Well, it smelled as expected.

🌸💮🌺🌻🌼🌲🌳

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This little beauty is a mirid bug (Deraeocoris ruber)🤠🐞

They inhabit forests, but occur mainly on sunny forest edges and open areas.🌳🌞

Mirid bugs prey on various small arthropods such as caterpillars, but particularly aphids.🌿🐛
The prey is killed and sucked out by a sting that is also painful for humans.🧃😋

But that rarely happens.😄

The species is useful and harmless.🤗 However, nature is full of phenomena. In Germany, 2016, a related species (Psallus varians) - within the same family (Miridae) - spontaneously developed an increased appetite for blood and attacked humans and animals in very large numbers.😵🩸🌳

The mirid bug is widespread in almost all of Europe (except the far north and few islands in the Mediterranean and Atlantic) - you find it in North Africa - and further east to the Caucasus. It has been introduced in some areas of North and South America.🌍🌎

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Why would I change what I enjoy so much. Life is like a toilet bowl, sometimes you have to scrub. Still, it's good to have one. I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was 20. That brings impulsiveness and sensory overload, but also a lot of creativity and fun. It hasn't made my life better or worse, it's made it as unique as any other. Look what an attractive moon I am!🌝

📆📸 06/08/16/18/06/07

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Behind me you can see the presumed remains of Nürings Castle. Around 1100, the Counts of Nürings built a residence on the mountain. After the male line died out in 1171, the county of Nürings was first taken over by the Lords of Münzenberg and then by the Lords of Bolanden. In 1233, after a division of the family property, Philipp von Bolanden called himself "von Falkenstein". This new Falkenstein line removed the remains of Nürings Castle and built New Falkenstein Castle right next to it.

🌸💮🌺🌻🌼🌲🌳

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The Falkenstein Castle was inhabited from the 13th to the end of the 18th century.🏰 However, after the Thirty Years' War (1618 - 1648) it already lost its importance, fell into disrepair and was only partially habitable.

Not much is left of the castle. The demolition was only stopped in 1842, the entrance gate is a reconstruction dating back to that period. The square bergfried dates from the 14th century with its round turret from the 15th century and is 18 meters high.

The view is very nice, because the small town of Falkenstein looks as idyllic as the intro of a German soap opera from the 80s and 90s.😆📺

A small group of ibexes lived on the mountain until about the 1980s. They were sent from the nearby Opel Zoo in Kronberg.🐏

I didn't stay long there and hiked a bit through the forest.😊

🌸💮🌺🌻🌼🌲🌳

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Another blink of the sloth's eye
and the flowers bloom again.

🦋 Lasiommata megera, the "wall"
🐝 Bombus hortorum, the "garden bumblebee"
🏰 at the Falkenstein Castle
🌞 last summer

🌸💮🌺🌻🌼🌲🌳

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I like experimenting with Dall-E, an artificial intelligence that generates images based on input.👨‍💻

Actually, I wanted a completely different motif, namely that of a Pachnoda marginata (sun beetle). At least it created Scarab Beetles, so it didn't go completely off plan.😄

An AI has no intentions of its own, it only implements commands according to learned patterns. Without consciousness, without longing, an AI can never create art. But I do not deny that you can create art using AI.

However, I only imagine beautiful images and ask my virtual friend to create them. And I get beautiful and inspiring pictures, don't you think?😊

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Watch it to the end, not only I was curious! 😊🐝
They are so lovely! 🥰

Bees, once they find a good nectar source, tend to stick with this type of flower. That's why the beekeeper can tell you which plants the honey comes from.

🌸💮🌺🌻🌼🌲🌳

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The Shining Serpent.
Many people are fascinated, but also fearful. Snakes have always played a special role for humans. The fear of snakes is innate, babies as young as six months react with stress to snake motifs. It is assumed that this has evolutionary reasons. It makes sense to spot a snake early, as some species are dangerous. Nevertheless, in ancient cultures primarily positive meanings have developed. The snake embodies knowledge and wisdom not only in ancient Greece, Rome or India, but also in Inca mythology and many more. The role as protector and as a connection between the worlds is also found again and again. It is a highly symbolic animal, godlike or with divine attributes. I can well imagine that this inborn fear has contributed significantly to the myth-making. You see this wondrous animal and you automatically feel something. "Where does this feeling come from?" In the past there was no concept of evolution and no scientific connection to instincts as it is possible to understand today. Of course, coupled with the obvious characteristics (kills rodents, legless, skins in one piece) this certainly captures the imagination. We deal with our environment, how we perceive and evaluate it. We recognize patterns and make assumptions. Inevitably we intervene and have to be aware of the consequences in order not to end up harming ourselves. Snakes are important, so are our instincts. But whoever kills a snake takes on a force stronger than oneself. Be it nature, be it God. Only a part of all snake species can be dangerous to humans, but almost any rodent can make you seriously ill. We are somewhere between monkeys playing with sticks and trees growing on our ruins. Snakes have been around for at least 167 million years. Humility.

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While Chico the day gecko has already enjoyed much of your attention, this nameless young leopard gecko lady has kept very hidden until now. Along with Chico, she is one of the three geckos I adopted two months ago.

Unfortunately, the previous owner was not in the mental state to offer them species-appropriate accommodation. He kept two leopard geckos in a terrarium together with a day gecko. Actually, his supervisors should have taken care of it, whether that's okay.

The surprise was big, because my friend and I didn't know anything about the leopard geckos. But the good thing is that I have 22 years of experience keeping this species.

At first there was a huge shock because it seemed like only one leopard gecko was alive. Both were in a large sea shell, looking out. But this girl looked like she'd been dead for weeks. To play dead believably, she shut her eyes tight, opened her mouth a little, and contracted her body.

When I got the male out of the sea shell, she authentically fell inside and disappeared. When I first heard a noise, I thought I had just imagined it. Dead geckos don't make sounds!

What a feeling when she suddenly looked alive and beautiful out of the sea shell!

Like all my animals, she is a very beautiful sight. Nothing is known about her age and origin, but she looks to me like a young animal of about one or two years. As soon as I have a few nice photos of the male, I will of course also show him to you. 🥰

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