Can You Spot It?

 

Can you spot the Cormorant hiding here? This was up at the pond a few years ago when the Cormorants came to visit for a short time. 

A Few Mini Shetland Ponies

 

These are 2 of the Mini Shetland Ponies at The Beech Tree Inn. It is a lovely little spot just outside Glasgow in the middle of nature. It has a selection of animals, good food and a play park for kids. We often go there with my daughter for a day out. It is a popular spot with walkers too, as it sits right on The West Highland Way Walk.

A Wasp On Wood

 

Wasps are much hated creatures. Yes, they do sting but so do bees. I understand a dislike and fear if you are allergic to them. I know someone who is. I have never had a problem with them and they are needed in our world. Let them get on with their lives and they'll leave us to it. I've been reading up on how intelligent wasps really are, amazing. I really think most people don't give nature enough credit when it is due. Some people do though :-)

Good View Point

 

It is no secret that I love crows. I am not sure what my favourite animal is...toss up between cats, crows and ducks. All 3 amaze me. Crows are just so special I think and they always seek me out on my walks. This one had a good view point up the tree! I left seeds for him and he was happy. It takes a few days for a crow to be my friend and build up a relationship. I think a crow is a good friend to have.

Moth On A Wall

 

From what I can tell, this is an Antler Moth (Cerapteryx graminis). The pattern on it looks like the Antler Moth certainly. 

Everyone loves Butterflies, never met anyone that didn't BUT I have come across people who haven't liked Moths? Which I think is weird, I think Moths are wonderful too. 

If They Can, We Can Too

 

If these Ducks and Coots can live in harmony surely we can too! 

This relates to my post made on 25th Feb HERE where the Coot was gatecrashing the Ducky Party. Now he has brought his whole family this time. Baby Coots are so very cute I think. 

Little & Large

 

I just thought this was so cute. A baby snail and a large snail together on one leaf. This is from a good few years ago.

Follow The Leader

 

There were a few Tufted Ducks at the pond a few years ago. I had never seen them before at the pond so they must have been stopping for a short time. It's a case of follow the leader here but the back male is distracted by something! The males are the black and white and the females are kinda brown. The female is in the middle.

Rhino At Edinburgh Zoo

 

This is one of the Rhinos from Edinburgh Zoo. There are 2 that live there. I took this photo a few years ago.

A Good Looking Face

 

Check out this Damselfly's handsome face. Isn't it a cutie!

One Creature's Rubbish....

....is another Creature's treasure!

Someone had littered in the local supemarket carpark and these Gulls and Birds were feasting on the contents of the bags. It looks like some sort of pastry. 

A Fairly Happy Elephant

Another one from our trip to Blackpool. We went to the Zoo and they have a few Elephants. I thought this one looked fairly happy. I have mixed feelings about Zoos.

 

Getting My Daughter Into Photography

A few weeks ago when the schools were off for a few days I took my daughter down to Blackpool. We visited a few places and Sealife, which I posted the Starfish photo from last week. I am really into photography and want to share this passion with my daughter and teach her about the importance of nature. She has my old Huawei P20 Pro phone which has an amazing camera. It is really good for macros and I used it a lot for photos. So when we are out she takes lots of photos. Here is a photo of her at Sealife taking a photo. The phone doesn't have a sim card and she only uses it for a few games, some music I put on for her and photos. 

Meet Cali and Cleo

On the 20th of Feb we got 2 more cats taking me up to 6 cats! They were with a household who couldn't look after them so they were going to end up in the shelter where they came from. I couldn't see that happen so stepped in and brought them home to their Forever Home. They are both girls and wonderful little cats. First up is Cali:

Cali is a lovely girl with a sweet personality. She has settled in well and is very chatty and loves a cuddle.

Up next is Cleo:

Cleo is pure black apart from a little white bib on her front. She is very shy but also very brave! She is very sweet and loves cuddles too but she doesn't talk! My other black cat Stitch doesn't talk either, I wonder if it is a black cat thing?

I am so glad to have taken these cats and they are now very happy with us.

A Happy Squirrel

 

This grey squirrel was happy to eat the seeds I put down for him. I just hope he didn't bother the little slug at his foot! I am pretty sure the slug was feasting on the seeds too! 

Soaking Up The Sun

 

Mr Mallard is relaxing in the sun. This photo is from a few summers ago. I am sure I'll see plenty Mallards this year at the pond.

You Know It's Spring When...

 

... You start to see the Daffodils! 

Spiral

 

I really liked this pattern on the split tree. It is a nice spiral! The moss adds to the scene I think.

One Year On

 

This is a personal one! Last year on the 5th of March I decided to quit coffee. I did it cold turkey as well, cutting it out completely. It was hard, really hard. I think it had "coffee flu" the first few weeks. I had also cut out caffeine completely as I stopped drinking black and green teas, I was just drinking herbal teas and Chicory (which is a coffee substitute). After 2 weeks I started to feel better and my stomach was a lot better too. The acidity of the coffee had been killing my stomach. I reintroduced black and green teas about a month or so later and did enjoy them and had no issues with the caffeine. BUT over the Festive Period I noticed that black tea was causing me similar issues with my stomach that the coffee had been. So in early January I quit black teas too. I now only drink green teas and herbal teas. There are so many tasty green teas that I have: Gunpowder, Jasmine, Sencha, White Tea and various others. Since quitting the black teas I haven't had any issues whatsoever with my stomach. Black tea is acidic too so my body was telling me to stop it! Greens teas are alkaline and better for the tummy and down right tasty! I have also been trying to eat more alkaline foods and avoiding acidic ones too. I really cannot believe I had my last coffee on the 4th of March 2024! I really thought coffee defined me! I used to drink 4-6 a day and it was the real stuff, none of this instant rubbish haha! I had a fancy bean to cup coffee machine, various fancy coffee cups and lots of beans and ground coffee. After giving up I gave it all to one of my friends who is a huge coffee fan and he loves the machine. The cup above is an Espresso Cup from Ikea and I found the beans at the back of the cupboard, so thought I'd get a photo of them before I binned them. 

I feel that quitting coffee was the best and worst decision of my life!!

Littering

 

I have made a few comments on other blogs about littering and it got me thinking. Littering is such a HUGE problem here in Scotland. Everywhere is plagued by it. I often collect the rubbish when I am out on my nature walks and this is one example. I find it heartbreaking that such lovely forests and green areas are like this. There is also something called "fly tipping" which is illegal over here yet it still happens. People dumping rubbish in places they shouldn't for instance: the forest, housing estates and on the streets. You see all sorts, furniture, beds and lots of other junk. There are signs all over the streets warning people of dumping rubbish and they will be fined, yet I see it all the time and nothing is done. The local authority are slow to remove it and their approach to waste management is shocking. They don't care!!! They would rather the area looking like sh*t than spend a budget on tidying it up. The rest of Scotland is just as bad. I feel ashamed that the people of this country do not respect it! Is littering a problem in your country too?

Starfish

 

This is a Starfish. We saw it at Sealife in Blackpool when we were there a few weeks ago. Most creatures on this planet amaze me, but underwater creatures are particularly interesting and fascinating.

At Night

 

This snail was on my bin one night so decided to take a photo of it and I let it be! Peace at night!

First Day Of March

Happy March. Can you believe it is March already! Time sure flies when you get older.

These are Snowdrops, quite common here from January to March. Spring is in the air and it has been fairly mild here too!

Latticed Heath Butterfly

 

This is a Latticed Heath Butterfly (Chiasmia clathrata). I have only ever seen it this one time so took advantage of getting a photo!

Essential

 

Bees are so important in our world. We must protect them at all costs. Sadly like all creatures, apart from humans, they are in decline.

Red Damselfly

 

This is a few years old. It is a Red Damselfly. I am hoping to see plenty this year.

Odd One Out

 

This Coot was trying to gatecrash the Mallard Party!

Another Tree Down

 

Not quite down but a good bit blown off from the storm we had last month called Storm Eowyn. I think this one will survive or hope it will.

Plant Hopper

 

This little fellow is a Plant Hopper (Cixiidae). They are fairly common over here.

The Heron Is Fishing

 

This is the resident Heron at the pond. This photo is a few years old. He still visits the pond on a regular basis.

How Many Seagulls?

 

How many seagulls can you spot? They were sitting in the pond and they all took off! I thought this would a great photo opportunity.

Relaxing

 

This is a Texel Sheep. It was relaxing when I took this photo. It wasn't too bothered that I was nearby taking photos!

Spider On My Arm

 

This spider was crawling on my chair, I decided to pick it up and it ran up my arm! It is sitting at the inside of my elbow. Not really sure if you can see how big it is, but it was massive! I really like spiders, I know a lot of people don't! Over here in Scotland we don't have any dangerous or deadly native spiders.

Blackbird

 

This is a Blackbird. They are really common in Scotland. This is the stump where I feed the birds and it is great to get photos of them.

Water Droplets

My friend Fernando over at: https://feraldi91.blogspot.com/ posts a lot of photos of water droplets. So I thought I would try it out after seeing his great photos. 

I like the reflections on these.

Tetraodontidae

 

I saw this little cutie at Sea Life in Loch Lomond. It is a Tetraodontidae. He always looks happy when we visit Sea Life.

Unsure Gull

 

This Gull looked a but unsure of me taking his photo! He did pose well for me though.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day everyone. These are Grandaisy Pink Halo (Argyranthemum frutescens), I thought they would be the ideal flowers for today! Have a great day everyone :-D

Crow And Pellets

 

I put floating pellets in the pond for the ducks and coots. I also put some at the edge of the water for the crows. This crow was happy to get a collection of them!