Just behind this small pension house the channel passes near a small park, a perfect place for me to take photos.
Meet the first hosts; the Mallard ducks are in the spa cleaning their plumage and they don't look stresses by the visitors. I don't know if they are girls or boys but they have beautiful colors.
All juvenile Mallards look more or less like hens for their entire first year.
Mallard drakes don't get their nuptial plumage (green heads, red chest, etc) until they are one year old.
The well known chicory (Cichorium intybus) with its bright blue flowers and a busy little bee.
These tall, pink and red flowers grow wild, in big colonies.The light pink and dark pink (reddish) ones are very beautiful, orchid-like flowers and there are hundreds of bumblebees all over the place. Does anyone know the name of these flowers?
Update:Rosie, my good blogy friend identified this flower as being the Himalayan Balsam (Impatiens glandulifera) aka:Indian Balsam, Policeman's helmet, Poor man's orchid.
Rosie is a great gardener and has a wonderful blog. I was hoping she will help me out with the name and she did.
The Centaurea is just opening and it is full of small pests already.
But the cleaners, like this lovely black ladybug and the red one will clean all these pests.
Help is on the way from this red ladybug too.
This is my contribution to:
17 comments:
Great close-ups. I love bugs and flowers.
Have a great weekend.
I love seeing little bugs on flower photos - great focus too Maia.
I haven't a clue what that pink flower is called - if you do find out let me know - it looks beautiful.
I'm back - have a look at google images for Impatiens glandulifera, or Himalayan balsam - your photo looks quite like this and another name for this plant is Poor Man's Orchid. :) Rosie
It looks like the old channel has a life of its own.
Costas
Thank you Rosie for taking the time, you are a genius. This is it, I knew it must be some kind of orchid, even if the "Poor Man's Orchid".
Thank you so much!
You have a wide variety of critters. Great shots all.
Lovely flowers too, I never knew of poor man's orchid.
Great photos and critters. I love the ducks and the bee on the flower is just gorgeous. the ladybugs are so cute.
Maia I am so glad that it was the right name. Funny enough I was trying to ID another wildflower and all of a sudden I saw one that resembled yours. I'm going to be on the lookout for it here too as it likes moisture and along river banks plus its a native here in the UK aswell but not sure if can cope with our Scottish weather.
Thankyou so much for the link up
(((hugs))) Rosie
Lovely macros of the bee and the bugs :)
I find this very interesting... fun to see the architecture and the photos are lovely as always! Larry
These macros are amazing, Maia. The ladybug is adorable and you've captured such wonderful detail in all of these photos.
All lovely shots but the ladybug macro is super!!
(Carletta's Captures)
Great photos. Well composed and focused.
Beautiful flowers and I love seeing insects on blooms. The ladybug is one of my favorites because they keep the harmful insect off my roses. Great capture of the Hover Fly on the chicory, he is another beneficial insect.
The mosaics you've created are just lovely!
a splendid collection of flowers!
Lovely close up of the Chicory flower. The Indian Balsam is flowering now in India too.Have a nice day!
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