DESKTOP 3193 - DUCK AND COOTS

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme

DESKTOP 3192 - SUNRISE SONG

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme

DESKTOP 3191 - FRENCH LAVENDER

Lavandula stoechas (French lavender, Spanish lavender, or topped lavender) is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae, occurring naturally in Mediterranean countries. It is an evergreen shrub, usually growing to 30–100 cm tall and occasionally up to 2 m high in the subspecies luisieri.

The leaves are 1–4 cm long, greyish and tomentose. The flowers, which appear in late spring and early summer, are pink to purple, produced on spikes 2 cm long at the top of slender, leafless stems 10–30 cm long; each flower is subtended by a bract 4–8 mm long. At the top of the spike are a number of much larger, sterile bracts (no flowers between them), 10–50 mm long and bright lavender purple (rarely white).

This species is more fragile than common English lavender (Lavandula angustifolia), as it is less winter hardy; but harsher and more resinous in its oils. Like other lavenders, it is associated with hot, dry, sunny conditions in alkaline soils. However, it tolerates a range of situations, though it may be short-lived. Selected forms are grown as ornamental plants. The cultivar 'Willow Vale' has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

DESKTOP 3190 - AUTUMN LEAVES

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the My Corner of the World meme,
and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

DESKTOP 3189 - PHILADELPHIA, USA

Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the sixth-most populous city in the United States, with an estimated population of 1,567,872 and more than 6 million in the seventh-largest metropolitan statistical area, as of 2016. Philadelphia is the economic and cultural anchor of the Delaware Valley—a region located in the Northeastern United States at the confluence of the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers with 7.2 million people residing in the eighth-largest combined statistical area in the United States. Illustrated here is the City's Art Gallery.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme.

DESKTOP 3188 - ANZAC POPPIES

It's Anzac Day here in Australia today and it's a day of memories and memorials, peace-making and commemoration of all who died in conflicts. The red poppies of Flanders fields are a symbol of the fallen. Lest we forget...

This is part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.

DESKTOP 3187 - RABBIT

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

DESKTOP 3186 - BLACK SWAN

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme

DESKTOP 3185 - ASLEEP

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme

DESKTOP 3184 - DELPHINIUM

Delphinium is a genus of about 300 species of perennial flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae, native throughout the Northern Hemisphere and also on the high mountains of tropical Africa. All members of the Delphinium genus are toxic to humans and livestock. The common name "larkspur" is shared between perennial Delphinium species and annual species of the genus Consolida. The name "delphinium" derives from the Latin for "dolphin", referring to the shape of the nectary. 

Delphinium grandiflorum ‘Blue Mirror’ shown here, is a dwarf delphinium, very different from the traditional tall spiky delphiniums. This cultivar forms a low, bushy mound of lacy green leaves. Plants bear loose sprays of single electric-blue flowers throughout the summer. Ideal for containers, the rock garden and for edging the sunny border. Remove faded flower heads regularly to encourage repeat blooming. Although not a long-lived perennial, this will often self-sow where happy. Said to be tolerant of hot, humid summer climates. Also known to do remarkably well in areas with short, cool summers. An outstanding cut flower, lasting a week in a vase.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme

DESKTOP 3183 - PERSIMMONS

Autumn means that the persimmons are ripening and their bright orange colour ensures that only do they please the taste buds, but also the eyes. Some people do not like eating these. What about you? Are you a persimmon eater or a persimmon hater?

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the My Corner of the World meme,
and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

DESKTOP 3182 - KANGAROO ISLAND

Kangaroo Island is Australia's third-largest island, after Tasmania and Melville Island. It lies in the state of South Australia 112 km southwest of Adelaide. Its closest point to the mainland is Snapper Point in Backstairs Passage which is 13.5 km from the Fleurieu Peninsula. Once occupied by Australian Aborigines, the native population disappeared from the archaeological record when the land became an island following rising sea levels several thousand years ago.

 

It was subsequently settled intermittently by sealers and whalers in the early 19th century, and from 1836 on a permanent basis during the establishment of the colony of South Australia. Since then the island's economy has been principally agricultural, with a southern rock lobster fishery and with tourism growing in importance. The largest town, and the administrative centre, is Kingscote. The island has several nature reserves to protect the remnants of its natural vegetation and native animals, with the largest and best-known being Flinders Chase National Park at the western end.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme.

DESKTOP 3181 - RAIN

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.

DESKTOP 3180 - ZEN

A corner of our garden where a meditating Buddha encourages us to be calm and relaxed, taking city life in our stride. Zen (also Zen Buddhism) noun [mass noun] is a Japanese school of Mahayana Buddhism emphasising the value of meditation and intuition rather than ritual worship or study of scriptures.

 

Zen Buddhism was introduced to Japan from China in the 12th century, and has had a profound cultural influence. The aim of Zen is to achieve sudden enlightenment (satori) through meditation in a seated posture (zazen), usually under the guidance of a teacher and often using paradoxical statements (koans) to transcend rational thought.

 

ORIGIN Japanese, literally ‘meditation’, from Chinese chán ‘quietude’, from Sanskrit dhyāna ‘meditation’.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

DESKTOP 3179 - BLACK COCKATOO

The yellow-tailed black cockatoo (Zanda funerea) is a large cockatoo native to the south-east of Australia measuring 55–65 cm (22–26 in) in length. It has a short crest on the top of its head. Its plumage is mostly brownish black and it has prominent yellow cheek patches and a yellow tail band. The body feathers are edged with yellow giving a scalloped appearance. The adult male has a black beak and pinkish-red eye-rings, and the female has a bone-coloured beak and grey eye-rings.

In flight, yellow-tailed black cockatoos flap deeply and slowly, with a peculiar heavy fluid motion. Their loud, wailing calls carry for long distances. The whiteae is found south of Victoria to the East of South Australia and is smaller in size. The yellow-tailed black cockatoo is found in temperate forests and forested areas across south and central eastern Queensland to southeastern South Australia, including a very small population persisting in the Eyre Peninsula. Two subspecies are recognised, although Tasmanian and southern mainland populations of the southern subspecies xanthanotus may be distinct enough from each other to bring the total to three. 

The yellow-tailed black cockatoo's diet primarily includes seeds of native and introduced plants while also feeding on wood-boring grubs. They nest in large hollows high in old growth native trees (greater than 200 years old), generally Eucalyptus regnans. Although they remain common throughout much of their range, fragmentation of habitat and loss of large trees suitable for nesting has caused population decline in Victoria and South Australia. Furthermore, the species may lose most of its mainland range due to climate change.

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme

DESKTOP 3178 - GOOD FRIDAY SKY

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme

DESKTOP 3177 - JAPANESE ANEMONES

Anemone hupehensis, Anemone hupehensis var. japonica, and Anemone × hybrida (commonly known as the Chinese anemone or Japanese anemone, thimbleweed, or windflower) are species of flowering herbaceous perennials in the Ranunculaceae family. A. hupehensis is native to central China, though it has been naturalised in Japan for hundreds of years.

The species was first named and described in Flora Japonica (1784), by Carl Thunberg. Thunberg had collected dried specimens while working as a doctor for the Dutch East Indies Company. In 1844, Robert Fortune brought the plant to England from China, where he found it often planted about graves.

Height is 1–1.5 m and the leaves have three leaflets. Flowers are 40–60 mm across, with 5-6 (or up to 20 in double forms) sculpted pink or white petals and prominent yellow stamens, blooming from midsummer to autumn. These plants thrive best in shady areas and under protection of larger plants. They are especially sensitive to drought or overwatering. They can be invasive or weedy in some areas, throwing out suckers from the fibrous rootstock, to rapidly colonise an area. Once established they can be extremely difficult to eradicate. On the other hand, they can take some time to become established.

 This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

DESKTOP 3176 - WERRIBEE RIVER

The Werribee River is a perennial river of the Port Phillip catchment that is located on the plain West of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The headwaters of a tributary, the Lerderderg River, are north of Ballan near Daylesford and it flows across the basalt plain, through the suburb of Werribee to enter Port Phillip. A linear park follows the Werribee River along much of its course. In total the Werribee River completes a journey of approximately 110 kilometres. 

This post is part of the My Corner of the World meme,
and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

DESKTOP 3175 - IBIZA, SPAIN

Ibiza (Catalan: Eivissa) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of Spain. It is 150 kilometres from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, an autonomous community of Spain. Its largest settlements are Ibiza Town (Catalan: Vila d'Eivissa, or simply Vila), Santa Eulària des Riu, and Sant Antoni de Portmany. Its highest point, called Sa Talaiassa (or Sa Talaia), is 475 metres above sea level.

 

Ibiza has become well known for its association with nightlife, electronic dance music that originated on the island, and for the summer club scene, all of which attract large numbers of tourists drawn to that type of holiday. Several years before 2010, the island's government and the Spanish Tourist Office had been working to promote more family-oriented tourism, with the police closing down clubs that played music at late night hours, but by 2010 this policy was reversed. Around 2015 it was resumed. 

 

Ibiza is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Ibiza and the nearby island of Formentera to its south are called the Pine Islands, or "Pityuses".

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme.

DESKTOP 3174 - AQUARIUM

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.

DESKTOP 3173 - FIBRES

A photomicrograph (photograph taken through a microscope) of the cellulose fibres making up a sheet of lens cleaning paper, magnified about 100 times. The image has been pseudocolourised with LUT (look up table) corresponding to intensity of light transmission.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

DESKTOP 3172 - CRESTED PIGEON

The native Crested Pigeon (Ocyphaps lophotes) is a bird found widely throughout mainland Australia except for the far northern tropical areas. Only two Australian pigeon species possess an erect crest, the crested pigeon and the spinifex pigeon. The crested pigeon is the larger of the two species.

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme.

DESKTOP 3171 - SUNSET RUN

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme.

DESKTOP 3170 - GUMTREE IN FLOWER

Eucalyptus leucoxylon, commonly known as the Yellow Gum, (South Australian) Blue Gum or White Ironbark, is a small to medium-sized tree with rough bark on the lower 1-2 metres of the trunk, above this, the bark becomes smooth with a white, yellow or bluish-grey surface. Adult leaves are stalked, lanceolate to broad-lanceolate, to 13 x 2.5 cm, concolorous, dull, green. Flowers in white, pink or red appear during winter.

This post is part of the Floral Friday meme.

DESKTOP 3169 - GREENHOUSE

As the weather turns cooler and plants in the garden begin to decline into their autumnal slumbers, a greenhouse is the perfect place to seek solace...

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the My Corner of the World meme,
and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

DESKTOP 3168 - YORKSHIRE MOORS

The North York Moors is a national park in North Yorkshire, England, containing one of the largest expanses of heather moorland in the United Kingdom. It covers an area of 1,430 km2, and has a population of 23,380. The North York Moors became a National Park in 1952, through the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act of 1949.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

DESKTOP 3167 - SEASONAL CONTRAST

North and South Hemisphere seasons collide!

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.

DESKTOP 3166 - VICTORIANA

Many a Melbourne house in the inner city is original Victorian, complete with ironwork lace balconies and sculptural architectural decorations.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme.

DESKTOP 3165 - SHY DOG

He's very outgoing once he gets to know you!

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme.

DESKTOP 3164 - DOG WALK

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme