Heather from the forest

In late summer the floor of the Palatinate Forest is covered with a violet blanket made from thousands of little flowers. These flowers belong to Calluna vulgaris, the common heather, that you surely know from the Scottish Highlands and the „Lüneburger Heide“ in Northern Germany. The common heather likes nutrient poor, dry and slightly sour soils.

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The dense cover of individual plants and the simultaneous blooming behaviour lead to the beautiful phenomenon of purple clouds hovering over the ground. And of course, it’s a photographer’s delight to go hiking and collect hundreds of pictures.

However, C. vulgaris flowers are not only pretty, they provide a huge amount of food and important habitat for insects and other animals.

Crickets and wild bees profit from the dense flower cover.

Taking pictures is one thing, the other thing is how do I want the image to look like in the end. Here’s an example of the different settings I tried for this topic. The first version has a light and soft mood: fluffy flowers in bright rosé. The second version shows harder contrast and darker shading, simulating the magic of an early summer evening in the forest. Which one do you like best?

Red Basil

A honey bee (Apis mellifera) is feeding on the purple basil flowers.

My mum keeps a large specimen of red basil on her front porch. When in bloom it drenches the air with its aromatic fragrance and reliably offers loads of purple flowers for nectar feeding insects. Therefore it is a convenient spot for capturing nice images of bees and butterflies. The other day I spotted a male blue (family: Lycaenidae, subfamily: Polyommatinae) among all the honey bees and I loved the contrasts of colour and shapes it provided:

At some point I noticed some turmoil in the shrub and I came to witness a dramatic fight scene within the flowers: A European paper wasp (Polistes dominula) had attacked a feeding honey bee and they wrestled for their lives while hanging on a single leg from the blossoms. Both are capable of employing deadly stings, however a few moments later the wasp darted off with its prey.

A European paper wasp (Polistes dominula) attacking a nectar feeding honey bee (Apis mellifera).

Tip: Not only the leaves of red basil are edible but also the flowers. They give a nice colourful and aromatic touch to salads, sweet desserts and even drinks (e.g. G&T). Try it out!

My mum 😉