Perseids Over Tyntesfield

I've wanted to try some night time star time-lapse photography for some time and the arrival of the Perseid meteor shower in the middle of August gave me an extra incentive. The sky here is too bright at night for really amazing stars, with light pollution from Bristol and Nailsea, but this does serve to light up the clouds with pleasing effect. There are several shooting stars in this video clip, but it admittedly takes a forensic eye to see them. There's also a couple of aeroplanes low down and perhaps a couple of satellites, but blink and you'll miss them.

After this initial encouraging result I decided to try again on the following night, which promised to be the final flurry for the meteors and the last clear night for the foreseeable future. Unfortunately, on my way to set the camera up, I stumbled across two very relaxed badgers out on a dusk snuffle (below). I managed to film some very poor video and then, in a hurry, forgot to re-adjust the settings on the camera and recorded an entirely black time-lapse. The lesson I learnt was not to rush and don't get distracted from the primary mission, though perhaps I should have already known that.

Still frame from video of distracting Badgers

Nectar Fest

Just butterflies this week, no gruesome insects and only one slightly gruesome ending. The author Simon Barnes has written on why it is useful to learn the names of things in that it's the key to recognition. Once you can recognise things you can then find a greater connection. Beyond the obvious (big mammals and regular birds), my mind has always been particularly porous with nature's names, including butterflies. I'm hoping that through taking photos and then posting them here, that I can finally plug the names firmly into my memory.

Large White (Cabbage White) female

Comma Butterfly (comma mark on underside cunningly hidden)

Meadow Brown no longer causing cosmic ripples