Again I visited this beautiful area and again I stayed at the St. Georg accommodation which is situated on the hill with a great view and in the middle of hiking paths and beech forest. Again one week was too short! 

The weather was varying from cold, wet and stormy weather to summer weather with at least 20 degrees. At arrival a lot of beeches already were coloured yellow and orange and with rain I drove to a small kind of valley where I found a lot of old beeches and where I could look through the forest. With some little creeks this was a beautiful place to photograph; unfortunately the soft rain moved over into a kind of tropical rain shower. I returned a few days later to this place when temperatures were much higher and the sun was shining; although it was very beautiful it was hard to photograph with my wide angle lens as the slightest sun spot causes a kind of over exposure. 
Beforehand I had in mind to photograph a lot of different, beautiful and eatable mushrooms; I wanted the Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria) and/or Penny Bun (Boletus edulis) with in the background the huge forest. Unfortunately I did not find both. From a local I learned that most eatable mushrooms are gathered already. After a long walk (more a run) in the early evening I found some Fly Agarics but unfortunately they were growing between some high brown grass.

Fortunately I found an other kind of Fly Agaric.....the bad smell brought me to him!

One morning, when I stepped out in the first light to photograph the sunrise in the hills, it felt like somebody had put on the heath outside.....summer arrived again and in the noon I saw some butterflies nipping on rotten apples. 
Again I took my camera but instead of tripod I choose my beanbag and angle finder as I wanted an other perspective. Due to the warm weather a lot of Common Frogs (Rana temporaria) were jumping near the creeks and in a beech forest nearby a lot of beautiful caterpillars of the Pale Tussock (Calliteara pudibunda) came out of the trees.

How time flies! As I mentioned before, one week was too short as every day felt like an other and new adventure. Next to the nature encounters I was impressed by the kindness of the local people. 

More autumn photos of this lovely forest region and its inhabitants can be found in the chapter Teutoburger Wald, I added an autumn gallery. 

With beautiful autumn weather I returned to the area where I had found the autumn crocus (Colchicum autumnale). This plant looks similar to the spring crocus but blooms in autumn after the leaves have died. As the sun was shining slightly, some flowers were open. As these little plants are growing in wet and nutritious meadows I was dressed in a rain suit and equipped with an angle finder. Lying down in the grass and concentrating on the ‘best’ composition I heard some noise in the distance. A group of hikers were looking at me......I waved to them to show that I was alive and continued photographing these lovely flowers.

As I also found an exposed Ink Cap (Coprinus comatus) earlier, I walked into the forest to photograph this mushroom. It took me some time as I tried to catch the falling drops of the cap.....unfortunately I had to use a slow shutter time and it was a mission impossible to catch them falling. I make the rounds and when I crossed an other path I met some hikers. It seemed that this was the group hikers which had seen me before and they were very anxious to know what I had photographed. I showed them my autumn crocuses and had a little talk with them. 
Later on I realized that I need business cards to hand out as here in Germany (Teutoburger Wald) almost everybody starts a conversation and is interested in what I’m doing.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to meet thousands of bees in their housings; of course I took my camera with me as it was a long time ago that I looked into a beehive. The bees were very peaceful and busy with their job (collecting nectar and nursing the brood).

But it seemed that the bee housings had more inhabitants. Some spiders are living under the edge of the bee housings and this beauty was disturbed by showing the bees. The spider ran away but stopped on the part which was painted; due to the reflection of the sun the background coloured red.

For the bee photos, please visit the new chapter about the Teutoburger Wald (Portfolio -> Teutoburger Wald) and scroll to the second gallery.

At the moment I’m in a forest region in Germany, called Teutoburger Wald, and I’m enjoying the wildlife, the awakening and colouring of the beeches, the friendly people and the good food here. Far away from the land of the living I’m surrounded by nature. The first evening I met a mouse hunting fox and seeing him jumping around for while gave me a happy feeling.

Until now I have not seen much butterflies (springtime just started here) but fortunately a lot of beautiful flowers, like liverwort, violets, wood sorrel, oxlip and other species are growing here. I also made an appointment with myself to focus more on trees and their ‘wise’ expression and on forest moods and details related to human influence. During a walk I found this stone with the inscription BP.

Rest In Peace Deutsche Bundespost

Two days ago I saw a tiny little snail on a green leaf but when I returned with my camera a few seconds later the snail was gone.....their sloth is just a diversionary tactic! But, yesterday morning I found an other snail which was nibbling on a yellow flower. I made some photos with the snail on the flower but suddenly, due to its bodyweight, he (or she) was hanging upside down for a few seconds.....it was just like the snail was saying ‘hu hu.....ich bin hier’ (it’s a German snail).