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BjornIdle

@BjornIdle@mastodonapp.uk

Current location: North Norfolk, UK

Introverted human. About 70% water, with the rest mostly microbes and awkwardness. Prone to whimsy and self-deprecation.

NOTE: I am now across the other side of the world from where I usually live, so posting at different times of the day.

All photos are my own (except boosted). Am a little red/green colour blind, so things might look different to how I see them...

I try only to boost pictures with #AltText

#MECFS #pwME #Photography #MacroPhotography

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. For a complete list of posts, browse on the original instance.

BjornIdle , to random
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Portraits of some of the recent lichens I've met. My guesses as to IDs:

  • Flavoparmelia caperata
  • A nice moss that looks like asparagus tips, with Xanthoria parietina & physcia adscendens (?) growing through / around it
  • Parmotrema, physcia & candelariella
  • Caloplaca species

Closeup of a patch of moss seen from above. It has bright yellow lichen growing through it, and is surrounded by pale green lichen with what look like thin fleshy hairs sticking out at different angles
Closeup of a silver-gray lichen in wide sheets / lobes, growing on top of a blanket of yellow powdery lichen. A few of the narrow grey lichens from the previous picture with the fleshy hairs wind through some of the larger variety
Closeup of a quarter of a round orange-yellow lichen growing on stone, which has a black powdery residue (possibly another lichen) dotted around. The main orange-yellow lichen has tiny holes near the tips of its fine lobes, an area of whitish-yellow inside this, then its centre is a multitude of raised yellow-orange lumps with cracks in between, looking like the dried, cracked mud left over after a lake dries out

BjornIdle , to random
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An osteospermum that has closed up for the evening, as seen from the side. Very neat and tidy!

Vertical pic

BjornIdle , to random
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I love how this turned out. The wind was pretty strong yesterday morning, and this little cowslip (primula veris) was moving around a lot. I think that movement is really subtly captured in this shot - by complete accident of course...

BjornIdle , to random
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So InverteFest has started? Cool!

Here's an Alagastica alni (Alder Leaf Beetle) I spotted today over at RHS Hyde Hall. Bit of a shame the metallic blue colour didn't really show through very well on this shot, but there are hints of it at least.

loren , to random
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Black throated blueberry

BjornIdle ,
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@loren Oooh, sounds tasty!

BjornIdle ,
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@loren 🤔 I have a thousand questions.... What's their normal habitat? Do they move in large flocks or pairs? If I dress up as one will they let me get close? What call do they make? Do they nest above ground or below? What's the best time of year to find them? Do they migrate? Are they aggressive?...

BjornIdle ,
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@loren Am much obliged. I will look for them and report back if I encounter any! 😀

BjornIdle , to random
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Yellow Archangel (Lamium galeobdolon) growing in a bluebell wood. The contrast in colours with the surrounding flowers and green foliage was lovely.

NanoBookReview , (edited ) to random
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BjornIdle ,
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@NanoBookReview Two sparrows cross flight paths, their tails in line with one another, as they move to and from a bird feeder that stands to the left of the photo. Thick tree trunks stand in the background

BjornIdle ,
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@NanoBookReview No problem! 😃

BjornIdle , to random
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The first borage flowers just starting to open. I caught this one, the first of its cluster, and the first on this plant. Love that blue!

Vertical pic

BjornIdle , to random
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Reed beds catching the sun as they sway in the breeze. Sometimes I like a really simple image...

BjornIdle , to random
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Errr...Tulips. What else can I say?
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Ummm....They're beautiful?

BjornIdle , to random
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I discovered these yesterday growing in a churchyard. They might be fiddleneck, a type of phacelia, or perhaps an as-yet-undescribed plant that hairy caterpillars grow on...

Closeup of several hairy, as-yet-unopened flower heads on the top of the same plant. There's a pinkish cast to each flower bud, and each head forms curving trail that looks like a hairy caterpillar. The plant stem is also hairy, and it has leaves shaped a bit like a thin chrysanthememum's. The background is all blurry grass
ALT
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    • + Krisss, loren
    BjornIdle , to random
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    Quick! Hide under that bluebell... A bumblebee rests in a rather sparse bluebell flower head

    BjornIdle , to random
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    There's just the odd late Narcissus / Daff still around, enjoying the sunshine. Fancy ones like this are quite nice...

    Vertical pic

    BjornIdle , to random
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    A Scarlet Lily Beetle looking a bit uncertain at the massive camera that's being pointed at it. The plant it was hanging onto had had all of its leaves munched away back to the stem, although I doubt that this beetle is the sole culprit...

    Vertical pic

    BjornIdle , to random
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    A Jay in the woods. They're quite shy - to be honest I don't blame them - and this one didn't hang around very long either.

    BjornIdle , to random
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    Bluebells in the local wood are pretty close to their peak. I prophecise more bluebells in my near future...

    A vertical pic

    BjornIdle , to random
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    I'm finding lots of Peacock Butterflies around the place at the moment. They're loving the bluebells, but this one was just sunning itself in a calm spot, enjoying a moment's peace...

    BjornIdle , to random
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    Got out to our first RPSB reserve today (West Canvey Marshes), and saw lots of lovely things (Avocets!, Oystercatchers, Kestrel, Sandpipers, Egrets, Lapwing & more).

    Didn't get any pics, though, so here's a nice Robin posing on a tree stump from a few days ago.

    BjornIdle , to random
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    I haven't found a lot of lichen in the local woods here yet, but there is a nice miniature stand of cladonia covering an old tree stump.

    Hopefully there will be some more interesting things to discover as we move around a bit more...

    BjornIdle , to random
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    Forget-me-nots, making sure we don't forget them. They often seem to go all mildewy at home after a little while, so it'll be interesting to see whether the same thing happens over here...

    Vertical pic

    loren , to random
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    So many more things are happening for me lately than have been in the last 2 years it is very strange

    BjornIdle ,
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    @loren Hopefully good things????

    BjornIdle ,
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    @loren Awesome! Best of luck with the market 😃

    BjornIdle ,
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    @loren Are you selling things from the second hand / house clearances (have I remembered that right?), or some of your photos?

    BjornIdle ,
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    @loren Awesome! Hope you sell lots of pics 😃

    BjornIdle , to random
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    A couple of other shots of a kookaburra I got last week. In between these 2 photos, this friend had been divebombed by an Australian Magpie and a Noisy Miner, poor thing! Still manages to look regal and awesome despite all the attention, though

    The same kookaburra, this time on a different branch, with the sun more at a side angle. Its head is looking more downward now, probably at the group of humans having a picnic below this one's tree

    BjornIdle , to random
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    Noisy Miners are a very common type of honeyeater. They're seemingly always squawking, and bullying other birds (like kookaburras, which are larger than them).

    I probably won't get many favourites from Australians with this one...

    BjornIdle , to random
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    Here be dragons...Eastern Water Dragons, that is!

    This one was trying to grab every last ray of sun it could from the top of its tree stump, perched within the dappled shade of the surrounding gum trees.

    On the walk up to Bradley's Head last weekend.

    Vertical pic

    BjornIdle , to random
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    There seem to be lots of ladybirds around here at the moment. As this one was posing next to a raindrop I felt it only right to share a little portrait...

    Of course, I can't usually see them unless I'm up close already, or someone points them out to me, but once I know where to look I can see the colour OK.

    BjornIdle , to random
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    Our red dahlia looking stunning a couple of weeks ago. I really do like the centres of dahlias, with those split yellow anthers and the simple shape...

    Vertical pic

    BjornIdle , to random
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    I'm going to miss mushroom season in NZ this year, having jumped straight from early Autumn to a northern hemisphere Spring.

    Here's a clump of Inky Caps from last year that I never got around to tooting...

    BjornIdle , to random
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    It's been a few days since I posted some lichen, so here we go!

    All these were growing together on the bark of a still-thriving tree.

    There's Parmotrema, lecanora, usnea, teloschistes, ramalina, haematomma, and physcia...I think!

    Vertical pic

    A group of several species of lichen all creating a minature ecosystem. There's an orange one with cup-like raised bits, a grey-green one like branches or roots of a tree, a wide-lobed silver-grey one with black tassel fringes, a dark crusty one with raised white-rimmed black blobs, a longer grey one with raised bits like an octopuses tentacle, a pale crusty one with raised red blobs, a powdery white one, and possibly others I haven't seen noticed!
    ALT
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    • + loren
    BjornIdle , to random
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    I was just packing up my camera in Hyde Park when this pair of kookaburras showed up. I love kookaburras!

    No chortling happened, but just seeing them after 6+ years is very cool.

    Warning: I may have to post more kookaburra photos in the coming days...

    The partner of the first bird, this one has a bit more blue on the wing. It perches on a different branch, and looks just as awesome as its mate

    BjornIdle OP ,
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    @loren They're just lovely! 😃

    BjornIdle , to random
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    A White-Faced Heron stalking dinner in a flooded paddock just behind the estuary

    BjornIdle , to random
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    A Black Swan showing off the nictitating membrane in its eye as it searches for noms in the shallows

    #BirdsOfMastodon #Birds #BlackSwan #Swan #Nature #NictitatingMembrane

    Closeup of the head of a black swan, partly submerged as it roots around in the shallows for any morsels of food. The red eye closest to the camera has a translucent extra eyelid drawn halfway across it, just past the pupil. This would allow it to search with its head fully underwater without water getting into the eye socket itself.
    ALT
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    • + loren
    BjornIdle , to random
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    Nerines getting ready to flower, looking like steepled fingers

    Vertical pic

    BjornIdle , to random
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    A little collection of mosses and lichens. Some alpine, some arboreal.

    A fallen stick below the tree it came from, surrounded by leaves and patches of moss. There's a large grey branched lichen sprouting from it
    Closeup of a slight bend in a tree branch. Its surface is covered with grey lichen, showing raised rounded fruiting bodies on the underside. It looks a bit like an elbow to me
    A large patch of golden moss crawling across tree bark. The bark around the moss is dark and wet in comparison to other parts. Does the moss keep that bark damp, or does the moss grow on those parts that are naturally wetter...?

    BjornIdle , to random
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    A friendly-looking sunset behind the trees up on the ridge. They make great silhouettes, these trees.

    BjornIdle , to random
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    Another little ecosystem of mixed lichens I found, this one on a fallen branch up in the mountains during Summer.

    Not sure if this shows 4 different species of lichen, or up to 6 (plus moss and cyanobacteria colonies?) I think my favourite is the green one with purple spots near the blobby orange-red thing at the bottom (...and what is that thing anyway?!)

    Mixed shapes and colours of lichen on a damp fallen branch resting on a bed of moss. There are round black bodies with white surrounds, some all-black versions (very fitting for NZ), pale angular ones with purple spots and a similar lichen that's green-tinted, one with white-rimmed pink-coloured rounded raised bodies, and a branched grey-green Usnea. Ine one corner there's a dark slimy-looking collection of blobs, and a weirdly vibrant orange-red tongue poking out of a black surround near the bottom of the picture.
    ALT
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    • + loren
    loren , to random
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    Going to see dune 2 with this goose

    BjornIdle ,
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    @loren I hope the goose likes it, or else there'll be chaos!

    BjornIdle ,
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    @loren Ah, could've been worse, I guess 😆

    loren , to random
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    im ready to see bats

    BjornIdle ,
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    @loren Count me in!

    BjornIdle , to random
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    The flowers of teucrium fruticans daub the back of a bumblebee with pollen as the bee gathers nectar. Here you can see the before / after on the same bee after it had visited a few flowers

    The same bee see on another flower. Now we can see pollen dust across its back, and the anthers standing away from the bee

    BjornIdle OP ,
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    @loren 🐝 🐝 🐝

    BjornIdle , to random
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    A quiet moment in the garden after the brief shower had passed

    A bright mauve artichoke flower with a bumblebee three-quarters hidden amongst its lushness. A pale yellow and coral-coloured lily flower leans in from the right, half-open and spotted with raindrops. A grass flower stalk leans across from the other side, draping itself through the artichoke flower, and there's a background of dark green lily leaves
    ALT
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