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Class 484 001 approaches Yarbridge between Brading and Shanklin on Island Line on a Down service to Shanklin on a Spring afternoon.

Quite strong winds are making the passage into the Ryde terminal for the Hovercraft seen in another picture awkward! There is a lot of spray as it tries to come onshore!

An early evening Hovertravel Hovercraft approaches the Ryde terminal on the short crossing from Portsmouth in the distance.

Our new family member

Sitting on a Buddleia bush on the Isle of Wight, this butterfly basks in the warm sunshine.

A beautiful Spring afternoon at the Memorial Ground at Farnham with Farnham Town beating Frimley Green 2-1! The afternoon gets disrupted as a large Bumblebee buzzes into shot, obviously enjoying the sunshine (and perhaps the football too)!

Three of the five cygnets that a gorgeous pair of swans have been raising on the Mark Yeo near Rooks Bridge in Somerset this summer.

Such lovely creatures! I always stop to say hello and see how their young are doing whenever I pass by on my bike. I do talk to them and they seem to understand that I am admiring them and their healthy brood!

A family of swans on the Mark Yeo near Rooks Bridge in Somerset.

The crows line up in a powerful formation on the beach at Hayling Island waiting for the first bit of food to be thrown!

A nice warm Hampshire afternoon sees this beautiful creature arrive for a fleeting visit!

Whilst walking along Hogmoor Road, this little fellow came running out of a driveway! Not sure who was the most surprised!

A friendly little Goldcrest looking for insects among the Gorse bushes on a bitterly cold day in the Hogmoor Inclosure.

A beautiful butterfly resting on my magazine in an English country garden in the summer.

A beautiful red, black and white butterfly taking a rest on my copy of Resurgence and Ecologist magazine.

This is the ledge that a pair of nest-building birds, (some kind of North American Swallow or Swift?) chose to build their home on... The little ledge they chose must have seemed ideal - south-facing and out of the wind - and the ship that it was on hadn't been anywhere for a couple of weeks already... Little did this hapless couple know, that they had set up home on a ship that was just about to set sail across the Pacific; on a three week voyage from the West coast of Canada to Japan. NOT a good place to try to bring up a nest full of fledglings, especially if you depend on insects for your food?! Well, luckily, they hadn't yet laid any eggs when their little nest was discovered... It was with extremely heavy heart that I removed their lovingly crafted home and threw it into the dock, water. But sometimes, you have to be cruel to be kind? Better that they were evicted and forced to build a new home somewhere else, than for them to have to abandon a nest full of fledglings to starve to death, as the ship sailed out across the Pacific Ocean... These birds were mightily annoyed with me at the time, though - for destroying days of work and countless flights back and forth fetching bits of grass and mud. Ever thought of putting a ledge someplace on your house for swifts and swallows to build their nests on? At least, your house isn't going anywhere soon! Photo taken aboard c.s. Wave Venture at Victoria, B.C., Canada - May, 2007