Font sizes
One of the (many) issues with the previous incarnation of this website was that the font size was incredibly small. That would normally be an easy thing to fix, but with the way that site was built, where everything was … Read more
Ben Locke
Nightjars, starlings and flycatchers
A few new additions to the gallery today. First up is the Greater Blue-eared Starling. This particular one was photographed in Skukuza rest camp in the Kruger National Park where they are very approachable birds. The African Paradise Flycatcher was … Read more
PageSpeed/YSlow A/A
Apart from a few small visual tweaks here and there, there’s not been much worth mentioning here. Whenever I make any changes, I keep check on whether there’s any resulting hit on the site’s performance, and usually there either is … Read more
Recommended reading
I love books. On this page, I’ll recommend some books I’ve enjoyed or found useful. I’ll keep it relevant by only including natural history related stuff, and will update the list from time to time. Nightjars and their Allies by … Read more
Katydids and Walking Sticks
I’m always particularly interested in creatures that employ camouflage as their primary means of defence against predation. Leaf-mimic Katydids and Stick Insects are masters of camouflage. Katydid nymphs often look like smaller versions of the adults, but in some species, … Read more
A few design tweaks
A few design changes:1. The sidebar on the right-hand side of all pages of the website has been redesigned. The recent news section now includes thumbnails extracted from the news articles. The ‘recently viewed’ section, and the ‘latest tweet’ sections … Read more
Tropical invertebrates
Sometimes it’s possible to add new species to the species list without even leaving the house. On this occasion it wasn’t a new moth discovered in the bathroom or a spider in the kitchen sink (although both have led to … Read more
Species list – more filters
I’ve made some minor changes to the species list. The column that displays the class, order and family to which a species belongs now renders the taxonomic groupings as hyperlinks, so it’s now possible to immediately jump to all other … Read more
Fritillaries and Wood Whites
Whilst I’ve spent almost every night of the last 3 weeks working with the European Nightjars which have recently arrived and are in the process of selecting territories and finding partners, I’ve spent some of my daylight hours in pursuit … Read more
Bug Squished
On at least one previous occasion in this dev diary, I’ve referred to a bug in the species list that I’d managed to convince myself was a bug in Google Chrome. It wasn’t. In fact, a number of different browsers … Read more
Kudus, Eagles, and Fritillaries
Another three photographs have been added to the gallery. The most recently taken photo is the pair of mating Pearl-bordered Fritillary in Gloucestershire, which will still be on the wing as I write this. Next up is a majestic looking … Read more