Staying with almost black and white - little bird in branches after snow storm

This Thunderbolt has plenty of black and white on it, including the black and white stripes they
used on allied aircraft during and after D-Day to make it easier to distinguish between
friendly & enemy aircraft.

Stripes on a hoverfly.




(I think this is Helophilus pendulus, nicknamed "The Footballer" by some because the stripes are reminiscent of a soccer kit, allegedly. I may have put this pic up in one of the monthly threads, can't recall now, but apologies for the repeat if so.)

Wow, Chavs!

Fabulous shot Chavs

Nice photo Chavs. (If you tilt your head to the left, the hoverfly looks like an alien carrying a large plate. )

lol! It does too!

Gosh, thanks for those nice comments. There's a lot to be said for a lucky shot and the crop facility on MSpaint (and 50 out-takes lol!).

LOL! I had to look twice to see that! You have a very creative mind!

But does he have a picture of an alien? And if not, what will go next in the chain? (Unfortunately my alien snapshots are all on ye olde film and the scanner isn't working.)

Well, these look like they could be an alien species

Yes, they do! Uh, what are they?

Is a 'creative mind' a polite way of saying a 'warped mind'?

I don't have any photos of actual aliens (though some odd looking people have crept into my pictures through the years, not all of them were me).
Christinap's photos looks like boxing hares to me. What they're made from is another matter. Or they could be aliens...

Loved these photos Chavs & Chris!

They are boxing hares made out of wire. They're modern sculpture in an RHS garden near us.

More garden art. This is from Greenbay Botanical Gardens.

Another dead tree made into a sculpture (not as useful as the bench though).

Another dead tree - but this time "just" serving as habitat. In Hutton's Lagoon, Nagambie Lakes, central Victoria.

More habitat

I'm unable to see Dotb's post so continuing with Mike's theme.

Another lonely tree with hordes of tourists on either side at the Palace of Knossos, Crete.

Don't know why the link didn't work...it didn't even show as a link. I must be going senile!!


Here's another tree in a tourist place. Bodnant Gardens, North Wales.

More trees at another North Wales tourist attraction - Portmeirion.

Winter tree.

Winter sheep.

Where was the sheep pic taken, Dot? Is that "unexpected" snow? Are they wild?

Just curious, because here in Alberta, many (non-commercial) cattle ranchers breed their stock so that they give birth in January. Their theory is that the severe cold kills most germs and they don't have to load up the calves on unnecessary antibiotics. Just of the many reasons I prefer to purchase meat raised by locals I know, rather than foreign farm "factory" monopolies.

Summer sheep