It's December so welcome to the 2023 #dragonfly#AdventCalendar featuring a different species each day for 24 days. We start with a Southern Migrant Hawker. A fairly recent arrival in the UK; this one was at #CanveyIsland#Essex in July. They like ditches with very little water, even if they dry out in summer. They're huge compared to most other UK species. #wildlife#insects#wildlifephotography
Progressively more ethereal and utterly beautiful sunrise on this morning's Anarchy Wednesday bike ride. I struggled to keep eyes on the road and jaw further and further open with occasional slow shakes of the head. #photography#NewForest#sunrise#dawn
Come for a walk with me. This is a time lapse video from yesterday's walk through the New Forest. You can tell when I stopped to flip over a beetle that was upside down and being attacked by ants, when I had to dodge around some fallen trees that were blocking the path and when I had to slow down as the ground was quite boggy (but covered with sphagnum moss). https://gopro.com/v/1ZRrE5k3gdyoQ #Walking#NewForest#Hampshire
Meet my new friends. Ponies, donkeys and cows are permitted to graze freely across the New Forest in Hampshire in England. They’re a friendly lot but cars don’t impress them. #Hampshire#NewForest#Ponies#dwprovincialbritain
Perfect walking weather yesterday in the #NewForest: sunny but not too hot, ~20 C & cool under the trees. Cotton grass & marsh orchids growing in the boggy areas, deer running through the woods, cuckoos calling in the distance, many dragonflies hawking over Eyeworth Pond. Streams & bogs looking dry already