snail-race

A snail has climbed 1.70 cm high up a rather thin stem of the valerianplant
It does not say how long the journey took him to get there.

blackbird-young

In my neighbours garden, a blackbird-family has fledged.
the young are sitting, waiting for their dinner being served.
so very unafraid... being unaware of all the dangers around....
just sitting...waiting...looking...till mom comes along again, with some food.

Bibi and Tommy have house-arrest for some days.

roses

lovely small roses...blossoming...
late sunlight shining through the fragile almost transparent rose-leaves.

song-thrush

So now and then a song-thrush hip-hops through the grass...
specially now the grass is full of blossoming clovers and a little bit to long, he jumps a bit.

On the stone path I regulary step on something crispy..crackingsound-something.
When I look under my feet..its mostly the remains of a snail...

he loves snails,.... eating them I mean.
sometimes I see him banging the snail on the stone...till the snailshell breaks open.
and then he slibber-slobbs the remains of the snail...
beautiful sight, seeing him doing that.
The empty snail-houses I later find back...as an unwashed dish.

3 eggs redstart

The owner of the house gave me when I left, this nice present.

The common redstarts had build an earlier nest someplace else.
which for some unknown reason was not to be continued.
3 lightblue eggs, like beautiful gems,
perfectly shaped,
only...
all different in size, which makes me wonder...how come?

Common Redstart

To my surprise there was another bird nesting in a shed at the same lovely place.

I could hear the thweating-chirrping of the young..hidden away against the roof behind a flowerpot.
Only the parents were so shy..I could only see a reddish blurr flying.
It was the Common Redstart ( Gekraagde roodstaart)(Phoenicurus phoenicurus).
I only had seen this beautiful bird on pictures...never real-time.
it was so great to have the opportunity to see a bird ...for me so unknown.

I was so happy, I had taken the meal-worms along with me.
That was the only chance to get a better view of these shy...blurring swift bird.
it worked out...the female bird greatly enjoyed the meal-worms...
and dared to come a little closer.
Showing her lovely reddish breast and tail in full color.
The male didn't...The only shot I could get, was very far away in a tree.
he has even more red and a black mask..
such a beautiful birds...!

wren young

My friend A. mailed me she had visited friends,
who had a pair of wren nesting in a shed in a rope.

I asked if I it was possible for me to have a look too!
It was!

So I drove all the way to my friends, friends house, which lay in beautiful surroundings
lovely garden..lots of birds...lots of birdsinging!
And there it was...stuffed away in a tool-shed hidden in a string of rope...
a very little tiny nest hardly to be seen from a distance.
4 little ini-mini beaks peaking out.
and so now and then mother or father wren coming along feeding.
such beautiful little small birds.

and such a lovely place to be!
Thanx for welcoming me!

coming closer

And of course some other birds discovered the treat.
the next guests on the set table.
The blackbird-couple loves meal-worms too!

come closer 2

So....
I went to the shop yesterday
bought him something he very much likes
and me very much dislike...shiver...grr..shiver-tremble-yuck.
meal-worms! in a little box...shiver.

I prepared a dish for my robin on the tree-table
and after a few hours there he was...
coming closer for his treat.

come closer

I wanted robin to come closer.
had n't seen him for a while close
because he is busy with his nest, which he probably has somewhere hidden away.

so.....

Valerian

It is raining Valerian.
The Valerian is blossoming for a while and now all the little tiny flowers start to fall out.
Like rain on the ground and on me,
when I sit next to the plant in my lazy chair in the shade.

One of the flowers was dangling on a spiders-thread
the wind playing around with it.
meanwhile spreading the herbal fragrance thru the air.

bathing weather

Sitting relaxed...no hurry-time
blackbird takes his time to enjoy the sunshine and a warm bath.

poppy's

Close by I had noticed some beautiful poppy's
I decided to go there with my camera this afternoon.
I love poppy's so very much....
they always give the feel of freedom, summer-shine, delight...and fragile breeze

robin

I saw robin having a bath.
after bathing he goes to a branch or so,
to shake the drops and the feathers altogether lovely again.
That's for me an opportunity to grab my camera, because mostly he goes for a second bath

Nike stamp

A long time ago,
I photographed Nike, one of my friends dog.

As a present, I sent his stamps to Nike's owners, E&B
who helped me along with lots of things in my garden.

Today he came back in my snailmailbox!
this lovely "knowing-how-to-play-dog"....

blackbird

Blackbird hopping through the grass, trying to find a worm.
the grass is now blossoming with lots of white clovers.

I like the clovers in my grass...lots of insects enjoy them too.