Winter Honeysuckle - January 2019

It was a really drab and dreary grey day again for my photo shoot in dad's garden this week, but instead of the calmness of recent weeks, it was also really rather windy.

A windy environment always makes macro photography quite tricky, but combined with the darkness of the day resulting from the heavy cloud laden sky, the task was made even trickier. Still, I persevered, and managed to grab a few images using a higher than usual ISO, a little bit of fill in flash, and a lot of patience while waiting for my subjects to stop swaying around!

My first port of call was the Winter Honeysuckle (Lonicera fragrantissima) bush, which was really starting to put on a good display, and smelled wonderful too.

Forest Flame Buds - January 2019

Next up was the Forest Flame (Pieris) bush, which was absolutely covered in masses of flower buds.

Winter Jasmine - January 2019

The Winter Jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum) flowers continued to brighten up the place, but were still a bit thin on the ground.

Blooming Quince - January 2019

The Japanese Quince (Chaenomeles) bushes continued to wake up, with this year's buds beginning to open...

Decaying Quince - January 2019

...while last year's fruit began to decay.

Decaying Bract - January 2019

Also decaying, but in a much more pretty way, were the bracts of the Climbing Hydrangea (Hydrangea anomala) bushes. I loved the way they turned into this skeletal lacework type of pattern.

Seed Dispersal - January 2019

I was quite surprised to see that the Great Willowherb (Epilobium hirsutum) plants were still dispersing seeds, as they've normally completely died off by now.

Gone to Seed - January 2019

The Evening Primroses (Oenothera biennis), on the other hand, were always still standing at this time of year, and were a great source of food for the Greenfinches and Goldfinches.

Peace Rose Remnants - January 2019

The Peace Rose (Rosa) had completed flowering long ago, and all that was left of their beautiful yellow flowers were the Rosehips.

Buddleia Growth - January 2019

It wasn't all a story of decay though, as there was new leaf growth on the Butterfly (Buddleia) bushes...

Red Robin Growth - January 2019

...and the Red Robin (Photinia fraseri) bushes.

Little Dove - January 2019

Over in my own garden, I had a friendly little Collared Dove (Streptopelia decaocto) come by for a visit. He apparently liked the peanuts I put out on my garden table.

Salt and Pepper Cory's - January 2019

In fishy news, I have some new wet pets! These little beauties are Salt and Pepper Catfish (Corydoras habrosus). The picture was taken while they were being acclimatised to their new home, so was taken through the aquarium glass and the plastic bag they were transported in, so apologies for the poor quality. They really are cute little things, and will attain a maximum size of only 3.5cm, so I hope to increase their school size to about twelve eventually.

So this week I went with Winter Honeysuckle as my Image of the Week, mainly because it was the plant with the most potential for photography this week, and this was my favourite photo I took of it...