single shot of every species for which I hold pictures. You can find it here, but please keep in mind the fact that the larger imges behind the thumbnails are system generated, and have no information or commentary available. You can find my Orchid Overview here. Please let me know what you think about it. Email me here.

	17th March 2009	So the problem with operating the website from two different bases is trying to keep the versions congruent, and I have screwed that up in the last couple of days, but I hope it is all sorted now. All I have to do is make sure I take the latest version back to Cornwall with me. There is a grab-shot of a tricky little bird here, the goldcrest.

	12th March 2009	So there I was, with my pal Keith, at the Swanpool lake just outside Falmouth, watching ducks and trying to find a Mediterranean Gull (no joy) when out of the reedbed to our left popped the most tame water rail I have ever come across. My pics here are full frame and shot with the 100-400 lens as there was nowhere to hide a 600 in Keith's car!!

	9th March 2009	In putting my systems back together, I came across some pictures that I took last summer in the Cotswolds of a hybrid orchid. This was a cross between the Common Fragrant and Common spotted Orchids, and I always wonder if plants like this don't get overlooked, as the two species often grow adjacent to each other. It is interesting that the hybrid has adopted the overall shape of the Fragrant Orchid flower spike, and the colour scheme of the Common Orchid. I wonder what would happen if the hybrid was with a pure white variant of the Common Spotted? Pictures are here. I have also found and published a series of photographs of what I took to be courting little egrets.

	5th March 2009	Well, I've finally managed to find my FrontPage software, and get it loaded on the machine in Cornwall. All I have to do is hope it works now!! There are some pics from our visit to the Eden Project to be seen here.

	24th February 2009	Hi there, well we made it all on schedule, despite the best efforts of the weather, and are now settled nicely in Constantine. However, BT, find it impossible to connect your line, and enable it for broadband all in one operation, so we had to wait an extra 10 days to get connected. Worth it in the end though, cos some 6mbps speed is a bit different from the 1mbps we are used to in the Forest of Dean. Now for some decent weather and some photo opportunities. I am back in the Forest for a few days to sort out some bits and bobs, and have managed to grab a few photos, of Common Frogs, at the Nagshead RSPB reserve just down the road. I am also planning a major update of the site, and once I'm back in Cornwall will think about putting up some swan, goose and duck pics, which is long overdue.

NEWS ARCHIVE December 08 - January 2009	1st February 2009	Well, snow permitting, that's me signing off for a week or so now, as the removal men are due in to pack tomorrow and Tuesday, moving into our rented house in Constantine, in Cornwall, on Wednesday. BT (god bless 'em!!) can't connect the phone up until Friday, so it will take a while to get up and running down there, with a new computer to be loaded with all the software and so on. I've left it with a few pics of some Rainbows, taken a week or so ago on the way back from Cornwall.