I went for a walk early today, through the bushes and meadows around my hometown. It was a pretty cold morning and frost was covering places not exposed to the sun ...
... but I'll start the post with this photograph, taken a bit later, when the frost disappeared ... because is an eye - catching picture, :D ideal for the promising start. These are the Anemone hortensis flowers, endemic to Mediterranean basin and it's distributed in France, Italy, Greece, Albania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, Macedonia and Turkey.
Another lovely flower ...
... native to the Mediterranean region ... Southern Europe ... northern Africa ... the Middle East ...
... iconic part of the early spring atmosphere in this area ...
... Romulea bulbocodium. Here grows only on the open meadows on poor, thin soil with many stones, covered with very short grass and other flat vegetation. The petals are usually white with a bit of violet on the top, but sometimes ...
... the violet is more prominent. And now ... after this blooming introduction :) ...
... is time to really start - from the beginning.
From the frosty decorations ... that nicely accentuate interesting shapes ...
... of different leaves that grow close to the ground.
I admired the frost for half an hour approximately, did a few shots, found a few asparagus sprouts ... and very soon ...
... with the sun spreading its influence ...
... the frost turned into dew ...
... and this very natural process looked like pure magic. What a wonderful planet is the Earth.
The spider's silky architecture ...
... was covered with pearls.
Here you can take a closer look into this shiny universe ...
... and on this photograph ... you can admire one of those webs, constructed on the wild asparagus plant.
The asparagus sprouts are usually hidden and camouflaged in the intricate vegetation, between the shrubs or in the tall grass, almost invisible (That's the main attraction, fun and challenge, of the asparagus hunt) so I photographed this one with the flash to make it shiny in the foreground ... and also removed a few plants around it.
While I was preparing the shot in the dense vegetation ...
... on the dried out Spanish broom (Spartium junceum) plant nearby ...
(Enlargeable)
The European robin (Erithacus rubecula) was observing the proceeding.
Then I continued my search underneath the pine trees ... and the soil there was covered with fallen needles and dried out pollen cones.
One of these cone structure miniatures, was mounted on the top of the blade of grass, in a very interesting way ... glued with a bit of silk.
Up in the treetop ...
... there was much more silk.
The pine processionary caterpillars (larval phase of the Thaumetopoea pityocampa moth) have built their nest there. In the following video ...
... you can watch them travel from tree to tree, across the small path through the Mediterranean landscape ... while the birds are singing all around.
Here are the exit tunnels for the moths.
There was ivy on the tree trunk ...
... and I took a few shots ...
... of these elegantly shaped leaves. On one fallen trunk not far from there ...
... I found this firm dry fungi, tough as wood.
Further on my way ... I picked and photographed some Common nettle, a very healthy edible plant ... and under some deciduous trees ...
... I photographed this fallen leaf ... lying on the carpet of moss ...
... and this interesting seed ... caught on the sticky silk.
After some more walking ... among the thorny shrubs ...
... and flowers ...
... when I photographed the fly resting on a large, salad - like leaf ...
... and this fluffy pumpkin spider ...
... with one of the hind legs on the thread of silk, to sense any movement on the nearby web connected to this thread ... I caught ... photographically and literally ...
... this pretty big Pseudopus apodus, a very common snake - like lizard that lives hidden in the dense vegetation ... but occasionally comes out on the open, to take a bit of solar energy on the exposed rocks.
This was one of those occasions ... in the relatively cold weather conditions, when they are not very fast ... as usual.
I harassed the poor reptile for a very short time, less than a minute, took these two shots and continued walking and searching through the bushes.
The small wild plum trees were in bloom ...
... the honeysuckle flowers ...
... were just buds ...
... and when I arrived at another open meadow ...
... covered with many flowers ...
... and other interesting botanical shapes ...
... I sat down ...
... to take a rest ...
... surrounded by all that sophisticated beauty.
While I was sitting in the tall grass ...
the very common small froghopper of the Cercopis vulnerata species visited my asparagus filled left hand ... and so I took this shot with the other one. I was wandering a bit through the meadow after that, but not for long ... soon I was on my way back home ... so now ...
... with this closing selfie in which I'm preparing the asparagus sprout for today's lunch ... is time to end this spring time walk ... as always in these posts on HIVE, all the photographs and video materials are made by me ... THE END.
A beautiful collection of photography from your Wednesdaywalk and you are very brave to pick up the snake!
Thank you. :)
You're welcome! @borjan
Thank you
@tipu curate
Upvoted 👌 (Mana: 5/10)
The snake is so cool! Looks like Basilisk from "Harry Potter")
True :D it has a bit of that Basilisk look.
:)