Becky’s Bright Squares
A bright and shiny Blue-banded Bees bum

Jude’s 2020 Photo Challenge #34
This week's assignment - Take a photo of a subject that you like in colour and then convert to Black & White. Show both images for comparison. Which is best? Does the image rely on colour for impact.
I snuck an extra one using selective colour
I do have a few bees around here so lets celebrate #WorldBeeDay together.
Without bees our world would be so different. Bees are the life blood of our plants, all plants even those that some consider weeds.
This gallery of bees are all photos from over the years. Please enjoy
One of the first bee photos I posted way back in 2013. A Blue-banded Bee zooming around my garden
I have lots of Australian Native Stingless Bees. They are quite small, about 5mm. This one is harvesting pollen from a Bangalow Palm flower that had fallen. Aren’t the pollen sacks full!!
Carpenter Bees love coming around my garden when the Cassia trees are in flower.
Considered a weed, Singapore Daisies are food for bees.
As are Fireweed flowers
One of a lot of peoples favourite photos of a Stingless Native Bee with a Lilli Pilli flower
A Carpenter Bee foraging in a pink Lilli Pilli flower
Stingless native Bees love Crosus flowers too.
Blue-banded Bees and Blue Ginger flowers go together.
Another weed flower that bees love
The herb Basil should always be left when it goes to flower as bees love the flowers.
Zinnia flowers are bee favourites as well
Day Lilliesare great calling cards for bees
When the Pentas are flowering they are irresistible to Teddy Bear Bees
Salvia flowers are always on the bees shopping list
Getting up close with a bee and a Zinnia flower
I love Teddy Bear Bees
Ragtag Daily Prompt Friday: Macro
Stingless Native Bee just cruisin’
Finding pollen in the Bangalow Palm flower
Looking for the next flower
Enjoying a Singapore Daisy
Oh but I love this flower
Sometimes a Blue-banded Bee has to scrunch to fit in a Blue Ginger flower
Hmmmm…..pollen is my favourite
A Blue-banded Bee just buzzing by
The Weekly Prompts Photo Challenge: Size Matters
You have to be small to get into what you want even if you have to scrunch a bit
Here is Debbies One Word Sunday: Size
Some of the things I have been contemplating on contributing for OWS perhaps can also be some of my Favourite Things as Patti from Ragtag asked.
Perhaps some of the small things in my world should be a start. The feature photo is a Scarlet Honeyeater, the smallest honeyeater and a red jewel that flashes through my garden and the forest.
I love having Stingless Native Bees in my garden
and of course Blue-banded Bees scrunching into flowers
All of the tiny native flowers that abound on my place
I have to include some big things too. Kookaburras are always hunting in the garden and waking me with their morning song
Overhead one of the Square-tailed Kite family soars
While in the garden, a Red-necked Wallaby snacks on the Honey Gem Grevillea
The trees of the forest that surround are the big
Now a warning for those who have a thing about spiders – there is one in the next image
Isn’t she a beauty. She lived in my laundry for a Summer and then came into the lounge and dining rooms for Winter last year. I think she became bored of my company and headed outside.
Well hello and welcome to my world in April. What started out as an uninspired photography month suddenly came alive at the end. I was thinking that I would have to tell you that a quick flick and scroll was all that was needed earlier in April. I have included a number of photos of the same subject as I couldn’t pick the one that satisfied my desire to give you something that was a wow or hmmmm that’s interesting.
A lack of rain at the beginning of the month probably assisted my malaise and desire to get out and about. With a lack of rain also brings about a lack of insects, birds and the garden suffered. I did a bit of travelling around so there is some things I found from other parts of New South Wales.
I have put some of the April finds in other blogs. Some are repeated here but I have excluded others to make your checking out a bit less time consuming. So I do recommend a good cuppa or drink of choice as a lot of you are either sitting up late or just having breakfast. This is what makes blogging so good that you may be in any part of this world and I can show you a bit of mine. Enough blah blah blah, let’s get going if you are ready.
May as well start at sunrise
One foggy morning while at a friends place in Springwood, the sounds of a helicopter broke the morning silence.
We are going to stay in Springwood for a while. We went to the Norman Lindsay Gallery and studio. The grounds were full of sculptures including these ones. Norman Lindsay wrote a book called the Magic Pudding in 1918 The story is about a pudding no matter how often it is eaten, always reforms in order to be eaten again. This is Albert, the Magic Pudding.
Bunyip Bluegum, the Koala, and Benjamin Brandysnap plus Sam Sawnoff and other animals and people who own the pudding have to defend the pudding from being stolen by Pudding Thieves who want it for them selves
Part of one of the sculpture/fountains
My friends garden is quite spectacular. There were some butterflies like the Blue Triangle Butterfly who is a bit ragged resting on a Zinnia.
It did rain a bit while we were there putting water droplets on the Pelargonium
An Eastern Spinebill enjoyed the Grevilleas
So did the New Holland Honeyeater. A very striking bird.
Had to include a side view
I really like this capture so in it came.
The cooler weather of the mountains hadn’t quite began so the fungi were still about
I like Hydrangeas. This was a small flower head but has delicate colours.
Now for a bit of the flowers at my place as the sporadic rain over the past couple weeks bought out some Autumn flowers, like this Camellia
This red Hibiscus is from a cutting of my childhood home, one of my Mothers favourites.
All around the garden Impatiens self seed and they pop up in many places
Over at my besties place the Zinnias are a riot of colour
The Echinacea had it’s petals eaten by a grasshopper probably but the centre caught my eye.
A post with flowers would be the same without Pentas flowers and a Blue-banded Bee
Bees aren’t the only pollinator. A beautiful iridescent fly helps a Zinnia along
At The Channon Markets (a Which Way a while ago) a stall had Pitcher plants
in all manner of colour and shape
While on the way home from the markets, we stopped off at Rocky Creek Dam (a Silent Sunday post and the Featured Image taken with my phone) where the water lillies looked fabulous
I loved their reflections
While we are around the water, A Broad-palmed Rocket Frog likes to hang around the pot plants on my front verandah
I am not sure what this small flower is. It was growing on the small dune at the beach.
My besties Red Eucalypt is starting to flower possibly a Corymbia ficifolia.
While at the beach last weekend, yes a almost Summers day in Autumn around 28C, I came across some Small Grass Yellow Butterflies
While we are at the beach, here are some views. We climbed among the dunes to get to Broadwater Beach. In the distance, looking south, is Chinamans Beach where we often go.
The north view. The disappointing thing is the wheel tracks made by (*insert appropriate word) people who drive their stupid four wheel drive oversized pieces of junk along this beach. As you enter the walking track, there is a sign that tells you that there are protected birds who nest on the sand plus the other creatures who live in the sand, crabs plus other microscopic beings and that us walkers don’t disturb the ecology but these dickheads barge their way along the sand. Look how deep those wheel tracks are!!! Sorry please enjoy the view.
The seas were quite big. This rocky part of the headland at Boulder Beach is about 4-5 meters high.
Can you see it now!!!
One of my favourite photos is Pelicans on the light poles. The bridge has four sets of lights and every one has Pelicans. The best spot is on the light itself where a boss male sits. Further towards the bendy end is a juvenile Pelican.
Upstream of the bridge, a couple of Pied Oystercatchers sat on the sand bar.
A Silver Gull was keeping an eye on the picnickers in the park in case a chip dropped onto the ground
A White-faced Heron came to Chinamans Beach looking for a seafood dinner
I loved finding the Sooty Oystercatchers at the beach. A post with more photos of Sooty Oystercatchers here in case you missed it.
I am not sure if it was the same White-faced Heron at Boulder Beach too.
The White-faced Heron and Sooty Oystercatcher didn’t get along and avoided each other.
The cliff face at Boulder Beach has what could be Ironstone in it. It certainly looked rusty
Now for a bit of reflection. Still with me?
Speaking of rust, one of my favourite things to photograph. This old door had some wonderful rusty bits
Isn’t the sliding lock marvellous?
While at the Farmers Market, I wondered why there seemed to be more cars than usual. There was the Annual Lismore Poultry Show on. Of course because I love chooks I had to go and have a walk around. Here are some of the chooks I found, some of the more unusual ones to say the least. I don’t know all of the breeds as some I have never seen before like this one who looks like it just got out of bed.
A fabulous hat
Lace Wyandottes are one of my favourite chooks, ever so pretty.
I don’t think I have ever seen such a fat chook and purple to boot!!!
Some feathers seem to have a life of their own
So alien
A rooster who kept an eye on what was going on
Speaking a Roosters. Prehistoric is the only word that comes to mind. I couldn’t get the whole chook in the photo
Ducks always make me smile
One morning at my besties there was a cacophony of Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos. The flock was around twenty who all were squawking as they flew about.
They all stopped in a tree on the hill a bit of a way away. The quality of the photos isn’t that good as it was early morning and the photos are hand held but I had to capture their antics in the trees.
I thought this one was going to do forward rolls.
OK it’s almost night time, our Moon is on the rise among the clouds
The Night Spider has spun it’s web near the light to catch an insects who come to the light.
The centre of the web is a bit ratty
Our Moon is looking lovely and shining a bright light so you can see your way home
I gotta go…..see you later I hope
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