FOR this month’s features, members of Kirkbymoorside Camera Club have put their focus on nature.

Club chairman Harry Kingman said: “Nature is all around us, from the cultivated plants and shrubs in our gardens, the wild flowers in the meadows and hedgerows, the insects, birds and wild animals we often see fleetingly. Everything has its own, unique beauty, we all need to take time out from our busy lives to admire natures splendour.”

The club meets on the first and third Thursdays of the month at the Moorside Club (previously known as the British Legion Club), Shaw Drive, Kirkbymoorside, at 7.30pm.

New members are welcome. Go to kirkbymoorside-camera-club.co.uk

Soggy squirrel kit – Jim Cavanagh

This image was from a hide to the west of Hawes, run by Wild Dales. There are a number of hides, some with reflection pools, so there is plenty of opportunities for photos. Unfortunately, the day I picked had the worst weather with wind and rain!

Peacock butterfly – Sharon Marwood

An early spring butterfly enjoying the dry weather and warm conditions we’ve experienced this season.

Laura Fletcher – Honka Dahlia

This beautiful yellow, star shaped Dahlia was taken on a lovely sunny October afternoon walk around Beningbrough Hall gardens with my family.

Blue tit - Lynn Wraith

I spotted this Blue Tit feeding it’s young inside a rotten windowsill. I carefully hid myself in some nearby foliage so that I didn’t disturb them and was rewarded with some images of both parents feeding. The whole experience took no more than 5 minutes and then I quietly slipped away and left them in peace.

Bob - Kingfisher

This image was taken at a local nature reserve, of a kingfisher taking a fish back for it’s young inside the nest. This is a hole dug out of the bank by the parents. Look carefully and you can see the faecal discharge, running from within the nest, the result of a diet of fish and having spent four weeks living inside.

Cygnets - Paul Stephenson

This photograph, taken recently at Castle Howard, features two very young cygnets enjoying swimming on the lake.

Fungi – Harry Kingman

Taken on an evening shoot in the Yorkshire Arboretum. I noticed this mushroom (?) half hidden in the shadows and surrounded with leaf litter. Flash was needed to bring out the details.

Swallow feeding youngsters – David Ireland

I noticed these baby swallows perched on the roof of my summer house, the parents were returning regularly to feed them.