Rescue
Recently I read a lovely story of the rescue of a Blue Banded Bee, with great photographs by Mark Berkley, an Australian photographer who loves macro as much as I do, so I thought to share my own experience in rescuing tiny creatures. About two weeks ago I lit my slow combustion heater as it was really cold that night, and added several red gum logs to the wood basket for the purpose. I did not burn it all, so one log has been sitting on the hearth ever since…..it must have been full of ladybirds as I have been finding them huddled in corners on my windows ever since. I do not know the life cycle of these insects beyond knowing that they go through several stages before they become adult, or whether these insects had hatched in a crevice of the wood (doubtful), or the cold had made them decided it was time to shelter for the winter. Some appeared alive and moving, others were quite stationary and looked dead, but they had obviously been able to fly towards the light and settle once they had emerged from the wood. I have been collecting them and taking them outside, releasing them onto a pot of moss where a light sprinkle of water revived most of them so they could fly away. I must have saved at least 30 of them, and of course, there were photographs too!
Texture Tuesday – the Downton Edition
It has been so long since I did anything for Kim Klassen’s Texture Tuesdays that I had forgotten all the basic techniques! Anyway, here is one for this week, even though it is Wednesday evening in Oz. It uses one of her most recent textures, called Daisy and named after one of the characters in the Downton Abbey series .
WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge – Kiss
I have been back from my holiday for a while, but just busy catching up, taking pictures, but not posting. Spent quite a time sorting my Singapore photos, and more recently at least an hour trying to find this picture on my computer – I really need to get myself organised! The problem was it was taken as a JPEG before I had LR4, so I had to trawl the hard drive to find it, hidden in a folder that had no label!
Anyway, this is a photo taken nearly 18 months ago and I figure it fits the brief! These are Sulphur Crested Cockatoos, beautiful to look at but noisy and very destructive, and usually found in large flocks in this area. These two were obviously after a little space and privacy as it was Springtime, September 2011 and they probably had other things on their mind!
Wasp Waist!
Couldn’t help myself could I? Should be packing….went outside to get something from the washing line and spotted this big native wasp intent on feeding on an Allium flower. I think it is a Potter’s Wasp, a large solitary wasp that builds a mud nest, installs a caterpillar or spider in each cell for the lavae to feed on when the egg hatches. I didn’t get too close, even though I believe they do not sting…..anyway here are some shots of this luridly coloured wasp. Now I really am off to pack……
A Mixed Bag
Some recent shots – probably the last for a little while as I’m off on holiday to Singapore. Hopefully I shall have a selection of different-type shots when I return. These as usual are from around the garden, and all macros…enjoy! Click on any photo in the gallery for a larger image.
Damsel Flies
These beautiful insects are common around my lake, fast of flight they sometimes land on water reeds or other plants to rest or feed on something they have caught. This is a useful link to information about both Damsel and Dragon Flies, and the differences between the two for anyone who might be interested to know a bit more. One of these photos (#6902) shows a green eyed Damsel Fly eating a larvae of the same species.
Happy New Year
Henri Cartier-Bresson said ” Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst.” On that basis, I should get some good ones soon!
Here’s to another year of striving for that elusive perfect shot!
Gotta love a Lily!
WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge – My 2012
Just one photo to represent each month of this year? There are thousands from which I could choose, it’s impossible to narrow it down to only one image. Here are a few I really like, not necessarily my best work, and some I may have posted before – it is just a tiny taste of a year’s shooting. As usual you can click on a single image for a larger view, and yes, the gallery will have changed if you come back for a second look – it is the random feature that one can set for a gallery.
Do you have a favourite image?
Poppies
One of my favourite flowers to photograph – richly coloured, lusciously wrinkled and delicate, beautiful at all stages, beloved of bees………..These are a mixture of oriental and opium poppies which grow in my garden.
WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge – Surprise
Like many I was not surprised to wake and find we had survived the supposed apocalypse that was predicted because the ancient Mayan calendar had simply run out of time……I can confirm that the day passed peacefully, as usual in this little corner of the world. What did surprise me was the very weird eyes on this strange fly I captured through my macro lens recently when seeking insects to photograph. I have no idea what it is, it was tiny and was feeding on nectar in the centre of a rose.
Little Froggies…….Littoria ewingii
There are several species of small frog that live around the garden and by my lake. At night the calls are deafening, and I often find them in the grass or garden when working outside. These however, live in the Hydrangeas which are just outside my back door. They pretty much vanish through the winter, but at this time of year there are many young ones to be found amongst the leaves. They are Littoria ewingii or Southern Brown Tree Frogs and the adults only reach about 45mm in size. These ones are tiny, about the size of a finger nail, and to give you an idea, one in the photos below, is sitting on the underside of my little finger. As usual, click on an individual photo to enlarge it.
Ladybird, Ladybird……..
There seem to be a great number of these lovely little insects around the garden at the moment, which is a good thing as there is a plague of tiny greenfly on everything. They can be found feeding on these tiny pests which damage roses and many other plants too. May they grow fat and multiply! It is also interesting to see the variety in size, number of spots and colour……I guess it might mean something if you were a ladybird? Click on any image for a larger view.
WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge – Delicate
It was hard to choose a subject this week, there are so many delicate things that I love to photograph – flowers, insects, fungi, feathers and so on. I have chosen rose petals – transient, soft, fragrant, so easily bruised or marked by insects and definitely delicate.
These are all taken using my Canon 550D, 100mm macro lens and tripod.
WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge – Changing Seasons
I am sure that many WordPress bloggers will be posting beautiful landscapes, with bare trees and falling snow, or sunny beaches full of bathers to demonstrate the theme for this week. Mine is a little bit silly, no wonderful photography, and I bet I’m the only one who chooses this subject! In Central Victoria where I live, with the coming of Spring and Summer the grass grows as one watches it, so the change of season means endless weekly mowing of my property – to make it more safe on bushfire days and to keep it short so one can see any snakes that might be around. Let me introduce……my essential ride on mower, now several years old and costly to keep going as each season something always needs fixing. It only breaks when it is needed, and has just had a new drive belt and some sort of critical spring replaced by the bandit mower fixers in a nearby town, which cost me more $$$ than I expected!
Bird’s Babies
For those of you who have been following the adventures of Bird I am delighted to tell you he has two youngsters. I have only seen these juveniles in the last few days, but both Bird and his less bold Missus have been seen busily hunting and gathering for them. The young ones can fly, in a blundering sort of fashion, and can obviously feed themselves as I have seen them foraging too, however, they also spend a lot of time sitting under cover in trees, squawking loudly and waiting for a parent to come and feed them. The paler, fluffier bird in this gallery is a young one, its sibling was hiding higher up in this leafy tree. Interestingly the beady yellow eye has not yet developed – it must be a sign of being a grown-up!
Macro magic…..
Spotted this rather beautiful moth near the lake this morning…….it looks like a malevolent fairy!
And a hard working, heavily laden bee…..
Tiny Beauty
These delicate little butterflies were only about half an inch tall, I caught them sitting on buds of Lavender late one afternoon. As usual, I used the 550D, macro lens and tripod.
Thank you to all who have visited and commented in the last few days – I have now reached the heady height of having 64 followers, and many lovely folk leaving kind comments. It’s just great to know my images are being enjoyed around the world! 14 different countries and 125 138 146 views today alone! I’m amazed.
Macro Insects and Spiders..
Some recent shots of little critters found in my garden. Gotta love that macro lens!
WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge – Reflections
Reflections are a favourite subject – tricky but beautiful. These are a selection of shots from Tasmania to a friend’s lake, to my own in Central Victoria. Enjoy!
