Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Colours that start withe letter S
I know I shouldn’t post this, but I am not feeling inspired right now. How many of these colours did you have?
| Safety orange | |
| Saffron | |
| Salmon | |
| Sandy brown | |
| Sangria | |
| Sapphire | |
| Scarlet | |
| School bus yellow | |
| Sea Green | |
| Seashell | |
| Sepia | |
| Shamrock green | |
| Shocking Pink | |
| Silver | |
| Sky Blue | |
| Slate grey | |
| Smalt | |
| Spring bud | |
| Spring green | |
| Steel blue |
Beckys photo challenge: Square Sky
Here is my sky number twenty three in the daily photo challenge for December
The sunset from a few nights ago that kept getting bumped out of the way because of the storm clouds. This is the amazing original that was taken at the same time as my Experimental sunset
What a photo challenge!!!! How many photos have Red, Green and Blue colours? I am sure I can find some as I enjoy taking photos of birds and many Australian birds are quite colourful.
But first the jumping castle at the markets certainly has the colours.
The Chinese Lantern flower with a background of leaves and sky.
A Blue-faced Honeyeater and the Bottlebrush flower
A Rainbow Lorikeet among the Bottlebrush blossoms
The Orchard Butterfly enjoys my garden.
The Musk Lorikeet about to take off.
The lovely Eastern Rosella striking a pose.
The feathers of a rooster who used to strut about my place. (More about the rooster here)
Look here to see other photos in the Tuesday Photo Challenge RGB https://dutchgoesthephoto.net/2017/04/25/tuesday-photo-challenge-rgb/
THE HOT SUMMERS DAYS are here and the lack of consistent rainfall has sapped my energy causing me to be indoors more often than out in the biting rays of the Sun.
However I did get out and about and went to the Bangalow Markets hoping for some photographic inspiration. There was a bit of action but on the whole my mojo wasn’t there.
The colours did grab my attention.
In some part of my besties garden, the flowers are always around. There is more rainfall and cooler weather there. I was taken by the red flower buds getting ready to burst forth.
Back in my garden the storms gave relief to the plants with a Murraya sending out its perfumed blossoms.
I love the Hibiscus schizopetalus. The flowers hang down from the long stems and dance in the breeze.
The small amounts of rain and a bit of hot weather has made a fungi or two pop out of the soil. This one was the biggest I have seen for a long while. I didn’t know what to use to show its size but a brick came in handy
It looked just as amazing from beneath as well.
It may be Summer but the Teak Tree has decided that it is time to lose its leaves making the garden have a temporary Autumn feel.
Summer time and the wasps are constructing their nests from chewed wood giving them a papery look, hence the name Paper Wasps. Unfortunately these are under the gutter at my besties and will have to go. When I had a bloke doing some building work at my place, he managed to disturb a nest and was stung on his ear and back. They chased him as he ran away from the nest. Paper Wasps in the bush are OK but around the house they have to move on.
Even though it is hot, early morning and late in the day, the butterflies are about. I think this is a Skipper whose wings have seen better days.
The Caper Whites are still around but no where near the numbers of late Spring.
Here is a large horse fly Triclista singularis’ These fly slowly with a loud buzzing and we gave them the nickname of B52s. When they do land and bite you really know it. This is the biggest fly around my place, around 25mm. It is rather pretty for a fly.
I noticed movement in the kitchen on a potted begonia I found a Praying Mantis. He hung around the kitchen for a few days before going outside. Fearsome looking but quite friendly.
The Yellow-faced Honeyeater looked pleased with itself as it puffed out its chest.
The constant calls of the Bar-shouldered Dove ring around the garden as they sit high among the trees.
They have a pink ring around their eyes which I hadn’t noticed before.
I love the feather patterns on the Little Wattlebird
There is a queue at the bird bath waiting for their turn.
A return visitor to the garden is a lovely little Forest Kingfisher. The orange spots stand out as does the wonderful white chest.
He was so obliging to turn around to show the striking blue feathers. When flying about the garden the flashes of blue catch the eye.
I hope the hot weather soon abates and February brings more things for me to share with you.
As you know I love to get about when I can, discovering new things or rediscovering stuff. I love living in a bio-diverse region where the trip to the mountains or to the coast always sends a surprise encounter. Over the month so far I have seen so many wonderful things this world has, sometimes it may just be something that I saw that I found to be wonderous whereas others have just walked by probably thinking what the hell is that bloke doing with that camera.
So…..this wander through my days I hope fills you with a bit of love for our nature and environment in which we inhabit as it does for me.
I do find butterflies amazing creatures, as you probably have noticed as a lot of my blogs seem to have a butterfly or two. This small butterfly, about 17mm in size, has been whizzing around my besties garden and mine as well – a Small Green-banded Blue butterfly.
I was wading through the water at Taylor Lagoon when all bout there were dragonflies zipping here, zipping there on their mission to do…..waht do dragonflies do when they zip about like that. Well after a while some settled on the sticks poking out of the water. Their irridecence was amazing to see. Unfortunately the dragonfly isn’t quite in focus but I love the effect of the water, don’t you?
This dragonfly has a great grip on the stick.
While wading in the shallows I looked at the water and the reflections of the over-hanging bottlebrush and sedges around the edge. I think it was facinating the way the image always changed as the water rippled and moved with the wind. This photo was my favourite of the couple I took.
The shadow of the tree looked like it was walking across the rock face. What do you see?
I love the contrast of colours, the shadows and where the rock landed (or was put by my bestie lol)
Shells. I love seeing the shells and stuff that is on the beach. The light shining through the shell caught my eye form a distance.
I wonder how the small creatures can survive when the tide is out or is it how do they survive when the tide is in? This one found a nice little niche in the rocks. Aren’t the colours subtle but striking at the same time?
The number of tiny sand balls that were spread all along the shore was incredible. Some of the patterns made were so artistic.
And here is the little bloke who spend a large amount of its life making those tiny sand balls.
“OK fella…..how about a bit of privacy. I didn’t come down to the beach to sit in the shade of my lovely green umbrella just to have you come along taking your photos….”
“If you are going to hang around with that camera, I’m off….”
As I was walking along the shore, all of a sudden there was a whoosh and a couple of Pelicans came flying along looking for a place to land. They are so big up close.
As we walked along the beach, we were discussing how we hadn’t seen any White-bellied Sea Eagles or Brahminy Kites, which are nearly always here. All of a sudden, at the other end of the beach, there was a commotion with Seagulls wheeling about and then appeared the Sea Eagle with a fish. Even with the lens at full stretch they were still a long way a way.
Here is a close up as best as I could manage. The image is heavily cropped just to show the size of the fish.
There was also another White-bellied Sea Eagle just soaring around the sky looking for it’s own fish.
Meanwhile at the waters edge, a group of Crested Terns were having a bath and preening themselves trying to get their “hair” in order.
I have no idea what this plant is but the spots of white among the rocks certainly stood out.
Even the Eastern Spinebill was too heavy for the Pentas making hanging on a bit of a chore.
The Whipbirds are always pocking around in the garden, flicking over leaves and bits of bark to try and find some insects and bugs to snack on.
Over the past few weeks the Eastern Yellow Robins have seemed to appear in numbers in the garden. This one was sitting out front on the warm gravel early one morning. They are such sweet little birds.
Heading into town early one misty morning, I spotted this Black-necked Stork (I really prefer Jabiru) stalking about the small pond where the “Tyre Turtle” lives. It was one of a pair. The other one was further back in the paddock in the ffog.
Aren’t the colours great. I never noticed their red cap before either.
The Water Dragon has set up home in my besties garden. Such a lovely prehistoric looking creature.
But they still enjoy a good laugh. Not really. He really enjoys a few bits of apple. The inside of his mouth is so pink.
That’s the end of what I have found in April so far. Hope you enjoyed seeing what I have seen.
I have ben slack I will admit. Here is a collage of life that I have found. Some have no meaning and just are stuff that the world leaves lying around, or sitting or just being.
I went to the Bentley Blockade had a chat or two with the folk who were only too happy to chat, buts another story another time. Of course I have to go exploring, so Bentley is a good start and who knows where we will end up
This wonderful farm-house, just sitting there, neglected.
While overhead, the clouds were just blowing up and drifting apart, ever-changing.
On the way back to Lismore, the clouds in the east had a soft blush of colour which turned to storm clouds.
The pansies were blooming bright colours making spots of joy in the usually, almost colourless autumn gardens.
Everyone was enjoying the camellias, Lewins Honeyeaters were darting in and out and even the ants were traipsing all over the bush.
The stamen look like they are wearing boxing gloves…no wonder the ant scarpered
Of course someone had to shine. The Gerbera was the star of the garden.
The Emerald Dove can’t seem to stop still for a second. I think it scooped stuff up while strutting around the courtyard.
The little Eastern Yellow Robin was always darting about the foliage of the tree begonias.
While overhead the Eastern Rosellas just chatted away, mostly to no-one in particular.
The White Headed Pigeon took advantage of the last afternoon to have a last dip at the bird bath.
Up the flag pole!! The Butcher Bird thought the flag pole was a great place to scan the neighbourhood. As long as he looked up as well.
The Brahminy Kite was on the prowl making birds scatter everywhere.
Cormorants look very pretty with their wings folded. All that drip-drying seems to pay off.
The Pelican didn’t seem to give a rats about anything.
The Pied Oyster Catchers seemed unfazed by the Soldier Crabs who have just taken over whole of the little beach in a small bay.
The Soldier Crabs were everywhere….always seemed to be on a mission to somewhere and back again, a bit of over there and a “Hey it’s Norm again” as business is done as a cluster ever moving, occaisionally stopping for a quick drink or to stuff a claw into their mouths possibly with a snack of some sort..
They were so hard to get a good photo as they just scuttled away when you got close to them or they got close to me. Below is an artist’s impression of the Soldier Crabs
The crabs knew someone was looking on at their antics. No one was fooled by the shades.
The end of the day. The sun setting like an explosion of fire and colour.
The evil eyes are looking….beguiling you into the mouth of fire.
After the sun has set, it is sometimes just as beautiful. The purples, deep blues and almost a russet flow down into yellow with a lone house light in the distance.
When darkness sets in, the little Pademelons come scrounging around the chook yard, hoping to snuffle up some grain the chooks left behind. That’s why this bloke has a smudge on his nose.
I love our Moon. Sometimes the Moon just shines when full. Goodnight.
Tonight I was driving home and as I crossed the bridge, the sky was starting to see the benefits of sunset. I just had to find a spot just on the edge of Grafton, down a side street that is usually a quiet spot, just a cattle truck rattled by and as I was leaving some folks turned up for footy training.
This spot is great so tonight I indulged myself the time to watch the sunset. The clouds were looking quite different and the colours were just starting to highlight some of the shapes and forms that the clouds were starting to build.
Here’s what I saw……
Then the show started once the sun dripped the horizon.
I just love this one
It was time for the Ibis to head back to their roost
The yellows were giving way to the oranges
As the sun dripped lower, more clouds were revealed.
The clouds almost turned to fire.
Perhaps the break in the cloud formation was due to planes. See their trails. But it did contribute to the making of a great sunset.
The reds became stronger, deeper, the highlights showed more striations.
I decided that it would be good to see deep into the clouds. The woven effect was quite nice.
But the red….thats all…but the red
Most weekends I can be found roaming around with my camera whether around my property or somewhere on the north coast of New South Wales. There is nearly always something that I see that needs to be photographed as I wander around the bush or in my besties garden. Her garden has so many interesting things happening. The huge variety of birds and insects plus the flowers has me out there whenever I get the chance. There is sometimes a chance to happen upon a bit of sex as well…..
On the way, I cross a causeway which on the occasion has a bird or something that makes me stop and, hopefully, I am able to get a photo. Last time there was a Long Necked Tortoise on a rock that is known locally as Turtle Rock. You will see why…
The hipeastrums are in flower at the moment, the orange ones are quite lovely
The variety of flowers and colours are fantastic…some are in the garden…
Some are in pots…..
But the colours sometimes just burst out…
While we were sitting outside, doing a bit of chook watching, two of her chooks disappeared recently – I suspect an eagle as the Wedgetailed Eagles often ride the currents in the valley, I spied so many things around the yard. Anyway everyone should do a bit of chook watching in their life as chooks are quite comical as the go about their busy lives with their fluffy pants…
She spotted Mr Tawny Frogmouth keeping a close eye on us from a shrub close to where we were sitting
Looking around, I found Mrs Tawny Frogmouth sitting on the nest. Nest is an exaggeration of the word as it is just a pile of twigs stacked in its precarious location
And as for the Magpies nest….a rather ramshackle affair. Notice the embarrassed lift off…didn’t want her face on the internet…
Something was fluttering about us so I decided to see what it was. Of course as soon as I got close off it went again so I had to make do with the Lacewing hidden among the greenery of the garden
The ant was doing everything it could to not get photographed but walking into the wall soon stopped him
Luckily the butterfly, a Common Ringlet, was quite content to sit around
Did I say there was a possibility of a bit of outdoor sex…..
Some weird bug was walking around flicking its orange antenna
Inside of a pretty yellow flower, I found someone looking back at me
The bird bath has its usual Scrub Wren splashing about or just sitting to cool down its little butt
I heard a knocking in the trees above. Looking up I saw a Fig Bird
But he wasn’t doing the knocking….it was his mate with something in her beak
We wondered what she had. A bit of a walk over the other side of the hill the answer was quite obvious why the Fig Birds were hanging around
The best way to finish of a great day of discovery
I hope everyone’s weekends are as fabulous as mine….wandering about making great discoveries with my bestie
Nature gives us shapes and forms that aren’t in shapes we can categorise. Occasionally something will become a familiar shape and we are quick to name it so we can file it in out memory. Nature builds things that can come in the most amazing forms, shapes and colours. I like to see the same thing that everyone sees but when the camera is to my face, my eyes see that special bit of a bit wood or the way the light changes the everyday items into something I find wonderous.
Here are some of the things I see.
It is just a part of large leaves which look quite red but up close they are many stripey colours.
Ever since I was a kid I have loved Scribbly Gums. They were in the playground in Primary School and I spent time tracing the patterns to see where they went.
The forces of nature certainly cause shapes and lines to appear in the hard surfaces like rocks.
Sometimes wood can do a similar pattern
It is just a Fan Palm leaf
A palm frond stands tall before it opens to lay flat
I have so many photos of water. The movement of water and the reflections of what is nearby combined with sunlight can make a bit of water seem quite special. This one is the water at the Port of Marseillaise
Sunset can change a bit of the sea at Brighton into a dance of reds, oranges and blues
The folds, lines and colours of the cliffs at Evans Head have always fascinated me
The Norfolk Island Pines are very spiky. They twist and turn with the fruit looking very alien
The wind can cause ripples on the water’s surface which makes the water plants dip and form lines and spots with a myriad of colours that contrast of the Juncus standing tall in the foreground
A leaf blown onto the verandah is just a dead leaf on well-worn verandah boards. Would you have paid any attention to it or just swept it off
Water drops on a red Hibiscus flowers petal took my eye. I think I was rather contorted as I found the drops I wanted with the sun behind the petal
I love natures shapes and forms. How about you?
It was the last day before fire restrictions. The pile of garden waste, sticks, bits of tree branches, leaves and some timber that had been munched by white ants or was just too rotten to use that had been there for the last couple of years. It was about time that I lit it up.
After the fire had died down a bit, I grabbed my camera as the fire made some great shapes and colours.
Every now and then the sparks would leap into the sky and dance about
The colours were quite unreal at times. The difference in colour of coals and flames as they licked the wood, the yellows, oranges, reds and pinks were rather striking.
Deep within the fire, the embers glowed and the reds deepened and shapes became alive.
As with any fire, there is always someone who has to find a stick to poke around among the coals.
Fire can be a wonder of shapes and colours but at the same time a fire can be a bit scary…..
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