Insects

Thursday Thoughts – New in My Garden

/ Leya / 25 kommentarer

Every year there are some newcomers in my garden. I posted a bee in this one the other day, but thought I would do it some more justice and show the beauty of this salvia plant. Fast growing and loved by the pollinators. Among the Autumn yellows, it is radiant.

Tricyrtis, or toadlily, arrived this summer as well. In Sweden we have ”open gardens” to visit every summer, and sometimes they sell plants there as well. I wanted this beauty ever since I saw it the first time in an old friend’s garden. And last week the first flower unfolded. An intricate lady.

Mrs Wilmott’s Ghost is another newcomer – much longed for – but unfortunately it did not get any flowers this year. But this is what I hope to see next summer!

I mentioned before the red admirals (Vanessa) and how frequent they are this year – and difficult to photograph, but in the header I managed not to frighten them when they were feasting on the plums…

A more close-up view I got from one of them resting on the glasshouse. This year they have kept their colours well too – no hail or much rain. Indeed one of my favourite butterflies. Sorry to say, the buddleias will soon be over, but we have had a marvelous insect year and the butterflies are no exception. So grateful!

Thursday Thoughts – At the Pond

/ Leya / 19 kommentarer

We met up for a trip to a pond wellknown for its dragonflies. Rain in the air and rather chilly – so, our expert told us we would not see any dragonflies that morning… Ten degrees warmer and sun is the recipe.

We had all brought breakfast though, so we might as well hike up there and at least eat. Said and done.

After an hour the sun warmed up behind the clouds, so we were a bit lucky in the end. Not many dragonflies were patroling the water, but if you walked through the grasses on the shore, you were greatly rewarded.

Here are some of the critters that we found. We saw 6-7 different species of dragonflies/damselflies and some other beauties. The caterpillar will later evolve into a small tortoiseshell. Some sea birds were talking loudly, and the swallows came sweeping down as the mosquitos woke up. An enjoyable morning!

Click the gallery for more detail.

Amazingly small, but in a shining blue or red armour, striped or checked – we saw them dancing. I learned that many dragonflies live for a month or so, and some species live for almost a whole year – they even fly throughout the winter months here. If you want to hold one, it is the wings you should grab. They are not soft and velvety (as with butterflies), but stiff and hard. If you then set the dragonfly free, it will sit where you put it, silent for some seconds – and you have an excellent photo option!

LAPC #211 – What’s Your Photographic Groove?

/ Leya / 62 kommentarer

Our host this week, Anne Sandler , is asking: ”What type of photography do you truly enjoy doing?”

I enjoy almost all types of photography, but Nature is my Muse. More specificly: flowers, close-ups and macro. And I am happy if in the flowers there is a critter or two as well… I believe our ”groove” changes over the years – as the world is changing – so are we.

For many years my photography was all about travel, new places, new people, new architecture, new food… but there has always been flowers. And why flowers? Well, I was born in the countryside, and from my grandmother I learned the importance of the little things – to see a world in a grain of sand. Flowers – nothing beats their great variety; in colours, shapes and sizes. I have to have flowers in my life!

My blog was named lagottocattleya after my favourite breed of dogs and my favourite orchid. So, the first image is a cattleya hybrid pictured at Keukkenhof, Holland. Then follows a gallery with some old and new favourites, from close-ups to macros and from Spring to Autumn. From forest to garden and indoors plants. I hope they will speak for themselves.

Special thanks to our guest host Sarah Wilkie of Travel With Me for the exercise of picking out three of our favorite images. And thank you to all our wonderful July guest hosts, Aletta, Jez, Andre and Tracy. If you join us, please link to Anne’s original post and use the lens artists tag. We’re looking forward to seeing your photos! As the LAPC team resumes rotation, Patti will present next week’s challenge. In the meantime, have fun and safe travels.

If you would like to participate weekly in our Lens-Artists Challenge, click here for more info.