Welcome to David Element's Wildlife Web Pages...1

 

See animals portrayed in their natural surroundings....

 

Site Index

 

Please click here to search for Species using their Common Names                                        Please click here to search for Species using their Scientific Names

 

 

A close up of a fox

Description automatically generated

 

RED FOXES Vulpes vulpes (f, f, m)

 

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

 

For reasons beyond my control, and in common with other loyal customers, I was forced into finding a new host for my web site, more than 17 years after it was originally established. Following two takeovers of the original host company, all support for existing web sites was essentially summarily dropped in August 2018 - with little advance notice, consideration, or apparent concern about the enormous amount of work that might have been required by its customers to create and maintain the affected sites. It has taken some time for the pages to be reloaded, and for the numerous hyperlinks to be altered, but there are a couple of advantages to be gained, principally the availability of additional space for site expansion (this has been liberating as there was a significant constraint on the amount of content that could previously have been displayed) and the opportunity to upgrade the existing pages and simplify the hyperlinks. Patience will be required, both by myself and for users of the site. This is a complex process that applies to every page, and it is a painstaking task as even a single incorrect character will cause an erroneous hyperlink to fail. At this point in time (26/9/2024) I have finished reconstructing and tabulating the site indexes and retrospectively correcting any errors that I have discovered when checking every hyperlink (and there were more than I would care to admit!). The format of these indexes undeniably needed updating, but as they were first set up over 20 years ago using contemporary software and raw html data (things have since moved on!) it understandably took time to achieve this modification. Hopefully, these links should now be operating correctly, but the change of ISP has meant that all of the original searches were lost, and the Google search engine seems to be less effective at finding them. As I work my way through the pages, I am updating the photographs to include better quality images, modifying the text, incorporating key words for internet searches, and replacing non-functional hyperlinks or adding new ones. In consequence, the pages for certain listed subjects may be temporarily unavailable, and if no suitable good quality photographs can be located some could eventually be removed. Each on-line web page can only be as up to date as the most recently published version, so they are representative of the time that they were written or updated, and it is recognised that classifications, terminologies, species statuses, and indeed the climate may have altered in the interim, perhaps contradicting the contents of older pages. I have also been adding hyperlinks to my videos of the same subjects on YouTube (see: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFfP_L5WKGGl4iVcf-srBdg?view_as=public) so that these species may be seen in action, although they can be also viewed independently. Just to complicate matters further, some scientific names have been altered since the site was first established, so these may require amendment. Species have sometimes been reclassified or split since the photographs were originally taken. DNA sequence analysis has proven to be a remarkably useful tool, indicating that the examination of morphological features alone may not always suffice when separating species. If there are any suspected identification errors these are also being investigated and corrected within the limitations of the existing reference material (which may be limited or patchy). Feedback from experts in any field is always welcomed if discrepancies are spotted, as nobody can realistically be expected to have a comprehensive knowledge of all aspects of the natural world, and particularly of animal behaviour! Fortunately, there are many excellent specialist reference works written by experts, both in print and on-line, that have assisted with the creation of species accounts (links have been provided on subject-specific pages), and the hard work of all concerned is appreciated. To be honest, it is simply impossible for any single individual to observe every species in detail, or to be able to ascertain much about a life history by taking a photograph of a static subject as we humans simply don’t live for long enough! It is worth noting that maps published in reference books may already be out of date if a range has been extended or reduced in consequence of anthropogenic global warming or artificial introductions – and their accuracy may be limited by the intensity of recording by those with sufficient expertise able to identify the species unequivocally. Having never counted them I have also discovered that there were many more pages than I thought! However, since 17th August 2018, over 1,160 pages have already either been replaced or added to the site so steady progress has been made and it has already been significantly expanded. There is still a long way to go (as I have photographs of many more subjects for future inclusion) and users will understand that I need to devote time to other projects including taking, identifying, and labelling the many photographs that are required to construct a web site like this one, or for producing publications or films. In essence this is a never-ending task, and it wasn’t helped by an external hard drive failure, although thankfully no data was lost (never forget to store irreplaceable data on more than one drive!)! Birds, pages (1 – 265) are now all on-line, and more are being added. It has recently become possible to incorporate a higher number of images within a single web page, so some existing pages are also being expanded as new material becomes available. Additional Beetles pages are currently being added in a major effort to expand coverage of these not always easy to identify insects, and there are now more than 70 on-line. Several Mammals pages have been added or updated. The Moths pages have also been significantly extended – once more work in progress, with 118 pages now uploaded. Hymenoptera and Flies are still receiving my attention as major projects for species-rich orders still to be expanded upon – there has been recent progress with the latter, with 78 pages now on-line, comprehensive coverage should not be anticipated as there are over 7,000 British species, many of which are difficult to identify! Please be aware that hyperlinks may have been inserted for pages that have yet to be written, and that warning messages will be received if they are opened. Once these pages contain content these messages will disappear, and there are no issues with site (in)security. Note that the BOU vernacular names have been used to identify birds in the Common Names Index so some of these species will be found with prefixes – for example ‘Eurasian’. Scientific names are unaffected unless they have been modified recently, but Common Names Index searches will need to be performed using the generic names. If a species lacks a vernacular name, then the generic name will need to be used for searches. I have also separated the Amphibians and Reptiles pages into separate categories. Most of the original invertebrate pages have been rewritten, and in some cases the coverage of these subjects has been, or will be, expanded significantly to allocate individual pages to each species. The site contents may be accessed by using the Common and Scientific (Generic) Name Indexes. At the time of writing many of the revised URLs may now be found using Google searches and most of the picture or web page searches that will come up are now relevant. Be warned that there may be unscrupulous web sites offering illegally obtained copies of my photographs or films!  The eventual net result of this upheaval has been a more up-to-date and better illustrated site incorporating images of a wider range of subjects, but this is still work in progress as the site is expanding at a previously unprecedented rate.

Please note that although the original URLs for this web site http://www.david.element.ukgateway.net and http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/davidelement/ are no longer operational these links have been included in some publications and would-be users of this site may still be trying to use them. Therefore, they have been included on this page for detection by search engines as no redirection pages have been provided by the previous ISP! If you have managed to find this page, then you are in the right place!

 

Best regards to all,

 

David

 

 

 

A close up

Description automatically generated

 

                                                                                                    HAIRY-FOOTED FLOWER BEE Anthophora plumipes (m)

 

 

The linked Railways, Aircraft and Boats pages (essentially parallel web sites with their own index pages that may be accessed by using this link: COPYRIGHT) have now been fully updated and several new pages have recently been added.

 

 

A picture containing flower

Description automatically generated

 

  RUDDY DARTER DRAGONFLY Sympetrum sanguineum (m)

 

 

YouTube

David has uploaded more than 1,000 short films to YouTube (since February 2013) on the 'DavidPElement' channel at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFfP_L5WKGGl4iVcf-srBdg?view_as=public. These films may be located by searching for "david element" in the YouTube search engine': http://www.youtube.com/ . The videos have been edited to illustrate authentic animal behaviour as you would expect to see it - i.e. you will be able to observe wild creatures behaving naturally in their own habitats as opposed to seeing artificially concentrated and dramatically edited bursts of activity so typical of television wildlife films. The film clips have been made using small digital video cameras, often positioned at very close range to the subjects. Any background noises are incidental and often of human origin. There is a short descriptive introduction for each film and they are presented without any verbal commentary. Note that some of David’s films are now being exclusively marketed by Newsflare (see company web site for details of terms and conditions).

 

A white bird with long beaks and a reflection in water

Description automatically generated

 

LITTLE EGRET Egretta garzetta

 

 

New Books

David is in the process of publishing an ongoing series of high quality full colour hardback books. In order to cater for individual customer requirements, some of these titles are also available in smaller and/or softcover formats and as their contents may be viewed in full on-line by using this hyperlink: https://www.bobbooks.co.uk/bookshop?page=1&search=david+element any potential purchasers are advised to take full advantage of this facility prior to buying any books. Some of the published books are in the process of being updated to improve their content and if potential customers are interested to know about work ‘in progress’ then I can be contacted by e-mail.

 

 

A picture containing bird, outdoor, kingfisher, blue

Description automatically generated

 

COMMON KINGFISHER Alcedo atthis (m)

 

 

Photographic Agency Galleries

A gallery of David’s photographs available for purchase at high resolution from the Avalon/NHPA Agencies may be viewed at: https://www.avalon.red/editorial?blob=at.DAVID+ELEMENT  (N.B. New link with effect from June 2021).

Social Media

David is a regular contributor to Twitter and many of his most recent photographs are on display in his gallery at: https://twitter.com/davidelement1. See also: https://x.com/davidelement1    https://twitter.com/davidelement1/media. More recently, he has opened a Bluesky account here: https://bsky.app/profile/davidelement.bsky.social.

Personal Profile

Please see https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-element-68b11129/. David’s LinkedIn profile contains photographic/video galleries and a list of publications including books.

Illegal Copying!

It has become apparent that certain other web sites have been advertising illegally copied images from these pages and from other photography web sites as 'royalty-free' wallpaper. No permission has been sought for the use of these photographs and none has been granted (their use is therefore in breach of international copyright law and it may be considered to be an act of theft that could lead to possible prosecution). There are two legally acceptable processes whereby the photographs shown on these pages may be obtained at high enough resolution for reproduction, namely by contacting the photographer directly by e-mail or by purchasing them from a legitimate photographic agency (full details are available by using the hyperlinks provided). It is perfectly acceptable for the images to be printed at low resolution for non-profit-making personal or private educational use but they may not be reproduced on other web sites or in any other form of publication without the express permission of the photographer. There is also another ethical aspect regarding the reproduction of photographs of animals that have been taken in wild and free conditions, namely that they should be portrayed in an authentic and non-manipulated manner if they are reproduced in any format.

It is hoped that these pictures will help to stimulate an interest in the Natural World. Some of the images may also be useful for identification and certain pages have been deliberately formulated with this purpose in mind. Other pages simply present general illustrations of their subject matter.

Accurate identification to species level is not always possible from photographs (see below) and serious students of Natural History will be aware of the need for academic reference material. Most of the illustrations are of British species with some additional images from France, Northern Spain, Italy and Switzerland. Comprehensive coverage should not be expected - for example there are almost 24,000 species of insect in the UK alone and no individual could reasonably be expected to find, identify, and photograph them all!

 

 

      A bird swimming in water

Description automatically generated                                                 

                                                               BLACK GUILLEMOT Cepphus grylle (m)

 

 

 

Site Index

 

Please click here to search for Species using their Common Names

 

Please click here to search for Species using their Scientific Names

 

 

None of the photographs or text from this website may be reproduced in any form without the express permission of the author. This would constitute a breach of intellectual copyright law and legal action may be taken.

 

 

 

© David Element: david.element@ukgateway.net

 

Site established December 2000, Relaunched August 2018