Welcome
to David Element's Wildlife Web Pages...3
----------------David filming an
EMPEROR DRAGONFLY Anax imperator
The Photographer:
- David is a spare-time
naturalist and wildlife photographer specialising mainly
in British animal subjects. His earliest wildlife
material was taken using Praktica SLR
cameras, although very few photographs from the time are
of a high enough quality to be displayed here! From 1985
he used several manual focus Nikon FE2
cameras with a small range of Nikkor
lenses and extension tubes and through the lens (TTL)
flash metering, a novelty when the FE2 first appeared in
the shops. Despite their age these robust cameras were
particularly well-suited for Natural History photography
and all are still functioning despite some fairly rough
treatment. A powerful dual flash system was used for much
of the close-up material in order to achieve maximum
depth of field and a high success rate. Most of the
images on these pages have been copied from Kodachrome
64 and more latterly Fuji Multispeed or
Provia 100F transparency film, although
since late 2005 David has been taking high resolution
digital photographs using Nikon D200
bodies as these are compatible with his old manual
lenses. A Nikon D300 body has been added
to the equipment during 2008 and the FE2 cameras have now
been withdrawn from active service. This camera has
already produced significantly superior results to the
D200. David is now able to take higher quality close-ups
following the subsequent purchase of a 105mm macro lens
and a single dedicated flash unit and a gradual process
of replacement and upgrading of the older material should
hopefully help to enhance the content of this site as
fresh material is obtained. Virtually all of David's
photographs have been taken in wild and free conditions
without using either a hide, a tripod or any remote
devices. If a subject has been photographed in captivity
then this has been indicated in the accompanying caption
or text. The wellbeing of wildlife subjects is considered
to be of paramount importance at all times. David now has
a library containing photographs of over 1,400 animal
species and an expanding collection of mini-DV and
digital (i.e. recorded directly to hard drive) film of
wildlife subjects. Several of David's pictures have been
highly commended in the prestigious international Wildlife
Photographer of the Year Competition.
Publications.
- David's work has been
published in books, including:
- 'The National
Trust Book of British Wild Animals', John
Burton, Jonathan Cape 1984. ISBN 0-224-02104-4
- 'Dragonflies of
Surrey', Peter Follett, Surrey Wildlife
Trust 1996. ISBN 0 9526065 1 8
- 'Collins Gem
Insects Photoguide' Michael Chinery, HarperCollins
1997. ISBN 0-00-470939-X
- 'Hoverflies of
Surrey', Roger K. A. Morris, Surrey
Wildlife Trust 1998. ISBN 0 9526065 3 4
- 'Grasshoppers
and Crickets of Surrey', David W. Baldock, Surrey
Wildlife Trust 1999. ISBN 0 9526065 4 2
- 'Collins Wild
Guide Insects' Bob Gibbons HarperCollins
1999. ISBN 0-00-220134-8
- 'Field Guide to
Insects of Britain and Europe',
Bob Gibbons, Crowood Press 1999. ISBN 1 85223
895 X
- 'Wildlife
Photographer of the Year' Portfolio 9 Fountain
Press 1999 ISBN 0 86343 338 3
- 'Ladybirds of
Surrey', Roger D. Hawkins, Surrey
Wildlife Trust 2000. ISBN 0 9526065 5 0
- 'Amphibians and
Reptiles of Surrey', Julia Wycherley and
Richard Anstis, Surrey Wildlife Trust 2001, ISBN
0 9526065 6 9
- 'Shieldbugs of
Surrey', Roger D. Hawkins, Surrey
Wildlife Trust 2003. ISBN 0 9526065 77
- 'Travellers'
Nature Guides Spain', Teresa Farino and
Mike Lockwood, Oxford University Press 2004, ISBN
0-19-850435-7
- 'The Beetles of
Surrey A Checklist', Dr. Jonty Denton,
Surrey Wildlife Trust 2005. ISBN 0 9526065 8 5
- 'Pocket Nature
Insects and Spiders', George McGavin ,
Dorling Kindersley 2005. ISBN 1 4053 0596 7
- 'Complete
British Insects', Michael Chinery,
HarperCollins 2005. ISBN 0 00 717966 9
- 'Ants of
Surrey', John Pontin, Surrey Wildlife Trust
2005. ISBN 0 9526065 9 3
FORTHCOMING PUBLICATIONS:
'Bees of
Surrey', David W. Baldock, Surrey Wildlife
Trust (official launch will be held at the 2008 AES
Exhibition at Kempton Park on 18th October 2008).
'British
Moths and Butterflies', Chris Manley,
A&C Black, due late 2008. See Moths
1 for
further details and jacket illustrations.
'Gardening
for Butterflies and other Beneficial Insects',
Jan Miller, due ?2008. Proceeds for Butterfly
Conservation.
'Hoverflies
of Hertfordshire', Malcolm Aldridge,
Brambley Books, due 2009.
and in magazines including
ARKive
- David is one of many
natural history photographers and film-makers currently
involved with supplying transparencies, scans and video
material to Wildscreen's
tremendously exciting, innovative and now multi-award
winning ARKive project based in
Bristol (e-mail: info@wildscreen.org.uk, website address: www.arkive.org.uk). ARKive
was launched in May 2003. There is a huge amount
of work still to be done as the site expands and the
range of illustrated species increases. This project is a
truly enormous undertaking! The images on the ARKive
website have been scanned to a high
standard and hyperlinks are being
provided from this site to relevant species accounts in
the British Chapter, which will
eventually illustrate about 1,000 rare and common British
wildlife subjects - if enough funds are contributed.
The ARKive site has recently been re-vamped for the
second time and this site is now more user-friendly (the
species links to ARKive pages on this site are
gradually being upgraded, although all of the original
links will still direct users to the homepage). The Globally
Endangered Chapter is on a much grander
scale and it is intended that a permanent digital record
of the World's rare species will be maintained for the
benefit of current and future generations. See the
following link: http://www.arkive.org/info.html for further information about
the purpose of this project. Recent news is the linkage
of rare species distribution to 'Google
Earth'. David has contributed over 130
still images and 120 digital video clips to the British
Chapter of this site (although these are not all
on-line yet). David's still photographs and video clips
may be accessed by looking up individual species on ARKive
or by following the hyperlinks from this site.
Surrey Wildlife Atlas Project
- David is a part of the team
involved with the production of the Surrey
Wildlife Trust Wildlife Atlases (*available
from the S.W.T.
- see below) and he has acted as joint photographic
editor for several of the most recent books in this
groundbreaking and highly regarded series in addition to
providing many of the illustrations. Further information
about these atlases may be obtained from the Surrey
Wildlife Trust website at
the following address: http://www.surreywildlifetrust.co.uk/ and linked 'Publications'
pages within the S.W.T. site provide
examples of the many favourable comments that these books
have received. A review by Peter Marren in 'British
Wildlife' Volume 15 Number 2
December 2003 describes this as being a "Superlative
series". Despite the apparently
parochial titles and localised maps, the species
descriptions and photographs contained in these volumes
are valid references for a much wider geographical area
and the Trust is extremely fortunate to be able to draw
on the expertise of a unique collection of talented
authors and a superb designer in Clare Windsor. 'Shieldbugs
of Surrey' (24 colour plates) is selling
well and the ninth book in this series 'Ants
of Surrey' was published in October 2005.
'Water Beetles and Bugs of Surrey'
written and photographed by Dr. Jonty Denton has
now been published (Autumn 2007). This book will be a
useful reference, particularly for pond-dipping
activities and it has received a very positive review in 'British
Wildlife'. The next atlas,
'Bees of Surrey' by David Baldock is due to
be published during autumn 2008. Several excellent
photographers including Graham Collins and Jeremy Early
have already taken some superb photographs for this atlas
and an unprecedented range of species will be illustrated
for a British publication on bees. The book will contain
48 colour plates and almost 300 pages and it should be of
great value to anyone with an interest in aculeates.
Further volumes are being planned for Wasps,
Mammals, Micro Moths, Molluscs,
Sawflies and Spiders (no
definite publication dates are available yet for these
books and the order may change). The first of a series of
Surrey vice-county checklists (Beetles)
was published during 2005. David used to sit on the
editorial board of the Surrey Wildlife Trust
magazine 'Surrey Nature' and he
has contributed many photographs and articles based on
his experiences in the field to this magazine.
Television
- Some of David's close-up
video material of two foxes appeared in a Twenty
Twenty Television 'Cutting Edge' documentary
about London's urban foxes entitled 'Meet
the Foxes' which was broadcast on Channel
4. It is realised that some viewers were
understandably upset by the final sequence shown in which
a dogfox and pregnant vixen were shot dead. David would
like to point out that his archive sequences were used as
part of a composite film for narrative purposes and both
of the animals seen in his film clips are presumed to
have died from natural causes. The vixen used for the
portrait shots produced a litter of (unseen) cubs and she
disappeared during the floods of July 2007. As she was
carrying an injury at the time she might have drowned.
The second vixen (representing a male in the fictitious
film) is assumed to have either been killed or driven
from her territory by a very elusive dogfox early in
December during the same year. The dangers of life in an
urban environment are genuine and many foxes do suffer an
early and violent death as accurately shown in this film.
This documentary may now be seen on YouTube
where it has been split into 6 parts - see: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%22meet+the+foxes%22&search=Search - although some
of the more asinine responses are best ignored! An
account of Red Fox biology may be read
on Mammals 2 and photographs of one of the
vixens seen in this film appear on Mammals 8 and Mammal 10.
St. George's Hospital
Activities
- David was a member of the
now defunct Environmental Operations Group
and until recently also attended the Arts for
the Healing Environment Committee meetings
at St. George's Hospital http://www.st-georges.org.uk/ in London. Linked webpages
illustrating some of the animal species and cultivated
plants recorded at this site may be accessed by clicking here.
Habitat-based Webpages
- David has also set up
several habitat-based webpages. Two
linked webpages containing images of insects (recently
updated with new digital photographs) and higher animals
inhabiting the River Wandle
corridor may be accessed by clicking here. A webpage illustrating a
selection of Heathland Insects
may be accessed by clicking here. A webpage illustrating a
selection of Chalk Downland Insects
may be accessed by clicking here. Note that there is some
duplication of the images from the main website on these
linked pages and that the species on these webpages are
not necessarily exclusive residents of these types of
habitat.
Photographic Agencies
- Please note that
wildlife photography is a very expensive and
time-consuming pursuit and that it is therefore
considered reasonable to charge a fee for the
reproduction of original photographs - see 'TERMS
AND CONDITIONS' below.
Webpage Formation
- All images on this website
have been digitally watermarked. Until
February 2004 the transparencies were copied as digital
stills over a lightbox using either a Canon
MV20 or a Canon
MV550i mini-DV camera and then
downloaded as bitmaps or j-pegs using Pinnacle
DC10 software. The images were
resized and/or cropped as appropriate in Word
documents and then compressed using FrontPage
Express. This method of copying cannot
produce image reproduction of an equivalent quality to a
modern high-resolution scanner and certain colours do not
reproduce well. Nevertheless it was a cheaper (and
faster) process than commercial scanning and using it has
allowed the photographer to include a much larger range
of photographs than would otherwise have been the case
within such a limited timescale. There are now
comparatively few of these original images left on this
site.
- Following the acquisition
of digital SLR cameras (Nikon
D200 and D300) since the end of
2005 most of the recent photographs have been taken as
digital images - and there has been a significant
improvement in quality. It is hoped that most of the
original images on this site will eventually be replaced
by digital photographs. Relocating every single species
will be a huge undertaking and for this reason some of
the older pre-digital pages may need to be retained for
some time to come under the premise that it is probably
more useful to include an old illustration rather than
none at all. Although this has been a lengthy process
good progress has now been made and the majority of pages
have now been upgraded. Some URLs may be altered and
pages may become temporarily unavailable on search
engines. However, the original titles and hyperlinks will
be retained, so searches within the site will be
unaffected.
RED FOX
Vulpes vulpes feeding
from the photographer's hand
TERMS AND CONDITIONS
FOR USE OF SCANNED AND DIGITAL IMAGES
- David has received requests
to use his pictures from a number of sources and it is
implicit from the content of incoming e-mails that some
prospective users expect to reproduce photographic
material for free. This is a strange presumption as
normally everyone else involved in the publication
process will be receiving payment for their work - and
the images themselves are only obtained as a part of an
expensive process involving the use of high quality
cameras, computing equipment and a great deal of time!
The terms and conditions for use have been given below,
but part of the text of a letter of response to a
potential client has been paraphrased here in order to
explain exactly why payment is expected:
- "Unfortunately the
process of taking photographs of wildlife subjects does
cost a lot of money when you take film, transport and
equipment into account and also the prices of the
reference volumes which are needed to identify the
subjects accurately. The expectation often seems to be
that I should subsidise others by not charging anything -
i.e. that I should run at a net loss! I do
take account of the use of material for educational
purposes and may reduce my charges as a
consequence. However, it is easy to forget that
what you see on line is the cumulative result of many
years of effort and knowledge and that the
information on the internet has been provided at my
own expense. I do therefore feel entirely justified
in charging commercial concerns for the use of my
material."
- Unless otherwise specified,
high resolution digital images will be supplied
as TIFF files on CD or DVD
for one-time reproduction
purposes only. These digital files must
not be copied or stored in any form
without the express prior permission of David Element.
Although many of David's photographs have now been
digitally scanned and are therefore readily available,
advance warning would be appreciated as it may
be necessary to locate and scan transparencies of more
obscure subjects prior to copying the photographs onto
CD/DVD. After use the CD/DVDs should be returned
to the photographer by first class mail. Please
read COPYRIGHT ISSUES page for further information.
- High resolution digital
photographs of a good range of species are now available
and there is also a reasonable selection of video clips
of mainly invertebrate subjects. This site cannot contain
a full selection because of space limitations. Broadband
communication will enable copies of original photographs
or low-resolution film clips to be forwarded without any
loss in quality. The still photographs can be supplied as
compressed high quality j-pegs by return
e-mail and converted to/saved as TIFF files
(28-35Mb approx.) using Adobe Photoshop
on receipt if necessary. This should enable good
quality image reproduction at a large enough scale for
most uses. These photographs will not have been digitally
manipulated and it is hoped that users will
respect the need for authentic portrayal of the subjects
(with the exception of any technical adjustments required
for reproduction) unless otherwise agreed in advance with
the photographer. This does not apply to the selective
removal of background if the subject of the photograph is
to be used as a stand alone image. Windows Media Player
(or equivalent) will be needed to view the digital film
clips (.avi files).
- Fees for the use of
digital still images or moving images will be charged at
the discretion of the photographer and with the mutual
agreement of the user. If professional quality material
is being provided then it is not unreasonable for a
freelance photographer to expect users to pay the
equivalent of photographic agency prices. Please note
that the compilation and indexing of photographs or film
is a time-consuming process normally taking several hours
and it is therefore perfectly legitimate to expect
payment of a fee if material has been
received by a client and not actually used.
Note that the average hourly
wage in the UK is £12:50 (2008).
Customer invoices will be sent by e-mail.
- Any images used for
publication in any format will remain the intellectual
property and copyright of the photographer.
- All images used on
other web sites must be digitally watermarked and fully
credited to the photographer (including the URL
of this website if possible) and it is expected that metatags
will be employed in order to identify the subject and the
photographer for internet search purposes.
- The use of hyperlinks
to this website from other bona fide
websites is welcomed.
- Original transparencies are
not available for reproduction or
sale.
- The client will be
responsible for the secure storage of digital images
while they are in his or her possession and for their
deletion after use.
- Note that unauthorised
copying from these web pages is illegal and in breach of
international copyright law! Permission
is required for the reproduction of copyrighted images on
other websites. Legal
action may be taken if any of the material from this
website is used without prior permission.
SITE ANNOUNCEMENTS
- The pages on this web site
are being steadily upgraded using scanned or digital
photographs although progress may sometimes be slow
because of other commitments, for example full-time work
and family! Once the photographs have been taken
everything needs to be accurately identified and
catalogued before appearing on-line and this is a major
and never-ending task. Note that it may be necessary to refresh
these modified pages
in order to avoid picture distortion. The range of
illustrated species is being gradually expanded and one
consequence has been the removal of some pictures of
duplicated subjects due to limitations on currently
available webspace. There has been an improvement in
image quality since the switch to using modern digital
SLR cameras and as a general rule the photographs on the
higher numbered pages will reflect this.
- The Hymenoptera pages
are being updated as new photographs become available (as
a consequence of obtaining fresh material for the plates
of the forthcoming 'Bees of Surrey'
and 'Wasps of Surrey'). The
newly expanded Mining Bees Hymenoptera 3 and Bumblebees Hymenoptera
11 now
have their own pages and Hymenoptera 9 contains a new series of
photographs of French wasps and bees.
The Social Wasps page Hymenoptera 2 has also been updated although
there is clearly a need for better photographs of some of
these species. This is also the case for the revised and
abbreviated Hymenoptera 8 Sawflies for
which new material will need to be taken. Hymenoptera 6 has also been edited and a new Honey
Bee page, Hymenoptera 12 has been added. Hymenoptera 10 Hairy-footed Flower Bees
is the first page to contain higher resolution images as
captured by the new Nikon D300 camera. Hymenoptera
13
Nomad Bees, Hymenoptera 14 Ruby-tailed Wasps and
Hymenoptera 18 Social Wasps
are new additions to this site. Several of the Flies
pages have also been revised, for example Flies 12, and the range of species has
been expanded on some new pages Flies
21, 22, 24 (Hoverflies)
and Flies 23 Conopid Flies.
New (and much improved) portraits of Banded
Demoiselles have been displayed on Dragonflies and Damselflies 7 and 15 and eight new pages have been
added incorporating new digital pictures from the UK and
Italy, Dragonflies and Damselflies 29 Broad-bodied Chasers,
30 Large Red Damselflies,
31 Scarce Chasers,
32 Scarlet Darters,
33 White-legged Damselflies,
34 Red-veined Darters,
35 Common Winter
Damselflies and 36 Black-tailed Skimmers.
Butterflies 1 (Pieridae),
Butterflies 4 (Swallowtails) Butterflies 8 (Satyridae) and
Butterflies 16 (Nymphalidae)
have also been updated with some new photographs taken in
Haute Pyrénées, France. This also applies to the
photographs of European Shieldbugs
on Bugs 10 and to Orthopteroids 20 which illustrates several
montane grasshopper species. Other Orthopteroids
pages (5, 6,12 and 18) have also being revised, either
to improve the image quality or to include additional
species and Orthopteroids 21 Lily Bush Crickets
has been added following a visit to Italy. The generic
title of these pages is not entirely correct as the
earwigs, cockroaches and mantids rally ought to be
separated from the grasshoppers, bush crickets and true
crickets. This process has now begun with the
reclassification of the mantid pages. Orthopteroids 15 and 16 now contain photographs of Sickle-bearing
Bush Crickets and Woodland Grasshoppers
and the original pages have been renamed as Mantids 1 and 2 respectively although their
contents have not been altered. The opportunity has also
been taken to replace all of the old photographs on the Site
Index page with new (mainly) digital images. A
new page, Mammals 21 illustrates Alpine
Marmots from the same location. Several
additional raptor species have also been
added to Birds 32 including the elusive Lammergeier
and a new page, Birds 36, illustrates a Dabchick
in mid-dive. Birds 24 Robins has also
been revamped with a brand new set of digital
photographs. Wildlife of the Wandle
Corridor - Insects has now been rewritten to include many
new digital photographs of an altered range of subjects.
Finally the first D300 digital images from a recent visit
to Tuscany (Toscana) are now on display on Amphibians and Reptiles 29 Aesculapian Snakes,
30 Moorish Geckos
and 31 European Wall Lizards.
More new material, mainly insects, will appear in due
course, the first additions being Butterflies
32
Cleopatras, a revision of Damselflies and
Dragonfles 26 Copper (formerly Mediterranean)
Demoiselles, an upgraded photographic content
for Butterflies 19 Knapweed Fritillaries,
Butterflies 1 Pieridae and
several new pages, Butterflies 33 Spotted Fritillaries,
Hymenoptera 15 Sphecid Wasps, Hymenoptera
16 Mammoth
Wasps and Hymenoptera 17 Bees of Tuscany.
Butterflies 28 Marbled Whites now
includes new pictures taken on the North Downs and a new
page, Beetles 21 illustrates a Colorado
Beetle. Beetles 22 contains new photographs of Rose
Chafers taken in Tuscany.
BBC London
Web Galleries
- As a departure from the
contents of this site a range of botanical subjects have
also been included in some of these galleries.
- David's daughters, Sarah
Jane and Nicola have also
displayed some of their photographs on these websites.
Richard Lewington
- The renowned wildlife
artist Richard Lewington has kindly
consented to his contact details being displayed on this
website. Anyone with a serious interest in entomology
will be familiar with the unfailingly high standard of
his illustrations and a catalogue of available original
and proof artworks will be supplied by e-mailing Richard
at: rlewington@btopenworld.com. Richard has provided all of the
non-photographic illustrations for an important new
dragonfly book covering all European species, 'Field
Guide to the Dragonflies of Britain and Europe',
General Editor Klaas-Douwe B Dijkstra,
published by British Wildlife Publishing,
2006, ISBN 0-9531399-4-8 (this book is a
"must have" for anyone with an interest in
dragonflies), and he is currently working on a new garden
wildlife project.
Guest Photographers
- Another feature is a Guest Photographer slot. Jeremy Early,
a Surrey-based naturalist and talented part-time
photographer contributed a splendid series of images
which used to be displayed here until Jeremy's own
(highly recommended) website was established (12/06).
Most of these have been removed although a single 'link'
web page has been retained with a few superb bird
photographs and hyperlinks to strategically significant
pages on his website - see: Jeremy Early for further
details. Jeremy is the author of 'HIDDEN JEWELS - The Wildlife
of Leatherhead and Fetcham' and he will be one of the major
contributors to the 48 colour photographic plates of the
forthcoming 'Bees of Surrey'. Peter and Erica Clarke have submitted a digital
photograph of a Greater Horntail brought in by their cat!
In addition, David's young daughters Sarah Jane and Nicola have each made a contribution
showing examples of their own efforts at wildlife
photography as Guest Junior
Photographers. Twelve year old Nicola's
original webpage has now been revamped (following the
acquisition of a digital camera) with a brand new
selection of photographs and she has designed an
additional Wildlife Webpage herself. Big sister Sarah
Jane's Mute Swans page has also been updated with
scanned versions of her original photographs and two
additional pages have been added illustrating Empusid
Mantids and other species photographed in
France. Both have added new pages illustrating portraits
of a Red Fox vixen and Nicola's splendid
Robin close-up has also been added
recently. If things go according to plan each of the
girls will have one of their insect photographs published
in Chris Manley's much anticipated 'British
Moths and Butterflies', a major achievement
for such young photographers and a tribute to their field
skills. The photographs and text are the intellectual
property and copyright of the guest photographer(s) and
any opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the
webmaster.
'Scraperboards'
OTHER MISCELLANEOUS
LINKS:
These links are presented in no
particular order - and doubtless with significant omissions as
there are innumerable other websites equally worthy of
endorsement! Other subject-specific links have been provided on
appropriate pages elsewhere on this site. Most of these sites
have numerous hyperlinks that will enable their users to discover
a veritable wealth of useful information.
- http://www.npfruskagora.co.yu/images/wonders/dragonflies.htm connects to an on-line gallery
of 120 images by a variety of international photographers
entitled 'Wonders of Dragonfly World'.
This exhibition has been set up by Dragiša
Savic : dragita@neobee.net from the Fruska
Gora National Park and it toured Serbia in
printed format during 2005. David has several pictures
included in this exhibition and has also contributed to a
new gallery of international Spider photographs
entitled: 'Through the Spider's Web' (literally
a 'web' site!), again collated by Dragiša at:
http://www.naturefg.com/spiders/spider.htm. Some of the photographs from
this website have been exhibited around Serbia during
2006. A similar website illustrating a wide range of
butterfly and moth photographs: http://www.npfruskagora.co.yu/images/butterflies/Pages/index.htm has been
launched during May 2007 with an accompanying exhibition
in Serbia.
- The BioLib
Library is a very useful Czech site with an
emphasis on Taxonomy (English translation is available)
at: http://biolib.cz/en/main/
- Josef Hlasek's
Photo Gallery Wildlife Pictures at:
http://www.hlasek.com/index.html is another
Czech site with some excellent photographs of European
subjects - very useful for identification purposes.
© David
Element.
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