Mexican Standoff

A Meeting of Woodpeckers
Red-bellied Woodpecker on the left and a Pileated Woodpecker on the right
- Aperture: ƒ/4
- Camera: DSC-RX10M3
- Focal length: 220mm
- ISO: 160
- Shutter speed: 1/250s
Red-bellied Woodpecker on the left and a Pileated Woodpecker on the right
Usually sold as Amaryllis, these flowers are actually Hippeastrum, of which there are some 90 species. Either way, this is a gem that has grown really well.
Found by chance in the back of an old book in our basement … winter for earlier generations
I know, done to death by a thousand others and astronomy doesn’t even interest me particularly but I liked this view.
Not bad crater detail for hand-held either.
Seeking a morning snack
There have been quite a few of these around this summer – mostly on our parsley plants but also a few like this on the wild carrot (Daucus carota) that has established itself happily in the unmown areas of our ex-lawn.
I find the contrast of the rather formal striped coat on the caterpillar with the tight, random whorls of the “flower becoming a seed capsule” of the plant rather appealing. Coordinated colours too.
We first came across this native perennial flower beside a forest stream at Kenauk and were immensely pleased when we discovered it was happy to be cultivated. This specimen lives beside the waterfall in the garden and was not transplanted from the wild. Gorgeous.
Note: this is the first “new” posting of an image to this re-invented website – the previous four were taken from the archives for the visitor’s entertainment.
There used to be a village here …
This is a commercial forest on the west coast of Scotland near Ardtornish that was planted a century ago and never harvested. Magical mossy overgrowth.