Visiting a sunflower field, before venturing on to gather wild herbs and rowan berries. I recharge and absorb the warmth of the evening sun. The temps have dropped to a chilling 12 °C. Going deeper into the sunflower field, a bee, stiffened from the cold, is stuck to a huge sunflower head. I wonder if it will make it through the night. It would wake up to plenty of food though. A few seconds later the sun has vanished and the sky is ablaze…
Every year, dozens of bees and bumblebees are collecting nectar and pollen on our white lavender. Now is that time again. The above photo was a lucky shot. My lens is not really suited for macro photography. But in this image all the details of the insect are clearly visible, whereas the surrounding has a nice bokeh effect, created by motion blur and depth of field. So here we go, another bee joins the “flower devils” photo series.
Flowers photographed in the dim evening light, May ’16
A common carder bee (Bombus pascuorum), on the green flower of stinking hellebore (Helleborus foetidus), photographed one evening in April ’14
Lavender Bee featured in Caprice Magazine #16 http://www.capricemag.com
My snapshot of a bee collecting nectar from lavender bushes featured in July’s Caprice Magazine together with other amazing photography http://www.capricemag.com
Besides, the e-version is available for free download this month!
Black Devil in the Garden, the Devil’s Trumpet (Datura metel var. ‘Fastuosa’), also called Black Dhatura (from Hindi dhatūrā = “thorn apple”) and ‘Black Currant Swirl’. The closed flowers and stems are of a dark, almost black color, whilst the flowers once opened are a deep purple on the outside and a shining white on the inside. This variant has filled double flowers, which emitt a very distinctive sweet scent.
Some snapshots and impressions of spring, which arrived late this year…
You see from top left to bottom right: Daffodil (over-exposure), Purple Tulips, White Hyazinth and Daffodils, Purple Lentenrose, Lucile’s Glory of the Snow being pollinated by Bumblebees, Cowslip, Young Belladonna Plant, my hand beside a long specimen of Lumbricus terrestris (rain worm), the fresh purple sprouts of Atropa belladonna (which are as colorful as the sap of their fruit) and a view into our front garden, which has turned into a sea of spring flowers, with Almond Tree, Tulips and Daffodil in full bloom
