100 Days of Nature - Days 20 through 36...

It's been a really rough few weeks. My mom was diagnosed with stomach cancer last year, about 10 months ago. Despite her stubbornness and positivity, she sadly passed away on 28 August.

I know it sounds peculiar, but I have kept up my "100 Days of Nature" throughout this whole time. It's been a cathartic release, having a project to work on which actually made me get out of the house and think about something else.

I have been avoiding most forms of social media over the last few weeks, but I am feeling a bit braver now, so I am catching up!

Day 20 - my first frog. Dedicated to my mom

Day 21

Day 22

Day 23

Day 24

Day 25

Day 26

Day 27

Day 28

Day 29

Day 30

Day 31

Day 32

Day 33

Day 34

Day 35

Day 36

100 Days of Nature - Day 14

I spotted this little guy on my orange blossom tree, which is right next to my rather sad looking rosemary bush. Looking online, I think he is the cause of my rosemary's sadness! He's a rosemary beetle, and an invasive pest, which I guess means I have to try & get rid of them. It seems a pity, as they are so pretty!

100 Days of Nature - Day 13

I worked late again tonight, so had to contend with little light, over cast skies AND wind. I was poking around in my neighbours leylandii, looking for critters which were sheltered from the wind, and was so focused on the abundance of webs that I almost walked into this girl. I'm not scared of spiders, but I think having her crawl over my face would give even me the heebie-jeebies...

100 Days of Nature - Day 11

I am very grateful to these blog titles - they are certainly helping me keep track of what day of the challenge I am on!

I got this shot of a jackdaw this morning. I would have liked the eye to be a bit more in focus, but he flew off very quickly, so I didn't have time to focus properly.

I submitted the colour version to the BBC Nature Facebook page, because I love the colour of this feathers, but I do also like how it turned out in black and white - he stands out more against the background.

Ultimately though, my love of colour won out!

100 Days of Nature - Day 10

Frequent, heavy showers seemed to keep all the birds and mini beasts away today, so I had to content myself with some lichen I found on a honeysuckle stalk. The wind has not stopped all week either, which is vexing, but hey!

100 Days of Nature - Day 9

I got a photo in early this today - I didn't even need to go for a walk! I spotted this little squirrel stealing peanuts, then trying to bury them in the garden, this morning. The lighting is a bit odd, but she bolted soon after she caught sight of me through the window, so I had to make do.

100 Days of Nature: Day 7

I was just about to give up today. I could find nothing interesting in the garden apart from grass and dandelion leaves (which, fyi, are not very interesting). Just as I was heading back inside though, a little movement on the wall caught my eye & I saw this jumping spider. I am really pleased with how sharp the eyes came out - I didn't have time to set the tripod up for fear of losing my little arachnid friend, so I hand-held and manually focused. Go me!

100 Days of Nature: Day 6

Ha, so much for snails being slow! No sooner had I tried to focus, when ol' Speedy here had made a dash for it and messed up the shot! Oh, well, I'm pretty happy with this one - I like the reflection in the bird bath.

100 Days of Nature - Day 3

I didn't have time after work to go for a walk today, so thought I would see what I could find in the garden.

I am sad to admit that I am not very green-fingered, so there wasn't much to choose from. However, after scouring the lawn for potential subjects, I found this little guy drinking nectar from a buttercup. It was the most chilled out bug of all time - hung on in there despite the wind and even let me rearrange the grass around it a little to get a better shot. If only butterflies and dragonflies were as cooperative...

Hexagon wheel

OK, one more shot of these beauties!

The hexagons march on...

We have some friends over later, but I am taking advantage of the long overdue sunny weather to sit in the garden (on my picnic blanket) until then. Whilst braving hay fever, I am also being good & weaving in ends of some hexagons. I hate weaving in, but I hate having a backlog of it at the end of a project even more so I am trying to keep up with it!

I am making pretty decent progress on these - I'm up to 20-something. I'm not sure how many I'll need, time will tell...