Here Comes Summer

 After a mammoth load of pictures yesterday I have settled on just one photo for today; a beautiful bee hard at work gathering pollen from a buttercup. There are so many different varieties of bee that I cannot say which variety this is however as you can see it is living up to the reputation of being busy. As summer approaches and more flowers come into bloom this is the perfect time of year to spot some of our spectacular and incredibly important pollinators.

A Gentle Pace

 Here on Burano cars are not allowed so the main form of transport is by boat and every household appears to own one, and unlike in the city of Venice itself, here on Burano bicycles are allowed.

The absence of traffic, the colourful buildings and the pleasant climate creates a relaxed atmosphere for locals and visitors alike. It is a real gem and definitely worth a visit.

The neighbouring island, Murano, is famous for glass making but Burano is famous for lace making and there are several places where you can buy traditional lace goods. The genuine article is very expensive although the quality is exceptional. I sound like I know what I am talking about and having been "dragged" around several of the specialist shops I should know.

Kings Dock, Port of Liverpool

 There is a nice contrast in these images of the historic architecture of the Albert Dock Warehouses (now the Merseyside Maritime Museum) and the modern architecture of the newer developments on the Strand showing how investment in Liverpool over recent years has helped improve the city centre and make it an attractive place to live, work or visit.

Even on a cold day this is a popular place for families to visit and explore Liverpool's rich history, to reflect on the positives and negatives and also to enjoy the sights and sounds of the waterfront.

When Skies are Grey

 I have been working from home today, and all day long the sun has been shining and there has hardly been a single cloud in the sky. So, I was looking forward to finishing work and getting outside for a nice evening walk along the sea front. But as I turned off my work laptop I realised that the sudden gloom in my  home office is not because the nights are drawing in (we have past the summer solstice after all) but because there is a weather front coming in and the sky is now heavy with dark grey clouds.

As an antidote for that I thought I would quickly post some beautiful, bright and colourful shots of some flowers taken not so long ago in the gardens at Erddig. Hopefully these images will give your day a little lift just as they have mine.

You're welcome.

Boys and Girls

More correctly I should say Boy and girls...

 These shots are of one brightly coloured male and some less colourful female Stonechats. 

They were spotted along the south west coastal path near Valley of Rocks at Lynton, Devon. It was a fantastic spot, even though I had a touch of vertigo at one point along the cliff top path. I wish I was as sure footed as the goats that wander freely on the hills and cliffs overlooking the Bristol Channel. 

There was all manner of wildlife to see from the sea birds down below including Razorbills, cormorants and various gulls, the odd dolphin and then the birds in the shrubs and grass along the path.

The stonechats were busily flying around and making a good deal of noise. It was particularly difficult to capture a shot of the male as he would not settle in any spot for long and I just couldn't get close enough. I know this is not a particularly good picture of the male but I have included it simply to show the contrast between the sexes. The females as you can see are not as brightly coloured however I think they are still lovely looking birds and I think I have managed to get a few decent shots. 

It was amazing how quickly I overcame my fear of heights as I got absorbed in taking these photographs. As I look at them now I can still hear the faint echo of "Michael, Get away from the edge!"

Dilly Dilly

So the title of the blog is a reference to a song that harks back to when my daughter was very small and that I heard in a movie over the weekend and which perfectly fits with the subject of this post.

We have always, or for as long as I can remember had a lavender plant in out front garden, at times it has become large and unruly and needed pruning right back. In the last year we have had to replace it so at present it is just a small bush but even so it has been full of beautiful fragrant flowers.

I love lavender because of the colour, the furry texture of the tiny buds and the fact that they attract so many pollinators. They also remind me of hotels for some reason. 

All Wrapped Up

I just love the colours in the folds of this silk scarf. The way it is looped round it creates perfect images with texture and depth. 

In A Rose Garden

Today's selection were taken in the rose garden in the botanical gardens in Gothenburg.

There are so many different varieties of rose and these are old wild varieties and getting in close you can really see the beauty within.  What you can't tell from these shots is how amazing these flowers smelled.

On Yer Bike...

Canon EF 24 -105mm F/4 IS USM

ISO 100  47mm  F/9.0   1/160

ISO 100  35mm   F/11   1/125

One of the great things about Vrango is there are no cars, and apart from the little motorised carts the only means of transport is the trusty bicycle which to me is a very civilised option. 

And when you no longer want to ride your bike you can always turn it into a beautiful decorative feature like this one with a lovely floral display in the basket. 

Vrango is a lovely colourful island and it's little touches like thus that really add to its charm.

Lupins

Just one picture for today and only a brief post.

These lovely lupins were spotted in a floral display on the French side of the Mont Blanc  tunnel.
I have seen lots of lupins during rht course of this roadtrip, mostly along the motorway embankments through Denmark, SeedeS and Germany they're really lovely flowers and they certainly brighten up the motorways.

Little Blue

This little Blue Tit is just so cute. I was recently talking to a friend about how so many of our native birds lack colour when compared to lots of exotic species from around the world and yet when you look at some of the pictures I have posted in the past week, of Gold Finches, Lapwings, the Great Spotted Woodpecker and this little beauty today perhaps our birds are not so dull after all.

These birds are seem so delicate and small and yet they live outside in the harsh wet and cold as well as coping with the heat in summer showing that they are really quite hardy.

Birds Of A Feather...

Flock together...

These Goldfinches are so beautiful. They tend to congregate in small flocks as they forage for food so when the first one arrived at the bird feeder I knew it wouldn't be too long before more arrived and I wasn't wrong.

What surprised me a little was the fact that they were drawn to the sunflower hearts. I have tried to attract Goldfinches to my garden using Niger seeds but without any success. Now I know what to use and hopefully it wont be too long before I get some of these beauties visiting my garden.

In the meantime we can all enjoy these pictures. You just have to love these stunning colours and the way these little birds carry it off so well.

Symbol Of A Nation

This is such a stunning bird with its bold yellow, shimmering blue and shades of green through to black you would think it would be hard to miss but in the shade of the foliage it was actually quite hard to spot. At least at first. 

This is a Montserrat Oriole which is the national symbol of the island of Montserrat in the West Indies. It was at risk of extinction following the devastation of its habitat as a result of a volcanic eruption in 1990. Fortunately as a result of the conservation efforts of Jersey Zoo and subsequently other conservation partners there is now a safety net of captive bred birds.

This is a male Oriole, he is more striking than the females which have olive green plumage. They are adept at building fantastic nests using their finely pointed beaks. The nests are basket shaped, woven in the shade of banana leaves which protect them from rain and sun.

Rail Strike Bonus

No one likes a rail strike, however much you might sympathise  with the cause the disruption is always a little too much to bear.

Today's strike on Merseyside was no different and it meant that I had to make an unplanned trip taking my daughter to university. I had a few hours to kill so decided to head over to Mere Sands Wood, for a photo session.

I had been there last Friday and in the hope of seeing a kingfisher I'd sat for three hours in a hide with a couple of other photographers having been told one was a regular visitor. Sadly on that occasion I was unlucky.

I have seen kingfishers before but I have never been able to photograph one.

Until today...

I had been waiting for a while with very little to see and was almost at the point of giving up when I saw this little gem fly across in front of me and then settle on this perch. He was only there for about 30 seconds so I had to act quickly to get this shot. I managed to get a few pictures but I am going to save the others for some point in the future.

Last summer I got to photograph hummingbirds for the first time and today I got to photograph the iconic kingfisher. Hopefully I will have more opportunities in the future but I am sure I will never forget this fantastic first. 

It's In The Details

I had gone to Royden Parks' walled garden looking for flowers and flying things and I managed to get a decent selection of shots to share. Most are quite beautiful like the kestrel or the various flowers but this fly is a bit of a surprise with its shiny back and colourful eyes.

Also something that is not normally noticeable are the tiny hairs or the black spikes on the edge of the leaf.

We often miss the finer details and where insects are concerned (particularly flies) we brush them aside without a closer look but if we take the time they are quite spectacular, even if they have filthy habits.

Pompon de Paris

I had intended to take a break from flowers tonight and I was going to move onto some of the architectural features of Bodnant Gardens but in the end I plumped for these three different varieties of rose. The first is Pompon de Paris and the last one is Rosa "zigeunerknabe".

Recently I was asked what my favourite flower was and my answer almost without hesitation was the rose and so I was obviously going to share some rose pictures from my day at Bodnant. Of course Rose covers a huge range of flowers, colours, shapes, sizes and of course fragrances. There is so much to love about a rose and hopefully you will love the ones I have chosen for you today.

If you look closely at the tight rosebud in the second image you will see the texture of the new petals and a fine covering of delicate hairs which perhaps you wouldn't expect to see. It just goes to show that it is always worth taking a closer look at things as there is very often much more going on than you would normally see.

Meet Athena

I have had an extra special visitor in my home overnight, not everyone was as excited as me to welcome Athena the 3 year old Boa constrictor but she is such a beauty and I enjoyed making friends with her albeit very briefly.

I took a number of shots last night but the lighting was really not good enough and although one or two images were not too bad I was keen to get some better pictures to share, so just after lunch we went out into the sunshine and as Athena warmed up her beautiful colours came to life. 

She proved quite an attraction as passers-by stopped to observe and say hello and Athena patiently took all this in her stride (if you can say that about a snake, perhaps "in her slide" would be better).

In the first of today's images you can see the range of exquisite colours, from the shades of brown and black that you might expect to the salmon, pink and shimmering blue that are probably more of a surprise. 

Although she is young and quite slender Athena is all muscle and very strong and you can feel this as she moves with such precision and control and as she holds her head forward to survey her surroundings.

In the second image you can see clearly her eye and the way the pattern on the side of her head continues into her eye completing the effective camouflage. You can also see her "moustache" which is a nice feature.

The final shot today took some patience. I was really keen to get a shot of her deep blue tongue but as she was almost constantly moving getting the focus right and hitting the shutter at just the right time. I think with this one I got it spot on.

Show Off

Yesterday I shared a photo of a crested green lizard and today with a different shade from the colour palette, this is a Blue Anole (Anolis grahami) which normally lives in central or south America. 

When threatened the male will raise a crest on top of its head, here though it was showing off with the colourful display of the flap beneath its chin.

As well as the colours I love the beaded texture of its skin.

Lepidoptera Rhopalocera

These butterflies were in the butterfly house at Chester Zoo and they were extremely lively so it was very difficult to capture an image of them with wings extended, so I focused instead on getting shots of them close up while they were feeding. I really like the eyes, they are surprisingly colourful. I am sure you will agree that these are better looking insects than the leaf-cutters I posted yesterday.

A fancy flock

On Wednesday morning as I was walking to work I passed through Covent Garden and I was greeted by a number of Shaun the Sheep in different guises. By late afternoon as I passed through again there were about 50 in total and I have posted a few of my favourites.

There have been two Shaun the Sheep trails, in Bristol and in London and now it seems that all 120 of the sculptures will be together in Covent Garden until Sunday and then they will be auctioned to raise funds for the Wallace and Grommet children's charity. What a great cause and what a great way to raise money. Who couldn't love these colourful creations.

Although there are just a few pictures here if you want to see more but can't get to Covent Garden then visit my Facebook page chipster63photograpy where I have created an album with pictures of all the sheep that had been put in place, sadly I didn't see all 120. While you are there you can like my page and find links to other blog pages.