More April Showers

My return to the ancient woodland had to be delayed due to the bad weather.

It had been cold and rainy most of the day. Eventually though the rain stopped and we had a very pleasant late afternoon.

With the cold weather and several nights with ground frost I hope that not too many insects have fallen victim to the cold.

I ventured outside in the evening sun to go and visit the dock beetle corner in one of the grazing fields nearby. I was pleased to see that the dock beetles had increased in numbers despite the frost and were busy to continue the life cycle.

All the grazing fields are sourrounded by stonewalls with the occasional big tree, an ideal environment for moss and lichen to grow.

Rain makes for interesting photography if one looks closely.

Perhaps I get a chance to go to that timeless woodland again on Monday.

Back To The Woodland

After having 'discovered' through hints from neighbours this piece of ancient woodland yesterday, I went back there early this morning while the sun was out. I still cannot believe how it could take me FOUR years before going to explore this!

The spring sun was positioned high enough in the sky to light up some places in the woodland, although it will always remain fairly dark under the canopy of the trees, particularly once the leaves are back. 

This means I need to figure out with which camera settings I am happiest. I set it all manually depending on situation but sometimes there is not the time to make changes. Quite frequently I am too much in the moment I forget to adapt the settings. This happened today several times and many shots that would have been really interesting came out much too dark and no editing could make them any better.

What I also did not take into account was that at this early time in the morning I was to encounter planty of waggy tails on their morning walks.  I was quickly surrounded by 3 dogs, ignoring the voices of their owners sounding from from 3 different directions. The dogs refused to leave and decided it was a good idea to get my attention by squeezing between the camera lens and my appointed object of interest. As the dogs wouldn't leave me alone I spend a little time stroking and being with them.

But soon it all became quiet once more and I was on my own in this wonderful place. I now have a favourite spot in this woodland. The spot is located along a small stream which is full with stones and rotten pieces of wood. A perfect setting for all kinds of moss and lichen. The bluebells were already showing their purple/blue heads, there was wood sorrel with their easy recognisable trefoil leaves and other vegetation which I cannot yet name. The air was filled with the gentle, constant and calming sound of the slowly moving stream. So very peaceful, time has no meaning anymore.

One of the burled trees ... offering home to many different lifeforms.

There had been some rain and light frost. The woodland floor was covered with water drops, brightly sparkling in the sunlight.

The above lichen could possibly be Cladonia ochrochlora. If you know more or better, please do drop me a message, I'd be most interested to learn more.

And here we have this black lichen / fungus again. I have been asking around and I have also tried to find information on Google but so far to no avail. If you know what it is, I would really be most interested to find out.

And this is yet another plant I am not sure what it is. At first I thought it may be Rose Moss but I don't think this is the case. It is quite difficult to photograph with all the glittering water drops. It's leaves are somewhat see-through, very delicate. They grow near a small stream and only in one place. Again, if anyone has any idea what these are, I'd love to know.

Unfortunately, most other photographs of fungi / moss / lichen have not come out well so I'll have to see if I can get better images over the weekend.

And then there are of course the wood ants! I can spend hours watching them. They do get ever so wound up about the camera lens but it lasts only for about 10 seconds and then they realise nothing happens.  

This above photo was taken early in the morning. There have been patches in this woodland where there has been light ground frost. I noticed quite a few ants on moss. equally motionless. Perhaps they didn't survive the cold temperatures of the night. However, when I passed the same spot some 2 hours later, they had all gone.

 A bit of shadow dancing ... 

These wood ants are amazingly agile and it takes a lot to stop them from going where they want to go. In my favourite little stream is a big stone, right in the middle of it. I noticed that the stone was full with ants going about their business. The rock is surrounded by running water, and although not at all deep, the water itself would have meant death through drowning for the ant, should it fall in. I wondered how they had crossed the water to reach the stone. Ah, there it was, a row of twigs lined up (by nature) in the water. I watched them use it as a 'bridge', busily crossing back and forth.

Now here was another moment where I had lost some good snapshots due to unsuitable camera settings. I had watched this ant collect water by scraping with its front legs over the leaves of this wood sorrel. Eventually it had collected enough and it managed to move the entire 'ball' of water along the edge of this leaf. It was amazing to watch, I don't know how it did it! Another ant was waiting and it appears that there was meant to be a pass over of this water drop. Unfortunately, the other ant fell off the leaf and vanished into the darkness of the undergrowth ...

You may perhaps now understand why I loose any sense of time in this wonderful woodland. :)

When I emerged from it eventually and checked the time, I realised I had spent 3 hours in this wood! Much MUCH longer than planned - I had to jog home as other matters had to be attended urgently!

Till next time!

In A Timeless Place

Earlier this morning I was to make a visit to the neighbouring village with regards to some business matters. Although winter seems to make a quick (hopefully!) return, I decided to use the early morning's sunshine and walk. 

A few individuals in the past have mentioned some ancient woodland nearby but for some reason I never went to go and visit. Today however I decided to go and find it as it was on route to where I wanted to go.

So I got on my way, taking off with delays due to phonecalls so the walk to the destination was brisk. But I had still enough time to take this stunning peace of ancient woodland, only 20 minutes walking distance away! I cannot believe that I never went to visit it before! I decided that on the way back I would take extra time.

By the time I was on my way back, the skies had clouded over but it was still ok-ish with regards to light. I would just have to have an extra steady hand and breathe even less ... 

It is a truely timeless place ... with a huge variety of lifeforms that I hadn't seen before. There was also a small stream going through it and it was full with wood ants. 

It was the wood ants that had my full attention and I greatly enjoyed observing them. They are quite 'in your face' characters ... making a big fuss about the camera lens being right in front of their little faces. 

But I decided that I wasn't in a rush to get back and so I remained with them for a while, until they thought of me as being 'harmless' and so they contineud with their daily affairs.

If anyone is reading this and knows what the above black lichen / fungus is, I would love to know! My searches on Google so far were not succesful.

The lighting was quite difficult, including the overcast sky and many photographs didn't turn out well enough to show here. I will try and get there again tomorrow morning, weather permitting.

Lichen on stone

 And this tiny mining bee was having a rest on the stone. 

I wonder if these little bees too, just like the bumblebees, need a certain wing temparature before they can take off. Perhaps this one was hoping to get some heat from the stone, although there wasn't enough sunshine to warm the stone.  Next time you walk past a stonewall or some rocks on a sunny day, just feel them with your bare hands ... they are pleasantly warm. (storage heaters ... )

 And of course, with all the April-showers, there are plenty of water drops sparkling like crystals anywhere the sunlight touches them.


Hopefully better lighting tomorrow so that I can show you more of this beautiful piece of ancient woodland.

Thank you!

Lichens and Moss

Nature's creativity is endless and I keep finding new shapes and forms that I hadn't seen before.

My attention lately was taken up mostly by moss and lichen that is growing on stonewalls and also tree branches. It's a magical world and lichens belong to the oldest lifeforms on this planet.

I am compiling a set of photographs together with some ID (if I am certain enough) and information here: Moss and Lichen - A Magical World

Feel free to comment or add your knowledge, there is so much to learn!

So much going on!

Everything is coming back to life!

I don't usually spend more than about an hour outside with my camera but the photographs are piling up quickly, so much is going on out there. All the plants are growing fast and more and more bugs and insects are returning to life.

The spear thistles are already growing fast and are always loved by all the smaller insects, such as this tiny leaf hopper who seems to be using the fine 'hairs' of the thistle to help him manoeuver, or perhaps they help him keep his balance after a heavy night?



Each time I return home to look at the captures, I am amazed at just how small and detailed even the tiniest of creatures and plants are, infinitely so.

Here I have given in to my fascination with stonewalls, and all the micro worlds that live on them. Completely different feel and look within just a few centimeters. Simply stunning and beautiful!

And, with it being so abundantly present, here once more the cheeky (and indeed rather cute) zebra spider (tiny jumping spider). They are quite interesting to observe, weaving fine strands of silk across the stones and busily jumping from one to the other, checking for rewards.

What amuses me is the attention they give to the camera lense ... kind of accepting it, kind of wondering perhaps ... :)

Much life on and inside stonewalls ...

With Switzerland being my home country, I am of course very fond of rocks / stones. Therefore I am of course find stonewalls most interesting, presenting not only a landscape feature for the countryside nearby but also offering home and shelter to so many different creatures. 

Next time you come by a stonewall give it some of your time and go and look at it closely. At first it will appear 'empty', even barren, but suddenly, once you really give it all your attention, you will be surprised just how busy these stonewalls are. :)

 A fly, being quite happy to be photographed, it is certainly good at posing.

7-spot ladybird - this year there seem to be many of them around. 

Yellow Lichen - one of my favourites! So brightly colouring the stones and upon close insepction, each patch looks like a world of its own. It always reminds me of STAR TREK (Original series of course!) and it seems only normal to expect TRIBBLES to turn up any moment. Yes, stoneswalls keep me entertained for ages ... :)

 At first I thought that these tiny jumping spiders (Zebra spider) are hard to find - well, I was clearly looking in the wrong place! The stonewalls are full with them, but it takes a little to spot them among the all the grey tones. This one here seems to have a big party planned, judging by the size of its bounty.

 As far as spiders go, these jumping spiders are surely the 'cutest'  ... 

First warm spring sunshine!

It is so nice to feel the warm sunshine on the skin again! And not only us humans that enjoy the sun's warmth, all that buzzes and crawls has come out.

The stonewalls in particular are well visited, especially in the afternoon after having had a large part of the day to store the sun's warmth.

The dung fly - enjoying this warm stone, allowing me enough time to get a decent 'portrait' shot.

Somehow I find its little face charming ... it always seems to have a gentle smile.

There is an abundance of spiders everywhere ... not sure what type this is but it too enjoyed the warmth of the stones.

This is a baby nursery web spider who wasn't quite sure what to do now that it reached the end of that  tried nettle stalk ...

 One of my favourite spiders, it is tiny and difficult to spot. This year there seem to be plenty of the about. This one was choosing a great backdrop in shape of an old, corrugated metal sheet and a piece of dead wood.

This hoverfly was quite keen on posing on a daffodil petal.

 Stonewalls ... look at them closely and discover all the tiny worlds ...

Young fern plant ... there is something magical about them ... 

Welcome!

Hello and thank you for dropping by. I hope you will enjoy this place and all its inhabitants. :)

To me nature is where I go to re-charge, it is where I am 'home' and instantly at peace. I enjoy all life forms and they don't seem to mind me much as they are often very keen to pose.

I particularly enjoy photography as it puts me into a state of no thought. Only by being 'present' can I discover all these charming beings, which is why I am drawn to go out with my camera again and again.

None of the photographs are set up, no flash or tripod is being used. It is all spur of the moment work.

Now ... please let me take you on a journey into a world we don't often see ...