Surrounded by Rocks: An Exploration Series, Chapter 10

It’s time for the next chapter in Nightjar’s series.

Chapter 10 – West Hill: A Tiny World, Part 1

I often amaze myself with the amount of time spent and number of photos taken without looking past a square meter of space. A love for macro photography tends to do that to people, I guess. Coming down the West Hill I noticed a patch of moss and lichen. It was a small patch, but with so many things going on. Enough to fill the last two chapters of this series. First, I was fascinated by tiny lichen.

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Surrounded by Rocks: An Exploration Series, Chapter 7

Here is Nightjar with the next chapter in her series.

Chapter 7 – West Hill: Going Up

We are now at the southern base of the West Hill and the entrance looks inviting. We are in a totally different environment, the soils here are obviously more fertile and can sustain denser vegetation. Let’s go up.

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Surrounded by Rocks: An Exploration Series, Chapter 5

Nightjar is here to share the next chapter of her series.

Chapter 5 – East Hill: Flora

There is quite a lot of biodiversity on the top but what you see will of course depend on the time of the year you visit. Spring would be more interesting, and we would be looking for wild orchids, wild peonies (Paeonia broteri) and honeysuckles. In November we must content ourselves with the late crocus (Crocus serotinus)…

… and the autumn buttercup (Ranunculus bullatus).

Some plants have berries now, like the wild jasmine (Jasminum fruticans)…

… or the hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna).

And seedcases of the grey-leaved cistus (Cistus albidus) make me want to come back in Spring for their pink flowers with yellow centers.

The next chapter will be the last here and we will just enjoy the views and see the hill we will explore next, on the other side of the village.

A Trio of Summer Roses

It’s summer down under and these delightful flowers come from Lofty who says,

A trio of roses rescued from our garden before they got burned by the summer heat.

Thanks, Lofty.

Surrounded by Rocks: An Exploration Series, Chapter 4

It’s time for Nightjar’s next chapter.

Chapter 4 – East Hill: Fauna of the Present

We have reached the top of the East Hill and so has this weevil, which found the perfect place to sunbathe. There aren’t many insects around this time of the year (November), visiting in spring or summer would certainly be better for insect watching purposes.

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Speedwell, Veronica

The last bloom of Nightjar’s early winter flowers series and it’s a beauty.

Thanks, Nightjar. It’s been lovely to have so much sunshine and colour at this time of year.

A Field of Marigolds

I thought that Nightjar’s sunny Marigold photo from yesterday couldn’t be beat, but today she’s sent us an entire field of bright yellow Marigolds. I love the way the focus fades and the flowers start to look like bright yellow balloons bobbing in the breeze.

Thanks, Nightjar

Marigold

A gorgeous, bright yellow Marigold from Nightjar’s series of photos, Early Winter Flowers from Portugal. This photo even a wee visitor taking advantage of all that sweet, sticky pollen.

Thanks, Nightjar.

Hawkweed

Another of Nightjar’s beautiful winter flowers from Portugal.

Gorgeous. Thanks, Nightjar.

Portuguese Geranium in winter

Another early winter flower from Nightjar. The colour and light in this shot are enough to melt my cold winter heart.

Thanks, Nightjar.

Walking in a Winter Wonderland: part 7

A few final images of the Winter Wonderland. It is long gone now, being more of a brown yucky marshland now (I love our woods, but right now the smell of the stale water is often not too nice).

©Giliell, all rights reserved
More needle ice

©Giliell, all rights reserved
Frozen berries

The last one is an interesting one. I did not get the bird I was trying to shoot, but I ended up with a damn interesting picture.

Early winter wildflowers

Something special from Nightjar,

These photos are my new year gift to you and also to everyone at Affinity currently dealing with a dull winter. The mild Portuguese winter is, as you can see, full of life and colour, and even if I can’t share the sun and temperatures with you I can at least share the sights. I hope they bring you some happiness.

Thank you, Nightjar. My winter remains dull and your flowers are a welcome gift.

Wednesday Wings: Hunting Kinglets

Kinglets, or more specifically goldcrests, are the prettier cousins of our common wrens. They aren’t exactly shy birds, although they don’t like too many people in the woods, but they move fast in an area with lots of bushes and twigs. I know a spot where I have good chances of spotting them. Taking their picture? The work of Sysiphus… The big lens needs a lot of light and the autofocus needs time. Given the terrain, chances are good that the bird is long gone once it has found that particular twig*.

So here are my results of several hunts.

The best shot, though I don’t recommend “click for full size”. It is grainy, since the ISO went through the roof, but shooting birds at less than 1/125 is impossible anyway.

*I could still bite my own ass for not having waited a few months longer until I had enough money to buy the “sports” version…

And now for a whole row of “I should have put superglue on the branches”…

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Chapter 10 – West Hill: A Tiny World, Part 1

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Chapter 7 – West Hill: Going Up

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Chapter 5 – East Hill: Flora

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Chapter 4 – East Hill: Fauna of the Present

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