In My Garden 28th June 2012

In My Garden

28th June 2012

After several days with heavy rain the sun graced us with two lovely days, however still 

a bit windy and chilly. I went out with my camera very early, the morning dew glistened 

on the leaves and flowers, and strengthened all nature´s beautiful colours. It was a very 

fresh and crisp morning.

 One morning, tired little bumble bee was still sitting motionless on plant stalk

 The first dragonflies sat still motionless on the vegetation 

surrounding my pond in anticipation of the transformation from larvae to complete 

dragonfly to be ready. Soon they would fly around in the area surrounding my pond

in the search for prey and perhaps a partner to mate with.  

A very beautiful morning and I was happy that it did not rain the 

entire day. 

Have a nice day! 

Maria

A Midsummer Nights Dream 22 June 2012

A Midsummer Nights Dream

22 June 2012

Midsummer Night´s greetings to you All, 

and a BIG "Thank you" for visiting 

Beauty Of Nature 

Love Maria

 

The Ural Owl (Strix uralensis)

The Ural Owl (Strix uralensis)

The Ural Owl (Strix uralensis)

Running to me 21June 2012

Running to me 

21 June 2012

A Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) visited my garden

  A Beautiful Goldfinch 

visited my garden

The European Goldfinch or Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis)

When sitting in my office room I noticed a hasty movement at the corner of  my right 

eye something that was attacking my Cyanus montanus plants in the garden.
 When I gazed out toward the flowers I could hardly breethe, Even though I have 
seen Goldfinches before, however not in my garden, but on the island Öland, my first 
thought was that it was a exotic cage bird who had flown away from its life in the cage 
and from its owner, then I noticed that it was a Goldfinch and grabbed my camera and 

went towards the open door at the entrance of my house. I knew that I probable

did not have so much time so I just tried to be as invisible as possible when reaching

out through the open door with my camera ready. It was a windy day and the Goldfinch

moved around a lot but these photos below are still amazing to me, it is the very first

time I have seen this little rascal in my garden and I hope that he will be back soon.

I had not been totally wrong in thinking it was a cage bird, since in the old days it 

was kept in cages because of its beautiful songs, I have also red that it was (is?)

common to try and make a pair of a male Goldfinch and camary females to get 

offsprings with the most beautiful singing voices. I was truly happy that this little

one was living free and had graced me with its precence. 

The European Goldfinch or Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis)

 They prefer small seeds such as those from thistles but here I saw the Goldfinch eating

the seeds from the plant Cyanus montanus, in Swedish "Bergklint", but they also take 

insects when feeding the young. At the birdfeeders they love one particular seed the 

niger seed, commercially described as nyjer seed which contains a high lvl of oil which

is needed during the winter season for those who might stay during the mild winters.

The European Goldfinch or Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis)

Extremely enlarged very blurry picture however you can clearly see that this is a male

since males have a darker red mask that extends just behind their eyes. In females 

the red face does not reach the eye. The average Goldfinch is 12-13cm long with a 

wingspan of 21-25cm and a weight of 14-19 grams. It is truly a beautiful coloured bird.

A test

This is test photos

edited in PS with a new 

type of field for my signature

Dragonflies in my pond 9th June 2012

Dragonflies in my pond 

9th June 2012

Female,  The Broad-bodied Chaser, (Libellula depressa)

Female,  The Broad-bodied Chaser, (Libellula depressa)

Female with dark wing bases and yellow spots on the abdomen

Male,  The Broad-bodied Chaser, (Libellula depressa)

 Male with flat, broad abdomen with blue pruinosity

Male,  The Broad-bodied Chaser, (Libellula depressa)

The Broad-bodied Chaser is a dragonfly which occur in both bare 
and sunny locations, and is often the first dragonfly to colonise 
newly created ponds and well vegetated ponds. They feeds on 
many types of small insects which they take when being in the air
and then sits down on the favourite place in the sun and eat. 
Sometimes when you take photos of them you can see the legs 
or the wings from the insect they have caught in the air and 
then eating.  

Male,  The Broad-bodied Chaser, (Libellula depressa)

You can see them from April to September however are mostly seen

in May and June, their flight is very fast as they dart and dive above 

the water. They are very territorial and when another male arrived 

the two males fought and this male was the winner.

Mating takes place in the air

This female entered this males territory and the male flew up and grabbed

her. The maiting took place in the air and the pair are in tandem for only 

a brief period. You can hear a "crispy" sound. Then the pair separate 

and the female finds a good place for laying the eggs,  usually a spot

 with open water and submerged vegetation.

 Female laying eggs ,  The Broad-bodied Chaser, (Libellula depressa)

I have put together some photos of the female laying eggs above to 
visualise how she does. She is hovering above her chosen spot
in the water, and then when going down dipping the tip of her 
tail and abdomen in the water, you can see that she chose a
place with old vegetation in the pond. The eggs hatch in 4 - 5 
weeks and her larvae stays 1 -2 years to develope in the pond.
The larvae live in the slit and detritus at the bottom of the pond, 
they stay buried in the mud with just their head and eyes showing
in hunt for their prey. After they emerge they move away from the 
water and it takes a period of 10 to 14 days before they are fully
matured.

Female laying eggs,  The Broad-bodied Chaser, (Libellula depressa)

Here I have taken the photos of the female after her taking a brake 
and then mating with the male again to finally go down on a new 
spot on the greener vegetation in the pond. To me it seems like 
the female choses to lay her eggs at many different good spots.
This probably to hopefully secure some of her eggs not 
to be found and eaten.  

Female laying eggs,  The Broad-bodied Chaser, (Libellula depressa)

Here you can see her dipping her tail down into the water and lay 
the eggs on the green water plant.

Male,  The Broad-bodied Chaser, (Libellula depressa)

During the time the male is keeping his eyes on his territory, the other 
male had been scared away and this male was the winner and stayed 
in the area sorruinding my pond the entire day. 

A day and night out 8 June 2012

A Day and Night out 

8 June 2012

A Day in the garden 7 June 2012

A day in the garden 

7 June 2012