Morning stroll

[Niels]

Went out to for a little forest walk today with a good friend. We went at what he calls not too late, or for a normal person like me, the ungodly hour of a quarter to 6 in the morning.

This in fact did give us a good chance to see some of the roe deer inhabiting the place. We ended up seeing 2 of them. Both of them were barking with a monkey like sound. This was the best shot we could get:



I tried to lure them to uswith a special whistle that I borrowed from a another friend, but it only spooked them. I probably didn't do it right.

I then spotted a wasp spider, I learned about those through this forum, and this is probably the least common spider I've identified so far!





Managed to film it at work too. I was happy.

[video=youtube;mfQsgzvF7Jw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfQsgzvF7Jw[/video]

Picture of the author in his natural environment



We'd set ourselves the challenge of building a working bowdrill with just a knife and paracord, as this was a skill my friend really wanted to learn.





An ember at the first try! Practice really does pay of






Landscape:



Other critters:

Anyone know what these are?






Good times

 

[copper_head]

Looks great, some really good pics. Well done on the bowdrill too

 

[Russell96]

Great pictures and really well done on the bow drill. A hard skill to master.
Russ

 

[Barn Owl]

It's a Peacock butterfly Niels

 

[Niels]

It's a Peacock butterfly Niels

I meant the caterpillars, if you know what those are of? Sorry for not being clear.

 

[British Red]

Great spider pictures there Niels!

 

[Shewie]

Nice pics Niels, lovely part of the world you live in

 

[Niels]

Nice pics Niels, lovely part of the world you live in

That's because I'm only showing you part of the lovely 0.1% of it But thanks mister.

 

[Toddy]

Great day out by the looks of it and well done on the success with the bowdrill
Beautiful bit of the world, and the photos are excellent

atb,
Toddy

 

[Pterodaktyl]

Looks like you had a great time!

I believe those are the larvae of the Hazel Sawfly (Croesus septentrionalis) which confusingly also feeds on birch. A few of these turn up on the weeping birch in our garden each year and completely strip one of the branches before they disappear to pupate. The funny thing is our ones came and went about two months ago so these ones are quite late by comparison!

Tom

 

[Niels]

Looks like you had a great time!

I believe those are the larvae of the Hazel Sawfly (Croesus septentrionalis) which confusingly also feeds on birch. A few of these turn up on the weeping birch in our garden each year and completely strip one of the branches before they disappear to pupate. The funny thing is our ones came and went about two months ago so these ones are quite late by comparison!

Tom

Thanks for that. They were on birch on this occasion. Remarkable creatures

 

[swotty]

Great pictures, well done

 

[Harvestman]

I second the sawfly identification. Also your wasp spider pictures are brilliant, and vastly better than mine. On the other hand wasp spider is not particularly rare in your part of the world, and is rather more so in mine.

I'm still envious though.

 

[Goatboy]

Somebody's cut of his head and arm and thrown them in the undergrowth! No he's just got his cammies on. Looks a great day out Niels and you're getting better and better with that camera.

Stonking job with the bowdrill too, only done it once which is remiss of me but I fear it's a young mans tool. (Or a fit one at least).

Keep them coming and make the most of the summer holidays.

ATB,
C.

 

[Gray]

Brilliant buddy

 

[Niels]

Somebody's cut of his head and arm and thrown them in the undergrowth! No he's just got his cammies on. Looks a great day out Niels and you're getting better and better with that camera.

Stonking job with the bowdrill too, only done it once which is remiss of me but I fear it's a young mans tool. (Or a fit one at least).

Keep them coming and make the most of the summer holidays.

ATB,
C.

Thanks Goatboy, to be fair, I didn't take all of the pictures. (The ones with me on them were obviously taken by my friend.) Bow drill doesn't have to require that much energy you know. As long as you get your technique and materials just right, it can be very easy.

I second the sawfly identification. Also your wasp spider pictures are brilliant, and vastly better than mine. On the other hand wasp spider is not particularly rare in your part of the world, and is rather more so in mine.

I'm still envious though.

Thanks Mike.
It doesn't have to be that rare to be the rarest one I've seen Wikipedia said they were here, be it in small numbers. So I'm happy to have seen a couple.

 

[Elen Sentier]

great pix, love the wasp spider and the cranes (?) but they're all good and it looks a lovely place. I love the early morning ... it grows on you as you get older

 

[Niels]

great pix, love the wasp spider and the cranes (?) but they're all good and it looks a lovely place. I love the early morning ... it grows on you as you get older

Thanks Elen. They were spoonbills. Beautiful birds

 

[Man of Tanith]

. I love the early morning ... it grows on you as you get older

Really?
I'm not convinced.....
How old is older?

Great photos neils mate.
Top job on bow drill btw

 

[Albus Culter]

Great pics of a great walk. Thanks for sharing