This is a tenrec, specifically I believe a lowland streaked tenrec. We saw him on a night walk in the Andasibe-Mantadia National Park area. Tenrecs are endemic to Madagascar and this particular species lives in the eastern part of the country.
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In his poem 'To Autumn' John Keats describes the autumn we all know and love, with lingering warm weather and bountiful harvests. But he also celebrates later autumn days, when winter seems just over the horizon. Both have their beauty.
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Perhaps because I grew up during the Apollo programme, I have always been fascinated by our nearest celestial neighbour (and come to that, by all that we see, or can’t see, in the night sky). I’ve never invested in the gear needed to photograph more distant objects but I can and do try to capture the moon whenever I can.
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Spiders are pretty persistent. Remember the tale of Robert the Bruce? Legend has it that when he was struggling in his fight against the English he hid out in a cave. While there he watched a spider try time and again to spin its web. Every time the spider fell, it got up and began again. Bruce was inspired by the spider to continue his campaign against the English, culminating in victory at Bannockburn.
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Given that few of us are blessed with the language skills of Doctor Dolittle, probably the best way to ‘listen’ to animals is to observe them. And for many of us that often means a visit to a (hopefully) ethically-run wildlife sanctuary. There we can really take our time to watch animal behaviour, and listen to the experts who’ve made it their job to get to know and understand the needs of these creatures.
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I’ve been fortunate to travel and photograph wildlife in many wonderful places. The Galápagos Islands, Botswana, Costa Rica, to name just three. But it’s easy to forget that we have some fantastic wildlife here at home too. That’s due in part to the animals’ relative small size and the consequent challenges in finding them.
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In the early nineteenth century the Reverend John Beresford, Baron Decies, decided to turn a swampy area of ground on his estate into an attractive landscape with a lake and woodlands. Many landowners were carrying out similar improvements but perhaps more unusually the Reverend was acting out of philanthropy.
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If it is the case that crows eat slugs and snails, then surely I should be glad we have so many in our neighbourhood. Our garden is plagued by snails in particular. But on the other hand, if crows do eat snails, why then that plague?!
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We photograph flowers for their beautiful colours and shapes. But without seeds we would have no flowers, and those seeds too have their beauty, especially while still on the plant. Their often-dramatic sculptural structures are ideal for macro photography both in colour and monochrome.
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There is something about a reflection that draws us as photographers. Is it the illusion of seeing double? Or the fact that we can capture double the beauty?
