Gwirrel's Garden: Macro Monday

Showing posts with label Macro Monday. Show all posts

Monday, 20 June 2011

Macro Monday – Butterfly

I’m a little late, but it’s better than never!

On Saturday I noticed something fluttering around the garden...

Goodie! Thinks I.

Grab my camera and set off on the hunt:

Now, what's this I spy??

I ended up crawling along on my belly so not to scare it away, sadly it wasn't in the best of places with grass covering much of it.

Whilst waiting for the Small Tortoiseshell to move to a better position I also saw a Skipper land on the grass, I got up to attempt to also stalk it but it flew away :(

However I did spot this Speckled Wood feeding on Cotoneaster flowers... I didn't attempt to stalk this one though.

Thankfully it decided to sunbathe on the wall instead

They seem to like the perennial Wallflower

Anyway, I was out earlier and decided to take some photos, I was wandering around the garden and took some shots of a new Rose I recently planted as the blooms are slowly beginning to open... I bent over and came face to face with another small Tortoiseshell! I swear, I almost head-butted it. I hadn't even noticed it and no need for the stalking as it sat there sunbathing!

I think it's a different one as the wings are ragged and the colours aren't as bright.

Butterfly tooshie!

And here’s a close-up of the colour on the wings… It looks like it’s almost made from scales.

Monday, 23 May 2011

Macro Monday – Argyranthemum

Let’s have some nice pretty shots of Argyranthemum - Lemon Anemone, it is actually in a hanging basket that I made and intended to go by the front door… The problem with that is, the basket’s looking very nice, and needs a little longer for everything to come into flower, however I know as soon as it’s hanging by the front door I’ll forget about it and fail to water it regularly. Plus I’m also far less likely to take photos of it, as it’ll be a) too high and b) I don’t often photograph the front garden.
Perhaps I’ll have to place it on the hanging hook by the back door instead and just buy something for the front??

Any excuse to buy more!

Monday, 25 April 2011

Macro Monday

After the sneaky peek at the Forget-me-nots on Wednesday, here’s a whole post dedicated to them!

We’ll start with those posted last week for those who might’ve missed them…

And finally, after the deluge on Saturday…

I hope you’re all having a lovely Monday and didn’t stuff yourselves too much yesterday! I’m off to go back to my essay writing now, almost finished this one, just some tidying up to do and other finishing touches.

Copyright 2011 Liz.
All rights reserved. Content created by Liz for Gwirrel’s Garden.

Monday, 11 April 2011

Macro Monday – Magnolia Stellata

I’m afraid it’s another case of if you don’t already have one, I demand you make your way to a garden centre and pick one up for yourself, right now. G’won, shoo.

For those of you who don’t know, I’ve had somewhat of a love-hate relationship over the past three years with my Stellata, mainly because it hasn’t flowered for those years but finally this year it flowered again. I was beginning to resign to the fact it wouldn’t flower again and that I should remove it and find a more wildlife friendly replacement tree/shrub. Just as its days were numbered it decided to teach me a lesson!

Now, my case is a strange one, I’ve no real idea why it decided to stop flowering but I do hope we’ve turned a corner now and if you get yourself one then don’t worry, I’m sure yours will flower regularly.
I think perhaps mine suffered from not enough water in the summer, so last year I made sure I watered it a lot, but it could just be coincidence.

Did I mention yet that they have a beautiful, mellow perfume? I’m loving sticking my nose into their blooms to take in their scent. Mmmmm, wonderful. I’m a fan of understated scents, mainly because strong smells trigger migraines, so I have to be careful with what I wear, so this tree suits me perfectly.