Summer Encaunter

After an "april-ish" spring summer came very fast. There was almost no occassion to wear my overpriced cagoule... Tsk! But I won't complain, I like warm weather. But for strolls it's often too hot for me, so I would prefer to take a refreshing bath in the lake. However there was still time to hunt some critters near the lake <3

Fen and I went to a meadowy countryside recently. It was very warm, so we enjoyed the shadow from the near forest and the cool wind from the near river. It was a very beautiful place with a lot of fancy animals.

Too bad we didn't bring our swimsuits with us!

There were beavers! But of course we didn't see any, these fuzzy critters are more nocturnal.

Pararge aegeria, a very beautiful butterfly which lives in warm forests.

Demoiselle (what a strange name for this kind of dragonfly). When they fly they look like elves.

I really like animals in and around ponds and watery places. My grandparents built a few ponds around their place and since I explored them as a kid I'm a frog fan. These animals fascinated me and even now, with 36 years (man I'm old) I still adore these green jumpers. So, here you have a few water frog pictures.

I really like the last picture <3
Unlike a lot of frogs, water frogs tend to stay by their ponds. Perfect for ringsnakes!

This ringsnake was a very shy one, I only managed it to took a picture of its body.

I visited the botanical garden of Zurich a few days ago and didn't took my camera with me. Why should I, I never expected any interesting animals there. But then there were a blindworm, frogs, fishes, birds and... and... THREE ringsnakes!!!!!! Two of them weren't shy at all. Especially one of them. It was hunting and browsed around the pond, looking for frogs. It started some attacks but never catched one. It was funny to look at it diving, gasping for air and sneaking up to some frogs <3
I really should form a habit of taking my camera with me everytime...

Well, yeah, and there were these moochers (maggots of Lilioceris lilii) on the lily of my mom. She killed them after I took a picture. My mom isn't an animal hater or brutal animal murderer, but if there are any vermins on her plants... There's no pardon.

They looked like poo or some rotting plant parts.

Eh, and I found this moth on my balcony door. It was about 25mm long and I have no clue what kind of moth it is. But it looked nice <3

And, last but not least, a little grebe (or dabchick... MUAHAHAH xD) on its nest.

Summer is still young. I hope to enjoy some more sunny and warm days and that there will be also some nice animals and plants. I wish you all a good hunt!