September’s always bitter sweet. Sweet as it’s warm, the water’s warm. Bitter as it’s the last summer month, days are getting shorter, beach trips are lucky if you can make them as carefree summer days are whispering see you later.
September’s full moon is the Corn Moon although it depends when the autumn Equinox is. If September’s full moon falls around the autumn Equinox it’s a Harvest Moon. If September’s full moon is in early September it’s the Corn Moon with October’s moon being the Harvest Moon. Last October’s was moon cycle was extra magical with 2 full moons in one month! September’s other moon names include Autumn Moon, Falling Leaves Moon, Leaves Turning Moon.
Few days old Full Corn Moon Moonrise moon04.30 can’t sleep moon Dawn Moon rise
Dawn moon rises are always magical. Only around for a short time before they vanish as the sunrises. Sometimes I get to see the moon set in the mornings if I’m up and out as it follows the night light pattern as the sun does in the day.
Due to recent covid-19 restrictions in Cataluna, aka gyms closed, to get my bike ride that would have been to the gym I cycled to Parc Ciutadella to see the ducks.
Cataluna for most of January closed gyms, shopping malls, restricted bar and restaurant hours amongst other covid-19 measures. As infection levels are dropping in Cataluna they’re easing restrictions this week (although I’m sure this has something to do with Catalan elections next week). I’m just happy gyms have reopened. I don’t always have the same motivation to workout at home as I do going to a gym. I’m happy too I can indoor climb again! Sometimes it was dark, other times I made it out in daylight hours to the park. Most of the time the ducks and geese were around for snacks. I was happy the park was open and I’ll for sure continue to drop by to say hi to the ducks and feed them now gyms are open!
I started around the end of December taking bread to feed them and the geese. A few geese were so polite, making sure they got front row seats with gentle sweet tiny honks asking for more. Any ducks that got close they just did a neck sweep. The ducks make a ton noise swimming across the pond as if to tell everyone there’s bread. When they get close a few chase away others but I’ve noticed the younger females are a little timid (can tell by size) and swim away if it’s too busy. I make sure to throw bread in their direction. When the seagulls are around it get crazy. Seagulls have amazing vertical aerial take off skills, are up in the air as soon as you raise your hand. They seem to know exactly where the bread is going to land, loads diving down at the same time. Both the geese and ducks close their eyes and duck out of the way as if to avoid getting stabbed in the eye. As the seagulls are so quick you can kinda fool them for a moment to give the ducks and geese an opportunity for bread by raising your hand as if to throw in one direction which the seagulls follow and then throwing it in the other direction. This only works a few times as the seagulls learn quick.
I swear the few times I visited the ducks without food, they bitched at each other she has nothing. Both the ducks and geese turned towards each other, swam away quacking as if to say, nothing this time, puh!
I can’t believe I haven’t shared before seeing wild flamingos from a few years ago! Real life flamingos not zoo flamingos.
This flock lives on an old Roman salt mine now a lagoon, Las Salines de Calpe a Nature Park and Reserve in Calpe, Alicante, Spain. I was surprised that weren’t as pink as I’d thought they be and by how much larger and taller they were than the ones at Barcelona Zoo. Their necks appear longer than the American and Chilean flamingos at the zoo. Sometimes I feel sad for the ones at the zoo. Their flight feathers are removed and when they try to get air I feel bad for them. It’s always different to see them free. I have spilt views on zoos here.
Please excuse the quality of the photos. They were taken a few years ago before I understood more depth of field, light etc.
Only handful were pink. Maybe they knew the best brine shrimp, algae and larvae spots!
I started this week on Netflix season 1 of The Universe. Episode 1 was the Sun. It’s kinda disturbing when you think about how the sun’s only got 5 billion years left before it red giant’s itself to a white dwarf. Bye bye Earth. The changes will started to happen before 5 billions years is up. Is that the when the Milky Way, our galaxy will reach the black hole, Sagittarius A in the centre of it or any others in it? According to this article the sun is half way through it’s stable stage. Will humans still be around? Will animals still be around. Will humans have moved planets and all wildlife as we know it too?
It’s crazy thinking like this looking around seeing all the politics, day to day drama that really doesn’t matter but it does. We forget we’re floating in space held by gravity to the largest object in our solar system the sun. Maybe it’s already happened before and Earth is the planet ‘we’ moved to but forgot when we got here and had to start over with apes. Maybe the alien theories are right. Maybe we are just a freak of nature in evolution or Earth is an anomaly in the universe. Maybe water is the alien that kickstarted everything.
Fruit Moon Rise
One thing that has been constant is the moon. August’s moon’s is the Sturgeon Moon (USA when the sturgeon arrived in the lakes), Corn Moon (UK), Lightening Moon or my favourite Fruit Moon! Full list of names in different cultures, here. August already feels lifetime ago, the warm days a far away dream as winter approaches, the layers being to be layered to keep out the cold. That’s why I like summer, easy dressing.
It’s no surprise on Instagram most accounts I follow are nature based. Lots of animals, rescue centres, shelters and organisations, landscapes, the seas and oceans. I get a little envious of golden misty foggy wood scenes as I grew up in the countryside. However I equally get envious, maybe more of beautiful seas and oceans waves and shorelines.
Get that itch! Heron
This year when out, more so at the zoo I tried to take less non zoo resident photos otherwise my photos are almost the same repeat each week. I look for the light, parrots, ducks at the park, birds flying, trees, nature cityscapes while trying to avoid taking photos of humans. Sometimes I don’t mind humans in them. If I can I like the focus on nature. She’s the star of this planet. Anyways, wildlife from July at the Barcelona Zoo, at the park: Parc de la Ciutadella , in the city.
Wrong camera speed. Wherever Mama duck went, they went. It was so cute when they started diving with their bums sticking up out the waterI think a crane nesting above an enclosure I watched him/her land on the leaf and as soon as I said thank you silently for letting me take their photo, it flew awayDucks at duskZoo catZoo cat
This summer I saw so many butterflies! Colourful ones at the zoo. White ones while running along with dragonflies. A few moths too and hardly any mosquitos!!! I think mosquitos only bite me when they’re desperate however this year the apartment was almost free of them. That doesn’t mean I didn’t escape not being bit by bugs this summer. It’s almost as if the mosquitoes knew and let the other bug have its go. On holiday I got bite by a tick which got infected, ending up in ER as it wasn’t clearing up. The night before going in the skin around it started to swell up. The doctors were closed and I didn’t want to chance it over the weekend. A course of antibiotics cleared it up and I’ll be left once the redness has gone down another white patch of non pigmented skin to join the other assorted bites and cuts white patches.
