Flowers, insects and birds.

The beauty of nature is certainly a wonder to behold.

My wife told me that this is a Camellia flower. I am supposed to know this, but lately I struggle to remember my name:)

First, the flowers, then an insect and finally a bird on a flower.

At times on my adventures a flower grabs my eye and then I take a photo of it, and I stash it until I have a fair number of flowers to do a post. At the Vergelegen Wine Estate nearby, they have an International Camellia Garden, and you might be surprised as to how many color varieties this flower has.

The dark pink variety of the Camellia flowers.

Now this is not a bee, as it is some type of a drone fly.

I just had to get a look at its face.

Body full of pollen from the flowers.

What I know about flowers is like us humans, there are male and female flowers, so the drone fly will take the pollen from a male flower to a female flower, and this is my simple explanation about pollination.

But this below will give you a more informed story about pollination.

Pollination is the transfer of pollen from an anther of a plant to the stigma of a plant, later enabling fertilisation and the production of seeds. Pollinating agents can be animals such as insects, for example bees, beetles or butterflies; birds, and bats; water; wind; and even plants themselves. Pollinating animals travel from plant to plant carrying pollen on their bodies in a vital interaction that allows the transfer of genetic material critical to the reproductive system of most flowering plants. Self-pollination occurs within a closed flower. Pollination often occurs within a species. When pollination occurs between species, it can produce hybrid offspring in nature and in plant breeding work.
Source

Finally, a sunbird sipping nectar from a Hibiscus flower.

We are so looking forward to Spring, which seems a long way away due to the heavy presence of clouds over June and July. We usually have lots of rain and cold, but the sun gives us some relief from the icy temperatures. But this year in winter, we go days without the sun. In South Africa we are fortunate to have many days of sunshine, but this winter feels different in our province. They say that we will continue to get the extremes, as far as the weather is concerned and it is the same worldwide. Floods, fires, earthquakes, heatwaves, and all sorts of things seem to be taking place more frequently. All that we can do is to hold on and pray that things will not get much worse.
Such is life.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures and the story.

Photos by Zac Smith. All-Rights-Reserved.

Camera: Canon PowershotSX70HS Bridge camera.

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