Winter Wonderland

  

Going into town today with the purpose of shopping groceries, I found myself enchanted and “sidetracked” into the snowy landscape of the town park… All the snowy trees and lampposts and statues rather reminded me of Narnia!

Bird Snack Bar In The Park

 

The yellow bird is a Great Tit. The other one I’m not sure of… Possibly a Willow-Tit?

PS. We’ve been having broadband problems here lately.
Internet contact has been on and off irregularly for several days in a row now.
Not only  does it affect my own posting, but also how much
I’m able to catch up with my blogging friends!

Golden Light

Even on a gray day, the autumn leaves sometimes seem to be self-luminous.

Have A Seat, Admire The View

 

 

A walk up the rather steep hill to the Museum Park, Saturday.

For More Monday Mosaics, visit Mary’s Little Red House.

The Maple Tree

This big maple is the dominant tree in the park that in the summer I call the “butterfly park”.
It is also the park with the croquet lawn which I’ve only rarely seen anyone use.
(The “butterfly flowerbeds” are at the other end of the park.)

The Red Admiral Again

I finally managed to get closer to the Red Admiral (Vanessa Atalanta). This is a butterfly I don’t think I ever saw (noticed) until last summer, and it has been difficult getting close enough to it to get a good macro picture of it with its wings spread.

The wing span is 45-50 mm. The species is resident only in warmer areas, but migrates north in spring, and sometimes again in autumn. The caterpillar feeds on nettles, and the adult drinks from flowering plants like the Buddleja and overripe fruit. In northern Europe, it is one of the last butterflies to be seen before winter sets in. (Wikipedia)

Following the link to Buddleja, I also learned the name of those flowers in the park. It includes roughly 100 species. The generic name honours Reverend Adam Buddle (1662–1715), who was a botanist and a rector in Essex, England. Several species are popular garden plants. They are commonly known as butterfly bush due to their attractiveness to butterflies; they are also attractive to bees and moths.

I think the white ones below must be Buddleja too.

Fountain in the River

Damaged Beauty

This poor Peacock butterfly (top picture) was missing one of its wings, but still managed to flutter about and enjoy the flowers together with the other butterflies in the park. (I wonder if it feels pain, or just a slight imbalance?!)

The Admiral and the Painted Lady

Red Admiral – Vanessa Atalanta – Amiralfjäril

Painted Lady - Cynthia Cardui – Tistelfjäril

I was out chasing butterflies in the park again the other day. The Admiral wasn’t very keen on having his photograph taken – he kept his distance. But his Painted Lady friend was quite willing to pose for me with wings spread.

More August Dahlias

My mum used to grow dahlias in the garden, and there were always dahlias in bloom for my birthday. Now I’m lucky enough to be able to enjoy them (in all shapes and colours) in one of the parks within walking distance from where I live. (The same park as in the previous three posts.)

Waterfall

Clematis

   

The Butterfly Park

This is the park that attracts the butterflies. It is divided into different “rooms”.
The pink-blue-white room seemed to be the most popular this past weekend.

How many butterflies do you see in the last picture?

Buzzzy Day

Glad to be able to report the butterflies were “back” in the park yesterday. 
The ones in these pictures are Small Tortoiseshell (Nässelfjäril) and Common Brimstone (Citronfjäril). Unfortunately the latter never settle with the wings spread. Hanging from the flowers they’re often hard to distinguish from surrounding leaves. Flying about the males are bright yellow (therefore in Swedish have a name that translates Lemon Butterfly).

Today it’s raining, and I’m playing with the butterflies on the computer instead of in the park.

Bird Sanctuary

In the lake below the museum park with the old buildings, there is a bird sanctuary. 
 

A Bit Of History

I visited our museum park again one afternoon when it wasn’t as crowded as it was on Midsummer’s Eve when I was there last. Besides old wooden buildings, they also have a collection of reconstructions of ancient burial sites.

The Cist goes back to 2400 – 1500 BC.

The stone circle was common from the Bronze Age until the Viking age.

More unusual is a triangular, sort of starlike shape from the Iron Age (~500-1050 AD).

These four photos are all straight-from-the-camera shots.
The light was a little difficult, both sunlight and shadow.