River

River Ruhr near the Belgium-German border:

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And the footpath beside it, showing that it was no easy hike

bluetits

We have a little nesting box in our garden were every year black- or bluetits families are raised. This year they were bluetits and this year was also the first time in many that I actually saw the young leave the nest. Nothing spectacular but just so very cute!

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Flying is harder than you think. This one didn’t get the hang of it straight away and landed on the ground.
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He learned quickly though and here he is being fed by one of the parents. Difficult shot between the branches but I did want to show the ‘happy end’.

Sawflies

The sawfly family consists of more than 6000 species and 560 of those live here in the Netherlands. So I won’t even try to identify the ones that I am showing here. To me they are just pretty and colourful little creatures.

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Ducklings

These sweet and idyllic images of little ducklings could go straight into a childrens picturebook. But the reality is not so nice. These two are only one or two days old and already 8 of their siblings have been eaten by predators. So these little ones will probably be gone in a day or so too.

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Springtime

Today the meteorological spring has begun. High time to get this blog out of its hibernation, give it a new theme and dust off my gear.
This blackbird doesn’t need telling that its spring, she has been at it for weeks already.

More parsnip flowers

A few more shots of visitors of the parsnip flowers:
A common red soldier beetle, a bit the worse for wear. He misses a bit of his antennae and a leg. Well, what do you expect when you draw attention to yourself wearing those colours.

The next two pictures are of a little scorpion wasp that didn’t make camouflage his first priority either.

Parsnip flowers

You will not often spot wasps on flowers. Not as much as bees or bumblebees anyway. But the parsnip flowers are obviously highly appreciated by them.

Smart or stupid

Was this young blackbird smart or stupid when he seated himself on an ant heap. Obviously he likes to eat the little creatures, but the ants are also attacking him vigorously making him wriggle in all sorts of ways while trying to get rid of them.

Hoverflies

This year seems to be an excellent year for hoverflies. Especially the marmalade hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus) is showing himself in our garden in droves.

Ditto for these little guys (Epistrophe melanostoma):

Painted Lady

A great globe thistle in flower is one of the best honeyplants there are. So if you love macro photography make sure you have a couple of these in your garden and you will be sure of plenty of subjects to shoot. Here a picture of a painted lady who is so busy with her meal she does not care about the big lens right in front of her.

The same butterfly on the gardenpath.

Green Hairstreak

The Green Hairstreak (Callophrys rubi) it not very common in the Netherlands. So I was very happy when I spotted one on the Pyracantha blossoms who did not mind being photographed at all.

Nymphs

Nymphs of some sort of shieldbug. They must have come out of these little eggs, though in my view they are much to big to have fitted into them.

Black hoverfly?

Dont have a clue what kind of fly this one is. He behaves like a large bee fly and sucks honey hummingbird fashion without landing on the flower.

Bee beetle

One of my favourite bugs is the bee beetle. Returning every year as soon as the blackberries are in flower and always more then willing to pose for a few pictures.

Pansies

The advantage of being too lazy to deadhead the pansies is that you never have to buy new plants. They just seed themselves.

Green-veined White

Another of my holiday butterfly shots:

Wants

Ik weet niet precies wat voor soort wants dit is, want ik vond er verscheidene die er op lijken. Misschien is er een deskundige in de zaal?