SKB’s Photography

[Thin Lizzy]

I do love that silhouette pic. Beautiful colours making me smile and feel warmth.

[BorisPasha]

Wow the silhouette picture is stunning and I never realised that there were parakeets in the wild here. I had to look them up and discovered that they are mainly in the South East of England which would explain why I haven't seen any

The flower pictures are lovely too

[SKB_Hamsters]

Thank You dreamtree1234, cypher, Thin Lizzy and BorisPasha. I am pleased you like the silhouette photo of the parakeet. I quite like to see the spring flowers in bloom despite the weather not being too good - although yesterday I had a lovely morning that I decided to plant some of my plants out in my garden so looking forward when they starting flowering.

BorisPasha, they are quite a common sight (and a sound) hear in the south east of England. I too were surprised by my first sighting of one in my garden and hearing them but they are a quite a common sight/sound now. The other year they even enjoyed eating the sunflower heads of my mum's sunflowers and sometimes I leave monkey nut out for them which they do enjoy cracking into.

[SKB_Hamsters]

Caterpillar, My Wildlife Pond and Flowers

This week whilst I was out doing my wildlife conservation volunteering a fellow volunteer and myself discovered this beautiful large caterpillar (7cm/~2.7inches) when we were trying to find this very interesting and beautiful looking fly which we had only seen moments ago - which we didn't see again. So we decided to put the caterpillar in a clear plastic pot so we could take it to another volunteer who could identify the caterpillar - this is when we discovered it was a Drinker Moth Caterpillar. As my bag was nearby I got my phone out to take a few photos before it was taken back to exactly were we found it. So here are the photos I took ...

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Yesterday I spent the day starting the construction of my wildlife pond. I have wanted a wildlife pond for ages now and when my parent asked me what I wanted for my birthday I said a wildlife pond - so they are paying for the supplies and I am constructing it - albeit my birthday isn't until the 14th of June I just couldn't wait and I thought the first stage would take a little longer than it actually did. So in the morning I dug a hole for my plastic preformed liner to sit in - a short while into digging I discovered a large conifer root which was going diagonal through my hole - which my dad helped me to remove. Once the hole was large enough I started to secure the pond in place with sand and compacted the soil (clay) that I had dug out from the hole around the pond ensuring the pond remained completely level. Then I filled the pond up with water and decorated the border with cobblestones. The pond is fairly small - 100 x 60cm/150l - but just the size I wanted and fits perfectly in the space I had available.

My wildlife pond isn't yet finished as I still got to add the plant both around and in the pond, add my water feature and then add a few pond snails - and the final step is to wait for the wildlife to move into there new home!

I thought I would share a few photos of how my pond look now (I will also show photo of my wildlife pond when it is finished) ...

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Whilst taking photos of my wildlife pond I also decide to take a few more photos from around my garden ...

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[dreamtree1234]

Wow, that caterpillar is gorgeous and really large! I have never seen any caterpillar like that around here so I decided to find out where they reside, and they only live in England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland - no wonder I haven't seen any, lol. Great pics of it, too!!! I am also extremely excited about your early birthday present from your parents; that is very sweet, and I'm sure you will have tons of fun with it. Your wildlife pond looks great, and I look forward to when it is complete and all of beautiful wildlife make it their lovely home. It is so wonderful that you are making this sanctuary for them, and I'm sure it will bring you years of happiness to see it thriving and so full of life. What plants are you planning on planting around it? I also love all of your flower photos. They are absolutely gorgeous. The red poppy is so vibrant, and the white and purple one is lovely (purple and white are my two favorite colors with purple being number one). The strawberry - YUM!!!!! I know that you are probably anxiously awaiting for that one to turn nice and red so it will be ripe enough to eat. The osteospermums are so pretty; they are such a happy flower and make me smile. I love all of their variations in color, but my favorite one is the purple and white one - big surprise, right? Happy early birthday on the 18th of June, SKB; I'm sure that I will be wishing you the happiest of days then, but I feel you can never receive too many well wishes even if a few are early, lol.

[cypher]

The caterpillar is lovely, your photos really show it up well.
Great work on the pond, it's amazing how fast all sorts of wild life will find a pond & so much fun to watch! Look forward to seeing more of it as it develops. A wonderful early birthday present that I'm sure will continue to give you so much pleasure for a very long time to come.
Really nice to see some of the flowers from your garden too, I think the strawberry flower is my favourite, I do love that simple beauty

[Thin Lizzy]

It's really big isn't it! Love your pond SKB. That strawberry flower is truly gorgeous!

[BorisPasha]

What a very fancy looking caterpillar SKB, he looks like he has the perfect camouflage

Lovely pictures of the flowers, especially the poppy. Though I really like the white osteospermums. I love strawberries, I hope it becomes red and ready to eat soon

What a wonderful birthday gift. Do you think you get any fish for your pond or are you just going to sit back and see what appears naturally? I'm looking forward to hearing about your pond visitors

[SKB_Hamsters]

Thank you dreamtree1234, cypher, Thin Lizzy and BorisPasha. It was so lovely seeing the caterpillar last week during my volunteering - it was so beautiful I was lucky enough to see another Drinker moth caterpillar this week alongside a baby fawn curled up in the tall grass waiting for it mum to return. I love how my wildlife pond has turned out and I have been really enjoying observing the wildlife which are using it. The strawberries are starting to change colour now so wont be too long before Pumpkin and myself are enjoying some.

Originally Posted by dreamtree1234

Happy early birthday on the 18th of June, SKB; I'm sure that I will be wishing you the happiest of days then, but I feel you can never receive too many well wishes even if a few are early, lol.

Thank You for you early birthday wish although my birthday is on the 14th.

Originally Posted by BorisPasha

Do you think you get any fish for your pond or are you just going to sit back and see what appears naturally? I'm looking forward to hearing about your pond visitors

No, I am not getting any fish for my pond and I am just going to wait to see what wildlife decide to call the pond home. Also the reason against getting fish is that I would be worried about cats and wild birds who might of decided fish would be a tasty snack. Instead of getting fish I decided to get pond snails instead.

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Wildlife Pond and Snails!

My Wildlife pond is now complete and I am very pleased with the outcome of my hard work and my parents buying all the supplies as an early birthday present to set up my pond. Last Sunday, I dug a flowerbed around the front of the pond for some more flowers - all the flowers plants in the flowerbed I have grown from seed and have nurtured until they were ready to be planted out. Also last weekend I installed my water feature which is an elephant - I absolutely love it and I think it really cute. This Saturday I went to my local garden centre to buy the aquatic plants I had wanted as well as 5 Pond Snails! I absolutely love my wildlife pond and I'm very intrigued to see what might decide to call it home!

Here is a photo of my finished wildlife pond. (dreamtree, I have include a list of all the plant I have planted)...

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Some close up photos of my Elephant water feature ...

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Meet my Pond Snails who inhabit my pond - I have 3 Great Pond Snails and 2 Ramhorns Snails - I think they are beautiful. I didn't think I would see much of them but actually I have seen lots of them since they have moved in - they have been coming up to the surface to breathe and have been exploring all around the edge of the pond just beneath the water surface. Here are photos of two of my 5 snails - as the other disappeared off to explore before I could take photos. I just love my pond snails!

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As well as my Pond Snails I have also have another snail who decided to visit my wildlife pond/garden - it was having fun climbing over the cobblestones and having a water side stroll around the edge of the pond. I did decide to move the snail to somewhere else in my garden as my plant had only just been planted out the day before so I didn't want anything deciding to take too much of a munch on them. I named this adorable snail Sloe. Sloe also decided to pose for the camera after moving him/her to another safe haven in my garden!

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I just thought I would quickly mention that I wont be able to be on HC as much as I would like over the next few weeks/months due to lots of other commitments which will mean I am going to be really busy and I might not have sufficient free time to spend replying to post. However this doesn't mean that I wont be reading through the forum on a daily basis but it might mean I will be unable to post replies like I would usually. If I find that I have sufficient free time available I will certainly come on HC and reply to threads and update you on Pumpkin's naughtiness but I cant guarantee it at this moment in time. I just thought I would let you know in advance.

[dreamtree1234]

Aww, the fawn nestled in the grass is a wonderful surprise! I really do love deer and always am trying to keep watch for any sightings of them around where I live, but I have sadly only seen a few of them in the woods while driving. Although I am glad to get a glimpse of them, but then worry that they may be hit by a passing car.

I'm glad that your strawberries are beginning to turn red now. I'm sure that you and Pumpkin will thoroughly enjoy them soon enough. Eros and I will probably be enjoying a few ourselves later this week, too. Yum!!!!

Oops, I am so sorry for the typo on your birthday well wishes. Happy Birthday on the 14th, SKB!!! May it be truly amazing and special. I'm sure that your family and Pumpkin will give you a well-deserved spoiling, lol.

I totally love your wildlife pond. It is absolutely gorgeous and I love that you are waiting to see who arrives and calls it home. That is so sweet; I hope you have lots and lots of wildlife coming to your delightful sanctuary. I am really excited for you and look forward to hearing all about them. I also love the adorable elephant fountain; in Thailand, an elephant with their trunk up like symbolizes good luck (especially if that elephant happens to be a rare white one). In fact, one of the Thai kings gave President Abraham Lincoln one during the American Civil War in order to wish him luck in preserving the nation and winning the war, ending slavery. I hope that your elephant gives you infinite luck as well. Thanks for sharing your list of flower bed and pond plants with us; it looks like you certainly have a wide variety of lovely ones. They look so beautiful and will become even more amazing when some of them start to fully bloom. Aww, I love all of your Great Pond Snails and Ramshorn Snails, too. They are so cute, and it so sweet that some of them decided to come and greet you when they came up for some air, lol. That must have made you smile. Do you have names for these five cuties? Oh my, I also adore Sloe; great name, too. I love that he/she posed for the camera, too, lol. All of these pictures are absolutely amazing and very detailed. I definitely don't have a favorite one this time because they are all equally great.

Have fun with your other commitments, SKB! I will look forward to seeing you around the forum when you get back. Take care, give a cuddle to Pumpkin for me, and have an AWESOME birthday on the 14th!!!! Hugs!!!