I went for a stroll down the lane to see what nature would catch my eye. I keep hoping to spot the occasional dragonfly but there were none to be seen this time. After sitting on the veranda of the cricket club pavillion for a while to take in the scenery and fresh air I wandered back home. On the way I took a few photos of some pink flowers I had spotted on the way there.
Common Mallow:
Thistle with a couple of hoverflies, Episyrphus balteatus (I think):
A closer crop of that photo:
A plant I have failed to identify ....
On reaching home I couldn't resist taking a photo of my Callistemon (bottle brush plant)
A straggly bush but a really showy plant when in full bloom and each year attracting more bees.
was correctly identified by all who made a guess. My thanks and congratulations to Adrian, Ragged Robin, Wilma and Ellen D. who all said that it is a stopper to put in the neck of a wine bottle to replace the cork after it has been removed.
This week we have a part view of something for you to identify.
If you would like to have a guess as to what it is please leave it in the comments. They will be revealed, with the answer, next Monday.
.... to see this Old Codger actually doing something! The camera which observes any activity around the bird feeders kept a record of the slim, handsome old codger who writes all this guff doing what he does least - get off his backside and and take in some fresh air and exercise! The video recordings were re-processed at 8x normal speed and a soundtrack added as the original sound was mainly wind noise.
The soundtrack is one I made when experimenting with an app called ChordBot on an iPad about nine years ago. Next job is to clean up the top of the storage box, then enjoy watching which birds visit for a free meal.
was soon identified by Ragged Robin, Adrian, Ellen D and Wilma as a pumice stone. Well done to all who had a go. It had, and still has, many uses such as removing hard skin, and calluses. One use, mentioned by Adrian, I had forgotten about was cleaning steps. My mother scrubbed the stone front door step every week, as did many women, when I was a nipper. I have used this one along with Swarfega to help remove stubborn paint stains from my hands.
Another full view of an object this week:
Once again, what is it used for? If you would like to have a guess please leave it in the comments. They will be revealed, with the answer, next Monday.
Ten years ago, when I first managed to photograph a furry fly hovering in the garden, I mis-identified a Bee Fly as being a Hummingbird Hawk Moth. Well - this time I am sure I found one. On returning from a walk-about I saw lots of bees on and near the Lavender bushes but something different caught my attention. A grey furry body with bright orange wings, a black and white 'tail' and a long proboscis. It was constantly in flight, sometimes darting about, sometimes hovering to feed on nectar. Not once did I see it land on anything.
I watched for a while then thought to fetch a camera to try for some shots. Darn near impossible. With the bright Sunlight I couldn't see anything on the cameras LCD display so I had to point and hope. Out of eight or nine shots these are about the best, though not as good as I wanted.
I also had just one chance to take a short video. This is a small crop from the original. The moth started off in a good position but ended up right at the bottom of the frame.
I will keep looking out for it and, hopefully, achieve some better results another day.
