John asks us to choose our Favourite Images of 2022. Some I have divided them into a couple of categories. Firstly (and probably not surprisingly) pollinators.
And then some wildflowers……………………
And finally some places.
Many thanks to John for getting us off to a good start for this year’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge.
LAPC guest host this week is Jude at Cornwall in Colours – and she challenges us to find some textures.
last weekend, we enjoyed a lovely walk in the woods. I love all the different tree trunks.
Looking up into the canopy, the last few oak leaves clinging on to the moss and lichen covered branches.
And back down to the lake shore, where in the sheltered bay, the water was almost like glass.
And just for Jude, this was one of the last fuzzy bees I took a photograph of back in late September. Missing them and looking forward to seeing them back in the spring.
Special thanks to Jude for hosting this week’s challenge.
So this week Ann-Christine has set me an impossible task – choose my favourite flowers. I have tried to narrow it down by only including native Irish wildflowers. The why is simple – they are beautiful and they support so much life. It’s a selection of some of my favourites.
First spring flowers – celandine one of the first to show itself; dandelions are just little pots of sunshine loved by pollinators; wood sorrel is so delicate and cuckoo flower so dainty.
If I had to choose one spring flower it would be wild primroses, for the colour and smell, the essence of spring.
Then comes summer. Harebells, for the name and the delicate shade of blue; ox eye daisies as they are big, bright and happy flowers and sea thrift because it appears to grow from rocks.
And if I had to choose a favourite I would cheat and choose a whole flowering meadow.
Late summer and early autumn, there is perennial sow thistles (here with woundwort another lovely pant) and the latest flowering of our wildflowers, devils bits scabious – loved by pollinators.
A big thank you to Ann-Christine for reminding me of the beauties of spring and summer on this dark October day.
This year, I have been lucky to be working for the Great Yellow Bumblebee Project. The Great Yellow Bumblebee is Ireland’s rarest bees and it occurs on the Mullet Peninsula and Erris coastal mainland of County Mayo in the west of Ireland.
We have been working with farmers looking at how best we can manage fields in a way that provides lots of flowers for all types of pollinators. This area of County Mayo is stunningly beautiful, and supports a unique flower-rich habitat called Machair.
Machair is traditionally been used as winter grazing, which has benefitted the wildflowers that grow here and in turn these areas support a wealth of insects including pollinators.
We find lots of different bees. And finding the the rarest of them all, the Great Yellow Bumblebee, brings deep satisfaction.
Other rare and vulnerable bee species can also be found in this special place.
Many thanks to Ann-Christine for providing inspiration for this post – LAPC #214 Favourite Finds
This week Amy asks is to explore the sun.
I love the sun on water, the way it makes it shimmer and shine.
Without the sun we would not have plants. This one is a native Irish plant called the perennial sow-thistle. But I like to think of it as our own sunflower. They are tall plants – from 80 cm up to 150 cm with these glorious yellow heads and they are loved by bees and other pollinators.
With the sun, comes shadows and butterflies too of course.
And without the sun we wouldn’t have sunsets.
Many thanks to Amy for this week’s lovely challenge.
Had to think about Patti’s challenge this week – but maybe the motion of busy bees will fit the bill.
Murtagh's Meadow 