BRIEF ENCOUNTER, with this beauty , before it took of and lost track of it at Sandwich Bay, Kent UK. A plump-bodied bunting, and its attractive appearance and typically confiding nature, except in my case lol. ensure that it is a favorite among birdwatchers.

===================

THANK YOU for your visit and friendship, love reading your comments, which I am very thankful for, and find encouraging.

Keep safe and well my friends, enjoy the weekend God bless you.................................Tomx

At the rear of the services on the M6 Toll road. There is a path which climbs a knoll overlooking the service area and where people are encouraged to walk their dogs. As we passed through yesterday there was a digger on the mound putting in the foundation of a new monument to the air ambulance crews. Despite all the noise I took the path and was astonished to see these deer to the rear of the site where the new housing has been built. Although it was wonderful to see it is perhaps another indication of just how far we have encroached on wildlife habitat.

SLIM DARK ELEGANT Heron. with a frail-looking neck, almost as big as the more common grey heron, makes you appreciate that those grasses are a lot more than a meter tall. It is a shy and solitary heron, that hunts more for frogs, snails, crabs, and larger insects., a very difficult bird to approach, so a distant capture, but a joy to find one.

========================

THANK YOU, FOR YOUR VISIT AND COMMENTS, it is always appreciated and find encouraging, am showing my images from the Gambian birding trip.

Keep safe and well, God bless you.....................Tomx

FAMILIAR bird of urban and rural areas. The starling is extremely vocal, it forms sizeable flocks outside the breeding season. I do love the way they walk with a characteristic swagger.

=======================

THANK YOU FOR BEING A FRIEND, please leave a comment, which I appreciate very much and find encouraging..

Stay well and safe dear friends

...............God bless.....Tomx

======================

.................." JESUS LOVES YOU !"

=====================

The Punchinello is a common butterfly in Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary, India.

Thanks for your visit… Any comment you make on my photograph is greatly appreciated and encouraging! But please do not use this image without permission.

La grisaille actuelle encourage à prolonger la sieste pour Maya, la météo annonce de la neige dès dimanche, les journées seront plus claires.

Des doux ronrons de ma puce pour tous ses fans.

Bon week-end à vous tous.

--

The current gloom encourages extending the nap for Maya, the weather forecast announces snow from Sunday, the days will be clearer.

Sweet purrs from my kitty for all her fans.

Good weekend to you all.

~ Autumn ~ The Award Tree ~

BiG THANKS to EVERYONE for your personal comments and also your support from selected groups.

Awards are always encouraging and especially appreciated from those add my work to their collection of 'faves'.

Thankfully, this year I was given permission to photograph in the snowdrop meadow near me.

Strundetal, Bergisch Gladbach, Germany

Thank you for your views, encouraging comments and awards.

This is the final image from this series, a shortcut to my home along a beautiful country road. As I said in my original post, many people drive by these various spots every day blind to the beauty around them. There are so many “pictures” I have taken that reside only in my mind. I am so glad I took the time to retrace my drive to work and back with a camera in hand. I hope these pictures have encouraged you to look for the beauty that lives just beyond those guard rails.

The lovely textures used in this series are thanks to the beautiful works of Anna Lenabem, Tito and Jai Johnson.

Thank you so much for all your visits, kind comments, invitations and favorites. This image may not be copied or distributed without my written consent. © All rights reserved.

Brown Hare - Lepus europaeus

Norfolk

The brown hare is known for its long, black-tipped ears and fast running - it can reach speeds of 45mph when evading predators. It prefers a mosaic of farmland and woodland habitats and can often be spotted in fields.

Thought to have been introduced into the UK in Roman Times (or even earlier), the brown hare is now considered naturalised. It is most common in grassland habitats and at woodland edges, favouring a mosaic of arable fields, grasses and hedgerows. It grazes on vegetation and the bark of young trees and bushes. Brown hares do not dig burrows, but shelter in 'forms', which are shallow depressions in the ground or grass; when disturbed, they can be seen bounding across the fields, using their powerful hind legs to propel them forwards, often in a zigzag pattern. Brown hares are at their most visible in early spring when the breeding season encourages fighting or 'boxing'. Females can produce three to four litters of two to four young (known as leverets) a year.

Widespread, but absent from northern Scotland and the Scottish islands, except Islay, I'm reliably informed.

Unexpected intrusions of beauty. This is what life is.

--Saul Bellow

Saw this dazzling little beauty visiting the lovely purple salvia in my backyard in Southern California. Nature never ceases to amaze and inspire me, and it is these precious moments that bring me much joy and peace amid the many challenges of life. Hoping this sweet little hummingbird brightens your day as it did mine. :-)

As always, a huge thanks to those who stop by to view, fave and or comment! I am truly grateful.

Dear friends, I would like to dedicate this post to my dear friend, Bill, who not only was a wonderful and faithful friend for many years, but also an amazing photographer. He was one of a few friends who inspired and encouraged me to pursue nature photography. In fact, he was the one who first took me shooting hummingbirds. :-) Bill was a very kind and gentle soul, a beloved husband, father, teacher and friend. He passed away in a biking accident the morning after I posted this hummingbird. He will be greatly missed...

♫ TUNE ♫

“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”

– Martin Luther King, Jr. –

“No matter what happens to you, never never never lose hope.”

― Lailah Gifty Akita ―

“When you have lost hope, you have lost everything. And when you think all is lost, when all is dire and bleak, there is always hope.”

– Pittacus Lore –

💖In advance I want to thank you all for your always kindness, support, beautiful awards, favs, and messages. Please Know that I see all of your comments and awards and I appreciate them so much as well as each on of you for taking the time.

Amsterdam - Termini

Copyright - All images are copyright © protected. All Rights Reserved. Copying, altering, displaying or redistribution of any of these images without written permission from the artist is strictly prohibited.

Wild South Africa

Kruger National Park

A female elephant encouraging her two offspring to cross the waterway.

Photographed late one afternoon at Sable Dam, Kruger National Park.

if encouraged, becomes a wide channel into which all other thoughts flow

The unmistakable endemic Sri Lanka Blue Magpie, also called Ceylon Blue Magpie, in Sinharaja National Park.

Thanks for your visit… Any comment you make on my photograph is greatly appreciated and encouraging! But please do not use this image without permission.

Model: Tome Vollmar

It's not often you get to return a favor, even if over four years have gone by. When I was really new to SL, this guy encouraged my new-found interest in photography. He left SL and when he returned, he discovered the beast he had left behind. When he asked me to take his profile picture, I was honored to help him out.

Many thanks, Tome!

The Song

GAMBIA FEB 2019

================

LIVELY MALE SUNBIRD, with a broad violet brest-band. Habits coastal scrub, attracted to small flowering bushes, probing for nectar always on the move, flies with rapid wing beats and a dipping flight, am very happy to have nailed this one, because its no easy job. Zoom in to see its amazing plumage !

====================

THANK YOU FOR YOUR VISIT AND KIND COMMENTS, it is very appreciated, and find encouraging. Stay safe, God bless..........

.............................................Tomx

I would like to thank everyone who take the time to view and comment on my photographs it is greatly appreciated and encouraging

GAMBIA TOUR. Strongly associated with forest thickets and dense vegetation, feeding from the ground keeping in the dark shady spots, making a good image very difficult, this was the best of very many shots, and was pushing my luck at 1/45 shutter speed, but got lucky!. They seem to bounce along, only making very short flights. They are beautiful just the same.

++++++++++++++++++++++

THANK YOU, for your visit, love reading your comments, which I find encouraging, stay safe, God Bless....... Tomx

++++++++++++++++++++,

BRING THE CHRIST IN CHIRSTMAS INTO YOUR LIFE!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

BiG THANKS to EVERYONE for your personal comments and also your support from selected groups.

Awards are always encouraging and especially appreciated from those add my work to their collection of 'faves'.

Cheerz

Do You Believe In Magic - Loving Spoonful

BiG THANKS to EVERYONE for your personal comments and also your support from selected groups.

Awards are always encouraging and especially appreciated from those add my work to their collection of 'faves'.

Cheerz G

Just to make you smile.......

Thank you so much dear Flickr friends for all your encouraging comments and faves. I enjoy reading them all and get inspiration from all your wonderful photography too....Sue

For Week 202 in Poetography... A weekly Inspiration. The word/theme this week is thankful

Textures thanks to Shadowhouse Creations; Filters by Topaz

~~~ Thank you all for viewing, kind comments, favs and awards - much appreciated! ~~~

I would like to thank everyone who take the time to view and comment on my photographs it is greatly appreciated and encouraging

Rolleiflex sl 66, Hp5, D76 1+1

Thank you all for your comments and nice words. They encourage further work.

Clematis 'Jackmanii' is a Clematis cultivar which, when it was introduced in 1862, was the first of the modern large-flowered hybrid clematises of gardens. It is a climber with large violet-purple blooms, still among the most familiar climbers seen in gardens. It was produced from crosses made by the prominent nurseryman George Jackman (1837–1887), of Jackman & Sons, Woking, Surrey.

C. 'Jackmanii' arose from crosses made in 1858 between Clematis lanuginosa, the red form of C. viticella, and an earlier garden hybrid, Clematis × hendersonii, which the new hybrid eclipsed. The spectacular success of 'Jackmanii' encouraged Jackman & Sons to introduce a series of clematis hybrids, although none of these ousted 'Jackmanii' from favour. Jackman also produced a monograph, The Clematis as a Garden Flower (with T. Moore, 1872), which he dedicated to H.S.H. Princess Mary, Duchess of Teck, as the clematis was one of her favourite flowers.

Few of Jackman's early hybrids survive today, in part because they were grafted, often on 'Jackmanii', but the dependable, floriferous and hardy 'Jackmanii' itself remains one of the most popular clematises of North American farmyard gardens in the East and the Midwest, where it is hardy to USDA Zone 4a; it is seen grown on trellis, fence, arbor, porch pillar, or lamppost, wherever the soil retains some moisture and the roots are shaded, even if only by a large flat rock. The plant flowers on the year's new growth, so pruning is best done in early spring, before the plant leafs out. Cut to the ground the plant can reach 3 metres (10 ft) during the season; a column of bloom can be achieved by pruning out stems at varying heights, some as low as four buds, others above head height.

thx 4 faves comments invites so encouraging

Thank You Very Much all for your encouraging ♡♡♡

Entry for the TMI Art & Nature Group

NEW CHALLENGE: In the Style of ... Les Nabis

BiG THANKS to EVERYONE for your personal comments and also your support from selected groups.

Awards are always encouraging and especially appreciated from those add my work to their collection of 'faves'.

Cheerz G

I would like to thank everyone who take the time to view and comment on my photographs it is greatly appreciated and encouraging

Not one I encourage normally, but when they stare at you with such intelligence & confidence and display plumage of such perfect beauty, it's impossible not to offer something. Our house already bears too many cockatoo scars so I need to resist their charming ways.

I was much encouraged by a friend's appreciation to attempt more shots at relatively slow shutter speeds for panning with an 800mm focal length, hand-held lens. I am glad I did as I got several pictures that I wouldn't otherwise have attempted - this is one such taken at 1/60th seconds.

The Gladiator was the last biplane fighter to enter RAF service, in 1937 - the same year as the far more capable Spitfire. Despite looking rather old fashioned, it has a very sprightly performance, compared to other biplanes of the era, but even so, was already pretty much obsolescent when it entered service. It had some relatively novel features such as landing flaps (seen in the lowered position in the picture) and an enclosed cockpit. This latter was not very popular with pilots of the day as 'real flying' involved being in the open air. Later aircraft that flew higher and faster in much colder air soon put paid that attitude! The cockpit hood was kept in the open position for this display.

thx 4 faves comments invites always encouraging press L to view full

Wild South Africa

Kruger National Park

Hyena puppy on the warpath.

Full frame, with the mother at his/its side to encourage him/it.

Watching the sun set on the other side of Ploumanac'h Lighthouse on the Pink Granite Coast

Cotes d'Armor, Brittany

Thank you for your views, encouraging comments and faves!

Portrait of a captive bred Ferruginous Hawk. Buteo regalis is Latin for royal hawk.

Thanks for your visit… Any comment you make on my photograph is greatly appreciated and encouraging! But please do not use this image without permission.

We are encouraged to go for a walk so took the first step today nice to get out again I had no communication with anyone did not have to think about 6 feet separation.

My wife was trying to encourage my younger daughter to finish this long slope.

Main Summit of Joy Mountain. 3,416-metre-high (11,207 ft)

A freshly emerged second generation male Adonis Blue butterfly.

Thanks for your visit… Any comment you make on my photographs is greatly appreciated and encouraging! But please do not use this image without permission.

Salt Water ✈

Thank You Very Much all for your encouraging ♡♡♡

Kalamaki, as Kalkan was known in ancient history is thought to have been founded between 150-200 years ago by traders from the Greek Island of Meis, which lies 2 miles off shore from the town of Kas, which is 18 miles from Kalkan.

The success of those early traders encouraged others of both Greek and Turkish origin to settle. Evidence of this can be seen in the similarity in architecture in Meis and Kalkan. Settlement was further stimulated by Kalkan's harbour which was the only safe, hospitable harbour between Fethiye and Kas.

Kalkan Mosque

Kalkan's Mosque, originally a Greek orthodox church is one of Kalkan's earliest buildings and the architecture is very reminiscent of churches that can be seen in the Greek Mediterranean today.

Kalkan people were largely involved in trade. Various produce, including charcoal, silk, cotton, Olive oil, timber, grapes and sesame were brought by camel from the plains of Patara and mountains to be loaded onto ships where goods were taken to other parts of the Ottoman empire such as Egypt, Syria, Cyprus, Rhodes and Lebanon.

The 20th century saw Kalkan prosper with this trade, and history records that in the early 1900's there was a customs House, 17 restaurants, a goldsmith and several tailors at this time.

The 1920's saw the start of changes, with the founding of the Turkish Republic, and population exchange of Greeks and Turks. Greeks who were living in Turkey moved to Greece and Australia, and Turks who were living in Greece moved to Turkey.

In the 1960's a coastal road was completed between Kalkan and the larger towns of Antalya to the East and Fethiye to the West. This new mobility and the opportunities for local people to develop businesses further afield meant that at that time many people left Kalkan.

"Mr. Cab Driver" - Lenny Kravitz

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lq6rEPBN7aA

Created for City Transports Challenge - January 2018

www.flickr.com/groups/challenges_community_group/discuss/...

Sponsoring Groups of this Challenge : Worlds Of Thrylium

Thanks indeed everyone for your personal comments and also your support from selected groups.

Awards are encouraging and especially from those who add my work to their 'faves'.

Cheerz G

Jamiroquai - Where Do We Go from Here?

BiG THANKS to EVERYONE for your personal comments and also your support from selected groups.

Awards are always encouraging and especially appreciated from those add my work to their collection of 'faves'.

Cheerz G

Credits here.

Encouraged by the images of others like Ay Naku and Artsee Fartsy I am going to try to be a little more brave and take street shots.

This is of a chess player deep into the game.

HBW

View On Black

After school, the triplets stop by the arcade for snacks and fun...

♬ ▶♬

Skippy envisioned his universe with the help of the following stellar creations:

Soy's Game Cafe Table, Game Cafe Chairs, and Coins, which are all part of the Game Cafe Table Set, available at The Mens Dept. (TMD)!

Contraption's Hard Shell Backpack, available at TMD!

The little men wear the following cool new styles (left to right):

Complex's CMPLX Jacket (@TMD)

Semller's Brit Boots (@TMD)

Mirror's Jamie Glasses (@TMD)

ExalteD's Drake Vest (@TMD)

not so bad Charly Jeans (@TMD)

Vale Koer's Primefiber Trainers

Cold Ash's Ryan Bomber Jacket (@TMD)

Aitui's My Sweats Pants (@TMD)

Vale Koer's Refined Dunks

Taxi to TMD!

Skippy also created his universe with the following amazing designs:

Soy's Green Green House, and Wooden Wings Ceiling Fans!

ChicaChica's Milk Shakes, which are all part of the Milk Shake Collection!

Seven Emporium's Token Machine, and Cold Drinks Neon Sign!

NOMAD's Shanty Apartments!

Black Bantam's Crinkle Fries Paper Boat, Single Fry, and Secret Sauce Dipper!

Toro's Skeeball Machines, Roll The Ball Sign, and Tickets Neon Sign!

Let's keep encouraging one another,

offering a hand or kind word, lifting each other up.

Together we can change the world!

Keep shining so bright, my friends!