Laura Bonk

European wall lizard

Podarcis muralis

Rosaceae trio

A peach, an apple and a cherry bloom in the botanical garden. Wait no, it’s not a joke.

Prunus persica, Malus sp. and Prunus sp. (it might be the ‘Accolade’ (P. sargenta x subhirtella again))

I’m not sure if I ever caught all of them flowering on the same visit before.

Flowering

Narcissus sp., Rhododendron calophytum, a more common white and pink Rhododendron cultivar and a water lily Nymphaea sp.

Pinks

Prunus ‘Accolade’ (P. sargenti x subhirtella)

Corydalis solida, fumewort

The heather again, now with flowers starting to wilt.

Helleborus my love

Crocus sp., Helleborus foetidus (the one with the more subtle flowers), a burgundy Helleborus hybrid and  again some Hamamelis sp.

FIrst colours

A pink double-flowered Camellia cultivar in the morning sun filtered through a greenhouse passage.

At least two species of Cyclamen, flowering before they got most of their leaves.

And the obligatory rose, as they actually flower year-round in their bed. You might remember some of my absolute favourite images when thery were frozen over repeatedly.

Winter flowers

The ponds were frozen over a little, but funnily enough both snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis) and spring snowflakes (Leucojuim vernum) were flowering. The latter a bit early for our region but I guess they were growing well-sheltered.

And the beginnings of european cornel (Cornus mas) and witch hazel (Hamamelis sp.) flowers, petals still mostly folded up.

Last=First of the season

Some last/first blooms of heathers and hydrangea

Last of the year

Iris seedpods, Camellia, hydrangea and Asplenium scolopendrium (har’t tongue fern) in snow.

Bright Autumn Sun

The light was wonderful on both of my visits to the gardens that month.

The one with the colourful foliage (and the dreamy sunlight) is supposed to be Rivina humilis, but the more I look up the species the more it seems the flag was wrong or misplaced. Can’t exactly check now five years later…

An unidentified grass, some Amaranthus variety with dark red leaves.

Albizia capensis and its ripening seed pods.

And Fuchsia ‘Christmas Gem’ with bright orange-red elongated flowers.

All in all the gardens had a seasonally appropriate colour palette.

Fly Agaric

On my way to the botanical gardens there she stood just under some trees by the sidewalk.

I think these are still some of my favourite Amanita muscaria photographs, one even found its way onto my calendar some time ago.

Pollinators and fruit

Bumblebee on some Lamiaceae and a honeybee on one of the innumerable yellow Asteraceae, unfortunately I didn’t get enough other identifying features to help me along now (in addition to the fact that identifying plants in a botanical garden when you can’t remember the area they were planted in is a chore and a half).

Crape myrtle (Lagerstromia indica) and Idian pokeweed (Phytolacca acinosa) wih its bright green unripe berries.

And lastly a silverberry hybrid (Eleagnus x ebbenei) with just the most beautiful citrus-coloured fruits.

A stroll through the botanics

Plectranthus ernstii, a cousin of catnip; a pink closely to wildtype Amaryllis belladonna; Hosta, Globularia and Echinacea all with some insect companions;

Rubus odoratus. I didn’t know there was a fuzzy raspberry before I looked her up, but now she’s my favourite.

A stroll through the tropical house

An actual flowering Nepenthes (probably an unnamed hybrid, as is usual) and an almost hidden passion flower.

Pensioner excursion ZOOM Erlebniswelt Gelsenkirchen - Part 3/3

Africa

Way back in July 2017 I went on a pensioner excursion with some friends from my master’s classes. We grabbed our bikes and went to the largest zoo in our area, visited the zoo, had a picnic and  biked back home.

The ZOOM was significantly renovated and  rebranded (previously known as Ruhr Zoo) from 2004-2010 and now consists of the three ‘expeditions’: Alaska, Asia and Africa.

You can easily see that the Meerkats (Suricata suricatta) were my favourite. Any zoo I visit I could just sit in front of the Meerkat enclosure and watch them for hours.

In general a lot of the animals were napping as the temperatures rose around midday, african lions, porcupines and a lot of the meerkats were just laying about relaxing.

The servals (Leptailurus serval) were curled up right in front of the window and were canoodling the whole time. Super cute, very hard to capture.

The giraffes are Rothschild’s giraffes (Giraffa camelopardaalis rothschildi) which have a different pattern to their coat than the one we are used to from reticulated giraffes (G. c. reticulata) (which I saw here in Cologne).

Pensioner excursion ZOOM Erlebniswelt Gelsenkirchen - Part 2/?

Asia

Way back in July 2017 I went on a pensioner excursion with some friends from my master’s classes. We grabbed our bikes and went to the largest zoo in our area, visited the zoo, had a picnic and biked back home.

The ZOOM was significantly renovated and rebranded (previously known as Ruhr Zoo) from 2004-2010 and now consists of the three ‘expeditions’: Alaska, Asia and Africa.

My favourites are very easy here: Red Panda (Ailurus fulgens) and Siberian/Amur Tiger (Panthera tigris altaica). I’m always down for watching red pandas bumbling around their enclosures or even just curling up high in a tree, large cats are almost as fascinating to watch. The fact that I caught a mlep made the whole visit worth it.

I think this was the third visit since they remodeled and the first time I actually caught the flying foxes (Pteropus vampyrus) from the walkway. Previously I only saw blobs hanging from the highest part of the greenhouse.

Pensioner excursion ZOOM Erlebniswelt Gelsenkirchen - Part 1/?

Alaska

Way back in July 2017 I went on a pensioner excursion with some friends from my master’s classes. We grabbed our bikes and went to the largest zoo in our area, visited the zoo, had a picnic and biked back home.

The ZOOM was significantly renovated and rebranded (previously known as Ruhr Zoo) from 2004-2010 and now consists of the three ‘expeditions’: Alaska, Asia and Africa.

Reindeer/Caribou (Rangifer tarandus): The reindeer were looking pretty gnarly as they were shedding their fur, but it was still apparent that there are a couple of white animals in the herd

Raccoon (Procyon locor): The raccoons were my favourites in this area, they were very relaxed and obviously a bit sluggish in the summer heat. Their enclosure was densely planted and I don’t think we spotted even half of the group.

Eastern/timber wolf (Canis lupus lycaon): Most of them were laying together in a shadowy corner, but I was able to get a shot of one with a very nice dark dappled coat.

Kamtchatka brown bear (Ursus arctos beringianus): The Kamtchatka bear is one of the larger subspecies of brown bears and is found in the far east of Russia.

California Sea Lions (Zalophus califiornianus): Every time I’ve visited this zoo most of the sea lions are laying about on their rocks regardless of the weather.

North American River Otter (Lontra canadensis): All kinds of otters are a delight to watch, but I think most of them were also hiding somewhere in the shadows.

We were pretty sad to miss some of the animals in the area (especially the porcupines, beaver and lynx) but it was way too hot and unfortunately a saturday so there were too many people to comfortably linger at the enclosures.