Purple gromwell (Glandora diffusa).
(May 2025)
(Foto: © Rüdiger Benninghaus)
#Blumen, #flowers, #purple_gromwell, #Blüten, #blossoms, #Pflanzen, #plants

A renaturalised gravel pit in Cologne-Dünnwald is now a nature reserve.
(April 2025)
(Foto: © Rüdiger Benninghaus)
#Landschaften, #landscapes, #Natur, #nature, #Kiesgrube, #Naturschutzgebiet, #Köln_Dünnwald

A tawny owl (Strix aluco) at the Leidenhausen Bird of Prey Sanctuary (Cologne-Porz).
(May 2025)
(Foto: © Rüdiger Benninghaus)
#Vögel, #birds, #Eulen, #owls, #Waldkauz, #tawny_owl, #animals, #Greifvogelschutzstation, #Leidenhausen, #Köln_Porz

A tree has been turned into a ‘tree guardian’.
(May 2025)
(Foto: © Rüdiger Benninghaus)
#Holzschnitzereien, #wood_carvings, #Kunst, #art

The ferret (Mustela putorius furo) of a falconer. The ferrets are trained to hunt rabbits. They drive rabbits out of their burrow, after which the bird of prey (falcon) goes into action to catch them.
(May 2025)
(Foto: © Rüdiger Benninghaus)
#Frettchen, #ferret, #Iltisse, #animals, #Falknerei

Burnet rose (Rosa spinosissima or Rosa pimpinellifolia).
(May 2925)
(Foto: © Rüdiger Benninghaus)
#Wildrosen, #Bibernell_Rosen, #burnet_roses, #Blüten, #blossoms

View through the Havel Colonnade past the City Palace to the dome of the Nikolai Church in Potsdam (Brandenburg).
(August 2019)
(Foto: © Rüdiger Benninghaus)
#Architektur, #architecture, #Potsdam, #Brandenburg

Equestrian statue from 1878 for the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III on Cologne's Heumarkt (haymarket). In the background is the Romanesque church of Groß St Martin.
(April 2025)
(Foto: © Rüdiger Benninghaus)
#Statuen, #memorials, #Preußen, #Kirchen, #churches, #Architektur, #architecture, #Groß_St._Martin, #Köln, #Heumarkt

A beardlip penstemon variety - it survived the winter well and is now in its second year of flowering.
(April 2025)
(Foto: © Rüdiger Benninghaus)
#Blumen, #flowers, #Bartfaden, #beardlip_penstemon, #Blüten, #blossoms

This guy seems to be a male jumping spider (Platycryptus undatus).
(April 2025)
(Foto: © Rüdiger Benninghaus)
#Insekten, #insects, #Spinnen, #spiders, #Springspinne, #jumping_spiders, #animals

Near the village of Khichan (near the town of Phalodi in Rajasthan, India), at a small pond, thousands of demoiselle cranes (Grus virgo) spend the winter from around August to March, and word has gotten around since 1970 that they also get food here. As a result, more and more cranes are stopping off here on their migration.
(February 2017)
(Foto: © Rüdiger Benninghaus)
#Vögel, #birds, #Zugvögel, #Jungfernkraniche, #Demoiselle_cranes, #animals, #Khichan, #Phalodi, #Rajasthan, #Indien, #India

A decorated rowing boat on the lake of Kolayat/ Rajasthan (Bikaner district, India).
(February 2017)
(Foto: © Rüdiger Benninghaus)
#Boote, #boats, #Seen, #lakes, #Kolayat, #Bikaner, #Rajasthan, #Indien, #India

Blossom of a red horse-chestnut (Aesculus × carnea)
(April 2025)
(Foto: © Rüdiger Benninghaus)
#Bäume, #trees, #Blüten, #blossoms, #Fleischrote_Rosskastanie, #red_horse_chestnut

The Pontic Mountains above Çamlıhemşin district of Rize province (NE-Turkey)
(September 1983)
(Fotos scanned from slides: © Rüdiger Benninghaus)
#Landschaften, #landscapes, #Berge, #mountains, #Pontisches_Gebirge, #Pontic_Mountains, #Çamlıhemşin, #Rize, #Turkey, #Türkei, #Schwarzmeergebiet, #Black_Sea_area

The castle ruins of Zikale/ Çamlıhemşin district of Rize province (NE-Turkey).
(September 1983)
(Foto scanned from slide: © Rüdiger Benninghaus)
#Burgen, #castles, #Burgruinen, #Landschaften, #landscapes, #Schwarzmeergebiet, #Black_Sea_area, #Çamlıhemşin, #Rize, #Turkey, #Türkei

A Laz fisherman (ethnic minority of South Caucasian tongue) in the Black Sea town of Pazar (Rize province, NE Turkey) mends a net.
(March 1980)
(Foto scanned from slide: © Rüdiger Benninghaus)
#Fischer, #fishermen, #Boote, #boats, #Schwarzes_Meer, #Black_Sea, #Laz, #Pazar, #Rize, #Türkei, #Turkey

Walnut tree?

Spring ...
(April 2025)
(Foto: © Rüdiger Benninghaus)
#Bäume, #trees, #Frühling, #spring

Thank you for the information!

How does the new queen find new “subjects”? Are there “stateless” bees or do the “followers” of the old queen soon leave her to join the new one?