View allAll Photos Tagged Substrate
Substrate: Corylus avellana; Xanthoporia radiata, on old fruitbody.
Nelijärve, Harjumaa.
Focus stacking,
Moonhole is a private community on the island of Bequia (Bek-way) in the Grenadines. Moonhole derives its name from a massive arch formed in volcanic substrate through which the setting moon is sometimes visible. I believe from what I was told on the tour that this is the only (original) dwelling that is abandoned and unused now due to cliff erosion. If you look you can make out the arch above this (ahead of its time) home and looks through to other behind. The light was not in my favour passing this by this side, but if you view the next upload, you'll see that just around the corner the light and colours were striking.
Founded by Thomas and Gladys Johnston in the 1960s, Moonhole is now a private nature preserve. In the late 1960s, the Johnstons retired from the advertising business in New York and founded the Moonhole community on the narrow western tip of the island. Tom and "Gladdie" began building a house beneath the arch with the aid of local masons from the nearby village of Paget Farm. Using whalebones, native hardwoods, and objects recovered from the sea, they built large open rooms with magnificent views of the sea. Without wells or electricity, they collected rainwater from the roofs and stored it in cisterns for bathing and washing. The master bath had a large tree that grew right up through a large hole in the roof. Large windows facing the prevailing trade winds had plexiglass panes that could be lowered into place. The bedrooms surrounded a central dining room, veranda and large bar made from a humpback whale's jaw bone. In the early years there was not even a road to Moonhole. People from Paget Farm walked in daily to bring in fresh fruit and freshly baked bread and to do any necessary cooking.
Tom and Gladdie later formed Moonhole Company Limited and contributed the approximately 30 acre property to the company. Tom bequeathed his controlling interest in Moonhole Company Limited to a trust for the protection and preservation of Moonhole for posterity. The Thomas and Gladys Johnston Moonhole Conservation Trust Limited is dedicated to preserving the unique architecture, lifestyle, and vision of the Johnstons and to protecting the birds, wildlife and marine life on the peninsula at the western end of Bequia. There are now eleven privately owned homes at Moonhole and four houses owned by Moonhole Company Limited.
These slender, ferret-like carnivores are quick on their feet, showing natural instinct they search for predators in the sky above. Keepers allow natural foraging behaviour, by hiding insects and food in substrates and log piles.
Substrate: Aesculus hippocastanum.
Eesti punase nimestiku liik, ohustatud (EN).
Rakvere, Lääne-Virumaa.
Verev nahkis, kuusenahkis + ajukõhrik.
Verinahakka + loishytykkä.
Substrate: Pinus sylvestris.
Uueveski, Harjumaa.
Wren Troglodytes Troglodytes
The Eurasian wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) is a very small bird, and the only member of the wren family Troglodytidae found in Eurasia and Africa (Maghreb). In Anglophone Europe, it is commonly known simply as the wren.
The scientific name is taken from the Greek word "troglodytes" (from "trogle" a hole, and "dyein" to creep), meaning "cave-dweller", and refers to its habit of disappearing into cavities or crevices whilst hunting arthropods or to roost.
This small, stump-tailed wren is almost as familiar in Europe as the robin. It is mouse-like, easily lost sight of when it is hunting for food, but is found everywhere from the tops of the highest moors to the sea coast.
In most of northern Europe and Asia, it nests mostly in coniferous forests, where it is often identified by its long and exuberant song. Although it is an insectivore, it can remain in moderately cold and even snowy climates by foraging for insects on substrates such as bark and fallen logs.
Its movements as it creeps or climbs are incessant rather than rapid; its short flights swift and direct but not sustained, its tiny round wings whirring as it flies from bush to bush.
It is a bird of the uplands even in winter, vanishing into the heather when snow lies thick above, a troglodyte indeed. It frequents gardens and farms, but it is quite as abundant in thick woods and in reed-beds.
At night, usually in winter, it often roosts, true to its scientific name, in dark retreats, snug holes and even old nests. In hard weather, it may do so in parties, consisting of either the family or of many individuals gathered together for warmth.
The male wren builds several nests, up to 6 or 7. These are called "cock nests" but are never lined until the female chooses one to use.
The normal round nest of grass, moss, lichens or leaves is tucked into a hole in a wall, tree trunk, crack in a rock or corner of a building, but it is often built in bushes, overhanging boughs or the litter which accumulates in branches washed by floods.
In European folklore, the wren is the king of the birds, according to a fable attributed to Aesop by Plutarch, when the eagle and the wren strove to fly the highest, the wren rested on the eagle's back, and when the eagle tired, the wren flew out above him. Thus, Plutarch implied, the wren proved that cleverness is better than strength. The wren's majesty is recognized in such stories as the Grimm Brothers' The Willow-Wren and the Bear. Aristotle and Plutarch called the wren basileus (king) and basiliskos (little king).
In German, the wren is called Zaunkönig (king of the fence). An old German name was “Schneekönig” (snow king), and in Dutch, it is “winterkoning” (winter king), which all refer to king. In Japan, the wren is labelled king of the winds, and the myth of The Wren Among the Hawks sees the wren successfully hunt a boar that the hawks could not, by flying into its ear and driving it mad.
It was a sacred bird to the druids, who considered it "king of all birds", and used its musical notes for divination. The shape-shifting Fairy Queen took the form of a wren, known as "Jenny Wren" in nursery rhymes. A wren's feather was thought to be a charm against disaster or drowning.
Population:
UK breeding:
8,600,000 territories
The eastern lubber is surely the most distinctive grasshopper species in the southeastern United States. It is well known both for its size and its unique coloration. The wings offer little help with mobility for they are rarely more than half the length of the abdomen. This species is incapable of flight and can jump only short distances. The eastern lubber is quite clumsy and slow in movement and mostly travels by walking and crawling feebly over the substrate.
Lubbers have aposematic colouration: their bright colours warn predators that they are not palatable. In the wild, if approached by a predator, the lubber will display its red rear wings, which are normally kept folded beneath the front wings. If the predator is not scared off by the colour warning and comes into contact with the lubber, the lubber will secrete a foam from its thorax that creates a chemical mist around the insect. A bad odour and a hissing noise accompany this chemical mist. If that does not deter the predator, the lubber regurgitates a toxin-rich liquid made from recently-eaten plant material that contains noxious chemicals. In this way, the insect recycles the noxious chemicals it ingests to protect itself from being ingested. This regurgitate is called "tobacco spit" and can stain clothing. The loggerhead shrike is one bird that has learned to eat the lubber. It impales the grasshopper and lets it sit for a few days. The toxins dissipate leaving the grasshopper edible.