When you hike, be mindful, and mother nature will always reward you with her wonders…

A few days ago, I drove to a small natural parc near my home (Netherlands). I was armed with my rifle microphone: my intent was to capture sounds of the forest for a new music track. But it did not take me long to realize that the airplane noise pollution would prevent me to record anything useful.

What should I do now? Should I drive home with the tail between my legs?

Luckily, I had taken my DSLR camera with me. I walked back to the car, dumped the mike, grabbed the camera, and went on an improvised 3-hour hike.

This excursion in the wild revived an old hobby of mine: photography… I do not have pro gear: just a Canon EOS 70D with the 18-135mm lens that came with it. 

She was just behind me as I sat down on a bench for a short break: I turned my head, and here she was, staring at me. She gave me all the time to get out my gear, and more: I observed this lady for a whole 10 minutes... Observe the ant below her... It was actually defending the aphids (Not in the picture: these were a little lower.) 

A bit earlier, I had found that branch full of aphids and huge red ants. A real industry, as you can see!

Dragonflies here in The Netherlands, are very thin, and move a lot! This picture was quite difficult to get! My zoom is limited, so I had to crawl in the herbs and get pretty close (Dragonflies fly off very easily). Yet, this one must of liked me: he sticked around posing for me during 5 good minutes! Such a graceful little thing.  

When I walk in the city, the only place I see bees, are… on the pavement, walking... Not in too good a shape, visibly suffering, sometimes just dead. So, I was relieved to see some happily buzzing around. Still, the place was teaming with wild flowers and I saw just a few dozen bees in total (a 3 hour hike)… :-(  

Scrunch… Scrunch… Scrunch... I am always hungry, so I eat all day… but unlike humans, I will not get ugly and fat, I will become a beautiful butterfly.

That pic was taken just 5 minutes after I started to walk: Around a corner, we came face to face. The falcon looked at me for 10 seconds. I hadn’t even taken my camera out of the bag yet, not to mention setting it up! I just managed to take a few quick shots when it flew off...

Such an encounter so early encouraged me to go for the hike. I didn't regret it: I made all these new little friends. 

Hi,
I’m @muphy (see intro post),
My life revolves around music production, teaching sciences, and discovery through travel.
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