Animals

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #51 – Unique

/ Leya / 47 kommentarer

Unique – ask a dictionary, and it says being the only existing one of its type or, more generally, unusual, or special in some way. The most unique place I have visited is the Galapagos Islands.

This Ecuadorian archipelago with 19 islands are all unique in their own way – both flora and fauna. They all have endemic species, and the animals let you come close without being startled or afraid. They do not consider humans their enemies. Unique.

Thank you, Charles Darwin!

Charles Darwins resa med HMS Beagle 1831-36, Galápagosdelen

Some of the strange and fascinating landscapes on the islands –

If you look closely, you might see the flamingo…-

We had a very unique opportunity to see the land iguanas eating from the giant cactii.

Not many visitors are that lucky – at least our guide told us so.

Unfortunately we came too late to meet Lonesome George. Every effort to help this last of his species failed, and he died 2012. But we met several other giant tortoises on the island Santa Cruz.

In the header, two marine iguanas – unique to these islands, but unfortunately on the road to getting even more unique. As the waters are warming due to climate change, their sea food is dying and their numbers are already decreasing.

Let us hope these islands will stay unique – in a positive way. Nature is good at mending – if we will just let it.

A special thanks to Amy for this week’s photo inspiration.

 

Thursday Thoughts – Garden News

/ Leya / 30 kommentarer

So far this Spring and start of Summer has given the ideal weather for the garden: Raining during the nights and sunshine during the days. Such wonderful difference from last year’s extreme heat. Come along for a short walk!

 

These are only some of my flowers – but I am so glad they survived last summer’s heat! I adore the little rain gauge my son bought for mother’s day.

My wild roses were planted maybe 20 years ago – I got them from a friend who in his turn had got them from a little old lady in a forest cottage.

I love those little ones – a sea of pink! If you study the bumble bees below, you will understand how small these roses are.

This year, the Painted Lady, being a long-distance migrant, caused the most spectacular butterfly migration observed in Sweden.

Each year, it spreads northwards from the desert fringes of North Africa, the Middle East, and central Asia, recolonizing mainland Europe and reaching Sweden and even Svalbard. In some years it is an abundant butterfly, but never as early as this year. I usually see them in my Buddleijas in late summer.

This year they migrated in millions, and Gotland, our biggest island, received more than 6000 of them in some hours. In my garden now, I have hundreds of them. Some battered and torn – but who wouldn’t be after such a flight!

 

Friendly Friday – Shadows

/ Leya / 17 kommentarer

Amanda has a prompt for us – Shadows – and you get Me at my best (;-D) in both pictures: In my forest and in the Sahara desert.

 

This photo challenge is alternately hosted each Friday by the bloggers:
Something to Ponder About  and The Snow Melts Somewhere

CFFC: Smiles

/ Leya / 24 kommentarer

Cee asks us to smile this week – Here’s one from me, last summer when I finally got away from the heat and drought in Skåne and reached the sweet, fresh air of Norrland and Lofoten. The best smile that year…

And the sweetie in the header, from Jokkmokk’s Market in Lappland, Sweden.

You can never get too many smiles in your life!

 

 

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #48 – Wild

/ Leya / 44 kommentarer

“In wildness is the preservation of the world.”  – Henry David Thoreau

Tina encourages us this week to go Wild! And, this time of the year I spend as much time as possible outdoors, in the wild, so my decision was easy – to go for my own neighborhood and use the most common meanings of the word Wild (according to Wikipedia) –

 

Wild animal – I met this lovely deer on my morning tour a couple of days ago. She noticed me of course, but waited patiently in the sunlit glade until I was gone.

Wilderness – a wild natural environment not significantly modified by human activity.

Wildlife traditionally refers to undomesticated animal species, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wild in an area without being introduced by humans. Represented in the header by a wild rose.

One of the most fascinating things in the wild is the metamorphosis of butterflies. Here some caterpillars of the small tortoiseshell, feeding on stinging nettles…

…but later developing into these beauties – Wild Wonders!

Finally, Wildness – the quality of being wild or untamed……easily recognizable even in domesticated animals – such as my dogs running and chasing each other like maniacs.

 

Would you like to go wild for a moment? Welcome to join in! Tag your entry ”Lens-Artists” so we can find you in the reader. And stay tuned for next week’s host, Patti, for challenge #49!

Thursday Thoughts – Early Mornings

/ Leya / 31 kommentarer

Spring is my favorite season, and early Spring mornings are my favorite hours of the day.

Everything is calm, but – nature is so very alive, vibrating with life.

The meadows bloom, the waters flow merrily in the streams.

I rejoice in the birds’ song, and feel the joy in every living thing…

I wish we could all feel that joy and contentment. Harmony. At least some moments every week. I know I am lucky to live in the middle of nature, but I also know that nature is the best healer for most things troubling our human life.

Go seek it – Harmony. If you have an open mind, you will find it. In Nature.