SUMMER ADVENTURES - Episode 28 - A SHORT WALK THROUGH AN ABANDONED STONE QUARRY ( The Wednesday walk episode :D )
Small lizards basking in the sun ... are watching my every step ...
... and this black beetle ... I don't know the exact species ...
... is climbing a bolder ...
... which is actually ...
... just a little rock ... one of those small ones that can enter your shoe and irritate you while walking ...
... but there are real boulders here ...
... rocks ... stones ... boulders ...
... and flowers ...
... in this period covered with great numbers of these small bugs ...
... it's an abandoned stone quarry ...
... and I'm walking around a large stone arena ...
... if you like ...
... you can follow me :D ...
... in this ... mostly circular walk ...
... remember the climbing beetle from a few pictures ago? ...
... here is a mating pair of them ...
... walking their own Wednesday walk ...
... around the quarry ... among the many mostly white and gray colored rocks ... I found a different one ...
... but after a better look, I saw that is actually...
... a toad ... resting in a bit of shade between the rocks and small plants ...
... these minuscule flowers are beautiful but so small that is very difficult to notice them among the rocks ... they look a bit like a minuscule version of roses ...
... the terrain is mostly covered by this plant and a multitude of its yellow flowers ...
... and many painted lady butterflies are flying around ...
... these small gracile cricket ...
... is also feeding on these yellow fields ...
... here among the flowers ...
... I found also this macabre little scene ...
... pieces of a rabbit's carcass were scattered around ...
... and on one of those pieces, these little beetles were feeding on the rotting flesh ...
... this larva is half-buried in the carcass, this is the hind part of the larva ... the front part with the mouth is inside the carcass, munching the rotting tissues ...
... the carcass is stinky and unpleasant in every way ...
... but the beetles have cute faces ...
... here is one, peeking behind a little rock ... and here is also a little video about their activity ...
... a bit further ...
... another small lizard ...
... one of the many that are laying and running around these rocks ...
... and some minutes, some steps later ...
... I came across a much bigger green lizard ...
... meanwhile ...
... the mating black beetles are still walking around ...
... on one small plant ... in the shade of big boulders...
... I found this ...
( Enlargeable )
... from a distance, it looked like flowers ...
... when I came closer ... looked more like something fungal ...
... with strange little aphids walking on that ...
... I thought ... look, I found something for the next fungi Friday ...
... but then ...
( Enlargeable )
... I noticed something like red larva ... and first thought was, maybe they hunting the aphids ...
... but the aphids were walking safely not only around them ... but even on them ...
... and those '' larva things '' were actually pretty similar to those '' fungal shapes'' ... in general ... it was the strange feeling of continuity and similarity throughout all those shapes and colors ... it looked very strange ... this part of the walk was really like some journey to an alien planet ...
... when I moved one of the fungi looking things ... I saw the legs on it ...
... and they were moving ...
... this was clearly an animal ...
... later ... when I came home ... I did a bit of Internet searching and find out that these are scale insects ... Icerya purchasi ... cottony cushion scale ... and these are all phases inside the same species ... very fascinating ...
... in few places between the small rocks ...
... and on them ...
... were these structures that looked a lot like the excrements of earthworms that I see on fields ... only in brown and red earthly colors ... but this stone and chalk dust-filled environment looked like an unlikely place for an earthworm ...
... but then ...
... after a bit of searching under some larger rocks ... I found it ...
... the worm ... a long earthworm ... or shall I say - the stone-worm :D ... and he was excreting the chalk thing I saw before ...
( Enlargeable )... meanwhile ...
... the mating beetles ...
... are continuing their journey between the rocks ...
... and with them going away ...
... plus this photograph of one of the many small moths that were flying before my feet at almost every step ... I'll end this little walk ... that's it have a good Wednesday ... wherever on the planet you are ... as always in these posts on Steemit, all the photographs ... the GIFs made from some of those photographs ...and the video ... are my work ...
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Thank you
I love your adventure posts the most. They are always such a long journey through the smallest of things. Those white fungus-like creatures were so interesting! I've never seen anything like it.
:) Glad you like these little things, I like to photograph those the most, always a lot of things that surprise me ... neither I saw those scale insects before, It was a great shooting day.
... immersion in another reality ... mysterious creatures and an unfamiliar land ... the macrocosm is a parallel reality that we usually step on with our shoes ... this topic captivates me more and more
Great career walk!
That's why I like to photograph these small things so much. When I'm concentrated on macro view while shooting, I experience those small patches of ground or some plant, like real landscapes ... a very fantasy or Syfy places, and it is like being there, it's very much like traveling far away ... :) in a relatively inexpensive way
I agree ... I had an idea to create mini landscapes on my table ... natural of course is better ...
I am also engaged in wood carving and I have small figures. It may not be small enough for macro, but I can do less. I want to combine two hobbies in one
This is a great Idea. little home studio for macro. To connect the art of making wood figures with photography another great one ... interesting light can give life to the figures and little landscapes ... and from that is just a minuscule step to animation, if not else, the GIFs are simple to make, don't need many sequences and give vivacity in posts, it's not smooth animation but is fun, I always like to see an interesting GIF.
I have not tried to produce GIFs. But I see that their presence really enlivens the message. I will have to try. Thanks for the advice. For mini landscapes, I already have many small interesting stones, amber and various other trifles. ... there is very little left ... to start practicing... :-))
:) great ... coming soon ...
;D
The colours on the lizards look amazing. Great post.
True :) they are colored a bit like some reptilian parrots. Very beautiful animals.