SPRING BREAK IN WINTER

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I went for a walk today, in the early afternoon ... because the weather was so incredibly nice that it couldn't be ignored.

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I walked to the small peninsula near the port of my hometown, the nearest place where an abundance of self seeding plants and small arthropods can be found. I expected to find a thing or two to put on photograph in this sudden outburst of springtime before the end of winter ... but ...

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... I didn't expect to have such a fun and colorful experience. At first, I thought to publish today's material tomorrow, or some other day, because I already published another nature themed post today ... but, I'm too excited to wait ... and I like the idea of this post being some kind of meadow - news report from my area :) On these opening photographs you can see the Anemone hortensis plant in bloom ...

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... these are some of the first flower to appear after the winter ... or in this case - just before the spring. On this photograph you can see an early pollinator, a fly, I don't know the exact species. Some flies here are active practically throughout the winter, they appear in gardens around noon if the day isn't particularly cold.

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The color of these flowers can vary ... from white to magenta, including some light blue and violet versions. On this photograph you can see a pale one in the foreground ... and one more intensely colored blurred in the background ... along with another blurred flower of a differed kind ...

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... you can see it better here. This is the Romulea bulbocodium, a Mediterranean plant that also produces flowers very early in spring. This flower was growing alone ...

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... here you can see it from some distance ... with a bit of landscape in the shot ...

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... but more often, they appear in small groups ...

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... like this lovely trio. This plant usually grows on stony terrains with very short grass and surrounding vegetation ...

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... so it was a bit of surprise to find some of them hiding in the relatively tall grass ... I mean it wasn't tall by any normal standard, but when compared with the places where Romulea bulbocodium usually grows, it was a jungle.

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I found another early pollinator on one of these flowers ...

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... some very small wild bee, I don't know the exact species ... and I followed her with the camera while she was enjoying the nectar ...

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... it was a nice encounter that resulted in quite a few photographs.

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I found this small caterpillar a bit later, not far from there, in the grass.

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These are the tiny flowers of the Calepina irregularis ...

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... they really require a good macro lens to get a good portrait.

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Not far from these ... on a blade of grass ...

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... I found another minuscule attraction ... from the Animal kingdom this time ...

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... some elegant leafhopper.

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There was a tree behind me while I was trying to get this small insect in focus ...

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... a Cherry plum tree (Prunus cerasifera) ...

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... with lovely white flowers ...

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... so I approached the lower branches, and took a few up close shots.

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Then I continued sniffing through the grass ...

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... and I took a couple of slightly repetitive shots

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... with flowers you already saw in the post ... and then ... finally ...

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... I got hungry, and so I decided to go back home ...

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... but the tide was extremely low ... and looked kind of impressive ... so I stopped to take more photographs.

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Here you can see a friend standing at the edge of the safe area ... after that the mud behaves a bit like quicksand ... I mean, you won't sink entirely in it, but it's easy to get muddy to the knees.

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In the slightly deeper part of the bay, I saw this bird ... it looked like some kind of grebe ...

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... so, it was shooting time again.

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When I took this shot ... I was absolutely convinced that this will be the last thing I've shot today ... but ...

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... some minutes later ... while passing under some big old pines ...

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... I noticed that the ground is carpeted with flowers ...

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... and the air smelled like violets ... and algae ... like salty sea violets ... or violet fish ... something like that ...

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... so these shots were inevitable ... and with them ...

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... is time to end this premature spring report from the bay ...

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... as always in these posts on HIVE, the photographs are my work.



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8 comments
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The photos are great and this is my favorite ,it is a beauty I congratulate you

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Isn't the name of the flower in the first photo echinacea? @borjan

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Well ... no :) it has some slight color and shape of the petals similarities with that one ... but, no, it's not.

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