Giant crane fly

Most of the crane flies I see, giant or otherwise, are pretty drab. This one must be quite newly out of its pupa.

Dew on leaves

Or raindrops. It’s all much of a muchness.

A walk in the woodsish parts

And back to tulips

Of course.

Unfocused crocus

I took a bunch of macro pictures of flowers today that were deliberately not quite in focus (as apposed to the ones that should be and aren’t) and quite liked the results. Here’s one of them; I think I’ll do more.

The last day of February

Where did the time go? Well, some of it went to walking in the woods.

Light and shadow and it’s still wintery enough for the light to be all golden.

Ice shadows

Some last pictures of the snow before it melts.

Weather

We’ve had rather a lot of it, haven’t we? Today it’s raining and the snow is super-saturated and heavy (this is the Voice of Experience speaking, as I went out and shovelled) and it’s altogether miserable and nasty. And yes, I know that it will melt, but it WILL MELT A LOT FASTER if one shovels.

January ice

It’s been more cold than not for a month or so now, and that means ice on puddles. And I love taking pictures of ice. So here’s a start, from recent excursions.

The ice is pretty thick; this chunk, tossed up previously from a puddle, is a couple of inches thick. (And today I caught Our Dog walking across the ice on the slough—argh.)

You find interesting things in the woods sometimes; this bucket was left by someone working on an unofficial trail. As far as I could see the ice in it was solid all the way down.

And it’s so varied, especially when we start getting a bit of hoarfrost.

Gorgeous.

Ice

…on the pond. It hasn’t quite frozen solid, so the open spots and edges have some interesting photographic potential.

Time for a walk

Well, it’s a cold day, that’s for sure.

Ice pellets everywhere! Evidently they didn’t turn into freezing rain last night—and a sheet of ice—as they did where we live.

Quite lovely on the branches: pellets and frozen drops.

Quite lovely everywhere, actually.

Nice crunchy trails in places.

And the first puddle ice I’ve seen!

Really, one couldn’t ask for a prettier day for a walk.

More fungus

From today’s walk.

Some kind of yellow coral fungus.

Orange mushrooms from the side…

…and upside down.

A turkey-tail type fungus from underneath…

…and above.

And finally, your basic boring brown mushroom, but with some elegant frills.

Have some mushrooms.

We had some enormous ones this year; these photos are all of the same kind. This was an early stage before it started to flatten out.

Fluffy!

And a bit dewy.

And a bit friendly.

Fern and tree trunk

After all those depressing links, how about a pretty picture?