There is a pretty large pond at the edge of my hometown, about 200 meters from my house. It looks like a little lake, and is a rich habitat with many interesting plants and animals.
Yesterday I spent the whole afternoon ... and the evening too ... walking around this pond. The bird on the opening shot is the Common moorhen (Gallinula chloropus), a species well adapted for walking on the leaves of the White water lilies (Nymphaea alba) and similar plants.
Almost two months passed since the last substantial rain, the pond has nicely dried out along the edges, so the usually inaccessible animal community on these large, plate - like leaves was served like on a plate and ready to be explored.
I entered the macro mood, and took many macro shots, starting with this Groundhopper, a grasshopper from the Tetrigidae family. I don't know the ecact species. In temperate regions, Tetrigidae are generally found along streams and ponds, and this one is not an exception.
This small wall lizard (Podarcis muralis) was sunbathing on one of the neighboring leaves ...
... and on another leaf not far from there I caught this minuscule fly.
I have no idea what species is this.
It was like almost every leaf was an exhibition pedestal, showing something pretty cool.
This shiny beetle was also part of the exhibition. I took the first shot using the flash like with other photographs, to have the maximum depth of field while retaining the shutter speed ... but direct flash never gives good results with shiny stuff. The beauty of shifting shades of colors gets lost ...
... so I patiently took few more pictures ... with much slower shutter speed ...
... and no flash involved.
While experimenting with various apertures and speeds, I took also this photograph, that is something in between ... a longer exposure with a bit of flash added to the thing.
When I raised my head to see what's happening around me, out of this macro dimension ... I saw this Little egret (Egretta garzetta) cleaning her plumage ...
... and some kids playing with something that looked like foam or snow.
The fluffy thing was a product of another plant that grows along the banks of the pond ...
... the Cattail. These were the seeds, adapted to be dispersed by the wind.
When I looked back at the large, green carpet made of the Watter lilly leaves ...
... I noticed that the lizard is till there, in the same place ...
... enjoying the warm day ...
... and the overall atmosphere ... or at least so it looked to me ... I can't tell you what was going on in his reptilian mind.
Then I found this little cricket not far from there.
I don't know the exact species.
It looks like a small nymph of some species that loves muddy and humid places.
I left the Water lilies and continued along the bank, through the fresh green grass.
While I was photographing these lovely wild mint flowers ...
... The Lady in Red appeared ... pulled by some great, invisible force at the opposite end of the fluorescent string ...
... a small poodle dog :D
They were walking back and forth along that side of the pond ... and they looked pretty cool together.
I took a short glimpse of this Red-eared slider turtle (Trachemys scripta elegans) in the water undernith the "Lady in red scene" ... and then ... a bit later ...
... a much bigger dog passed by ... with no string ... nor human atached.
It looked almost like some kind of black bear.
When I returned to the Water lilies ... I found another Groundhopper. It looked very much like the one you saw at the beginning of the post, only with longer, more developed wings ... and then ...
... on a leaf a few steps further ...
... I found this one ... that looked like a different species.
A small fly was resting nearby ...
... at one point ...
... the fly proceeded to clean her feeding apparatus ...
... and then ... a bit later ...
... a droplet appeared.
Anthomyia procellaris is the name of this species.
As I was walking away from the Water lilies place ...
... the wild mallard appeared ... accompanied by a large domestic goose.
I continued my walk along the unpaved road ...
... that leads from the pond to the surrounding fields ...
... surrounded by olives ...
... and almond trees.
The light was changing relatively fast ...
... it was getting darker.
In one field near some large barn ... I found a nice collection of agricultural equipment. Some machines were colorful ...
... and looked like oversized toys for children ... or just normal toys for oversized children ... something like that ... while some other ...
... looked more like robots or monsters ...
... strange creatures ...
... giant birds ... dragons ... and stuff.
It really looked like an exhibition ...
... an open - air museum ...
... filled with cool ... slightly mysterious exhibits ...
... vaguely definable as something in between technology and art.
I took a good look at all this stuff ... I took a few photographs too ...
... and then ...
... walking across another field ...
... covered with wild fennel mostly ...
... I returned to the pond.
The water was pretty dark now ...
... and the surface was harboring some elegant shifting abstractions.
I saw a pair of elegant birds in shallow water.
The egret and the goose.
I said bye to them and I continued my walk ...
... along the narrow streets ....
... that lead to my neighborhood.
The sun was already down ...
... hidden somewhere behind the horizon ...
... but the light wasn't completely gone ...
... it was still there ...
... and strong enough ...
... to turn the clouds into flames ... on photographs at least ...
I walked a bit more under this fiery sky ...
... streetlamps were on ...
... and soon I was home. And now ...
... with this closing shot ... a Moorhen from the opening shot, looking in the opposite direction ... is time to end this long walk till the end of the day.
As always in these posts on HIVE, all the photographs are my work - THE END.