A Mixed Bag

 A few evenings ago I tried several times to photograph the Sunbeams poking out above some dark clouds. They weren't very bright so this is best I managed.

 

Lovely Sunny day here. A cooling breeze from the coast is helping to keep the temperature down to reasonable levels. This was the NOAA 18 weather satellite picture from just before midday local time. 

 

The red Sunflower is facing away from the Sun so it looked really spectacular with the Sunlight glowing through its petals

  

Finally the Hibiscus is in flower and attracting lots of bees 

 

The Sunflower is attracting bumble bees but, unusually, they are too shy to be photographed.

Monday Mystery

A full house of correct guesses for last week's close up 

 

of

a child's windmill / pinwheel I spotted on a child's grave in the churchyard.

Well done Adrian, the Veg Artist, the Weaver of Grass, Kris, Ellen D, Dave and Bettina Groh.

Will this week's mystery object be as easy to identify?

Please leave any guesses in the comments.

They will be revealed, along with the answer, next Monday.

Warming Up

 Picture from NOAA 15 weather satellite at 9 a.m. local time.

   

Already 24C here and looks to be around 27C in the SE corner of England.

Smaller Than Expected

The Sunflower bud I showed a couple of Mondays ago has finally opened.

I had expected a 'giant Sunflower' to have a giant flower but no. This one is about 5 inches (130mm) across. On the plus side I do like the red colour and there are another six buds on the plant. I wonder what colour the other large one next to it will turn out to be.

Mind Where You're Walking

I always have to keep my eyes peeled for any life in the long grass





This frog obliged by keeping still while I poked the Nikon within a few inches.
It was quite large so several years old. Haven't seen any froglets yet this year in the garden.

Pond Life

Went out a few days ago to catch a ladybird to look at through the LCD microscope. Needless to say, search as I might, there wasn't one to be found. Dozens around the previous day but someone must have warned them to stay out of sight.

I did happen to notice a few wriggly things in the pool of water at the top of the old pond waterfall so I nipped indoors and grabbed a plastic pipette to suck up a couple.



Size is about 10mm long.
I thought they would probably be mosquito larvae but they would have a number of hairs behind the head. Further research showed these seem to match the next stage in their life cycle - mosquito pupa.

The second part of the video is at half speed.

Monday Mystery

Last week's flower bud



was identified as belonging to



a Sunflower plant (next to a three foot high fence)



by Ellen D, the Veg Artist and Ragged Robin. Well done.
My thanks to all who had a go.

This time a close view of something I spotted on one of our walkabouts



What was it?

Please leave any guesses in the comments.
They will be revealed, along with the answer, next Monday.