Annalia S.'s photos with the keyword: macro

Visiting weevil crossing the peeling seat of a garden stool that has been painted over in nearly all the colors of the rainbow ... and that could use further repainting :))

This is for any "garden variety" detectives out there. Who/what left this curl on one of the trees in my garden? Other clues; The only people who come into the garden are me and my husband (and neither of us is in the habit of scratching the bark off the trees). This is a tall tree with hardly any branching off except at the very top and it's very flexible. At the top of the tree a pair of wood pigeons are nesting. Right next to them hangs a home made bird feeder that is popular with sparrows. This is a macro, so the curl is actually quite small. Will publish the identity of the culprit tonight. Meanwhile ... does anyone care to have a guess? PIP ADDED and ... Congratulations, Karl and Stephan! You pretty much guessed it! We do not have woodpeckers or other birds that feed on bark parasites and no squirrels, so Suspect N. 1 is .... Mina! I have added a pip to introduce her to you. She is not ours but likes to visit and is possibly the fiercest hunter of her kind I have met, daring to mess even with creatures that are nearly as big as she is. She grew up with dogs so she has a number of dog like behaviours that are quite funny, such as laying on her back and showing her belly when she wants to play. A pleasant visitor but ... a terror for the poor birds!

An intimate look inside a backlit iris in my garden, the way a pollinator would see it as it comes in for the landing. A small miracle of natural "architecture", the iris flower starts out as a compact lance and slowly unfurls into a complex three-pronged pavilion, with entrance ways lined with a strip of pollen-bearing stamens and equipped with an upper lip that ensures the pollinating insects must rub on the stamen to gain entry to the nectar chamber. This delicate inner structure is protected by outer petals that curl upwards and towards each other to form a sort of graceful "roof". No architect could wish for a more elegant yet effective design! P.S. I added a PIP to show the complete structure of the flower. To the right of the full blown flower, a second one was still tightly furled into a lance-like shape (it is already half unfurled today, less than two days later).

Colorful details from the garden In the main image a tiny bronze coloured bug on my rose bush In the pips (top to bottom): 1. fallen physalis flowers 2. a rue twig against a terracotta shingle 3. new green leaves against the old shed wall 4. new green leaves composition 5. trio of pink flowers 6. fig leaves unfolding

In the mid-morning light an estivating snail casts a long shadow.