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Grounded

| paulamyes

Our poor old car started to sound as if it had a terminal condition. It produced an incredible range of noises from the engine and gearbox. With over 200,000 km on the clock it wasn’t surprising in someways. I took it into the mechanics and it came back with even more strange noises. So while we sorted out a replacement I’ve been somewhat grounded and most of the recent photography has taken place within the constrains of the garden. Most of it macro of various bugs that I’ve found, some of it shots of Bertie, our Miniature Bull Terrier puppy, as he plays. It’s been great fun.

 

Bertie playing with his ring in the garden.

 

 

Bertie with his first marrow bone.

 

 

Green Lacewing, Mallada signatus. York, Western Australia.

 

 

Red Tiger Assassin Bug, Havinthus rufovarius. York, Western Australia.

 

 

Dunno what sort of spider this is.

 

 

A male Yellow flower wasp feeding on the corriander.

 

Last week I posted a photo of a mystery insect that I didn’t know what it was. Well it turns out it was a female Yellow Flower Wasp, which are flightless.

 

Female Yellow Flower wasp on a corriander plant.

“Little things…

| paulamyes

… please little minds.”

Ars Amatoria by Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) 43BC-17AD (?)

 

“Stay sill damn it!” Common garden snail, Cornu aspersum.

 

The recent orchid expedition made me get my macro lenses and flash out of the cupboard and consequently I’ve been playing around with it in the garden. I had this brilliant idea to improve my focus stacking technique by taking photos of snails. I mistakenly thought that they’d be a good subject as they don’t move much. I was very much mistaken. The little beggars move around quite a lot. The tentacles that their eyes are mounted on are in a constant state of motion and so my attempts at focus stacking failed. Not to be deterred I just stopped the lens down to f11 or f16 (well into diffraction territory on Micro Four Thirds) and just carried on taking picture of little critters in the garden.

 

Another fidgety snail.

 

 

The focus stack even failed on this. Dunno what I’m doing wrong.

 

 

Yikes! Don’t know what this was amongst the coriander.

 

Looks better in profile.

 

Oh dear! The Beloved Significant Other is not going to be happy with these aphids.

 

 

I didn’t know that aphids were translucent.

It’s Been A While

| paulamyes

It seems ages since I last posted. Things have been a bit quiet because of the cold wet weather and I’ve missed a few opportunities which have all contributed to making me feel a bit blah.


Red-eared Firetail by Paul Amyes on 500px.com
We went to Bickley looking for these Red-eared Firetaisl (Stagonopleura oculata).

We went to the New Victoria Dam at Bickley in search of Red-eared Firetails but all we found were lots of butterflies. It’s amazing that a lot of Western Australia’s butterfly species can be found all year round. Even on a freezing winters day.

 

Bickley Brook by Paul Amyes on 500px.com

What we found were Australian painted lady butterflies, Vanessa kershawi. New Victoria Dam, Bickley, Western Australia.

 

Bickley Brook by Paul Amyes on 500px.com

We also saw a lot of these. Monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus.

 

On the home front we had a new visitor to the garden in the form of an Australian Hobby. It also looks like a pair of Nankeen Kestrels have nested in a tall tree on the land opposite us. They can be regularly seen hunting over the fields and gardens and they use our TV aerial as an observation platform. Hopefully, if I can swing it with the landowner, I’ll get some photos of them rearing chicks over the next few months.

Australian hobby(Falco longipennis) perched on our TV aerial.

 

Nankeen kestra (Falco cenchroides cenchroides), York, Western Australia.

 

Nankeen kestra (Falco cenchroides cenchroides), York, Western Australia.

Recovery Mode

| paulamyes
Frida doing post surgery recovery.

This is Frida. I wouldn’t say we own her, more like she deigns to live with us. Anyway she had surgery to remove a lump last week, and she is now taking recovery very seriously. The lump turned out to be benign 😊👌.

 

Frida doing post surgery recovery.