Cute and Wholesome Picture Thread

[Jubal]

A non-wildlife cuteness found on the webs:

[Jubal]

Not posted any wildlife shots in ages, so here's a bit of Viennese summer These are from several walks and locations around the city & in no particular order:

A Brown Argus butterfly	A wall lizard, seen at a small ruined castle in the hills
A Lesser Purple Emperor - the incredible blue sheen is iridescence & visible only at some angles	A young wild boar in the woods near the city.
Brintesia circe, the Great Banded Grayling butterfly. I don't actually know why it's named after the witch of Odyssey fame.	A male red-backed shrike, known as "butcher birds" for keeping larders of impaled insects on thorn bushes.
An alpine longhorn beetle, very strikingly blue, found in the Lainzer tiergarten.	A curious baby field hamster, from Meidling cemetery.
Some more hamsters, watching some humans pass by a few metres away,	A red squirrel - probably young given its lack of ear tufts.
A sugary pink water-lily at the Alte Donau Wasserpark.	A cygnet. Most baby swans are grey (hence the "Ugly Duckling") but this one was a striking white more like the adults.
A European pond tortoise. Smaller and spottier than the bigger painted turtles that are now more common in Europe's cities.	A yellowhammer, at Perchtoldsdorfer Heide, singing raucously.
An orchid, at Perchtoldsdorfer Heide - probably a Woodcock Orchid.	Orobanche, or broom-rape, a parasitic flower (hence the lack of green) that taps into the roots of another species.
A burnt orchid, at Perchtoldsdorfer Heide.	A meadow brown - common, and very variable in exact markings - with Perchtoldsdorf in the background.

[Pentagathus]

Wall lizard is cool lizard

[Jubal]

Wall lizard is cool lizard

Yeah, they were living in the two remaining walls of an old castle tower up in the forest. I quite liked the idea that once the knights had gone, the little dragons crept back in



Also please enjoy this small kobold with big hat:


Source: https://twitter.com/siggymcc/status/1428391033419620358

[Jubal]

Time for a dump of my autumn and early winter pictures from Vienna, I think More of the usual really when it comes to wildlife, but I think there are a few nice pictures in there and I hope you enjoy them.

A painted tortoise (feral pet species) at the Old Danube Wasserpark.	A male black redstart at Perchtoldsdorfer Heide.
Autumn gentians at Perchtoldsdorfer Heide.	A hovering kestrel at Perchtoldsdorfer Heide.
A wild field hamster at Meidling cemetery.	Another field hamster at Meidling cemetery.
A goldfinch at Vienna's central cemetery.	A green woodpecker at Vienna's central cemetery.
A female house sparrow, near the Neue Donau Ubahn station.	A red squirrel at the Old Danube Wasserpark.
A wren foraging atop a beaver's dam on the Donauinsel.	A kingfisher at the Old Danube Wasserpark.
A nuthatch in the Volksgarten, central Vienna.	A red squirrel at the  Erholungsgebiet Wienerberg.
A brown rat at the Erholungsgebiet Wienerberg.	A jay at the Erholungsgebiet Wienerberg.

[Silver Wolf]

[Pentagathus]

He has a mole on his hand

[Jubal]

I think that's a fairly newborn echidna puggle rather than a mole?

[dubsartur]

Do you bring a camera with lens that can move back and forth, or just a cell phone camera?  You make good closeups.

[Jubal]

Do you bring a camera with lens that can move back and forth, or just a cell phone camera?  You make good closeups.

For my stuff? I have two cameras, both with decent optical zooms - a 30x zoom camera with a good macro and flip-up screen (Panasonic Lumix TZ-90), which I can use for flowers and invertebrates and the really close stuff, and a heavier 60x zoom camera (a Canon Powershot SX-70 HS) which most of the recent stuff is taken on, that's very good for the longer range shots. I don't really know much about cameras, that said - I'm not someone who fiddles with settings or lens switching or anything much, I focus a lot more on just trying to get closer or at better angles to the animals.

[Jubal]

It's too long since I did a wildlife photo dump, so here are some pictures from yesterday's walk on the Donauinsel:

A swan on the Danube. Majestic and full of spite as usual.	Little grebes, tiny fluffy diving water-birds.
A cormorant perches high above the Danube's waters.	A blue-tit forages for winter food.
A squirrel curls almost motionless on the corner of a branch, saving energy and being a little warmed by winter sun.	A moorhen (behind) and, more interestingly, a little water rail in front - only the second time I've ever photographed one.
Water rails are named for their strangled-sounding 'railing' cries...	...but they're rarely seen, preferring to skulk in ditch vegetation or reed-beds.
Another bird I don't see much, a middle-spotted woodpecker - smaller than its commoner great-spotted cousin.	The middle-spot has a bright full red crest which can be seen here: the great-spot just has a red dot at the back of the head.
Middle-spots can sometimes be mistaken for young great-spots, but the shape is quite different.	A treecreeper! Not sure if it's common or short-toed, the differences are quite subtle.
A great white egret, a large bird closely related to herons, perched high up a tree. Also not something I see often.	The beaver inlets on the Donauinsel are rather pretty and good for wildlife.
It may take a second glance to spot the little grebe in the middle of this picture!	A male gadwall, one of the less common ducks that we get as winter visitors.
A kestrel lit by the evening (well, 3:30 but that's about the same thing at this time of year) sun.	On my way back I came across someone walking their pony. It was very fluffy.

[Jubal]

A few recent-ish bits of Vienna wildlife:

[Jubal]

Well, having failed to put an update here for a year I guess we're skipping later 2023, here are some Vienna spring wildlife of early 2024 for an Easter cuteness update

A field hamster, Meidling cemetery	A souslik, Perchtolsdorfer Heide
A globularia flower, Perchtolsdorfer Heide	Two pasque flowers, Perchtolsdorfer Heide
Wild irises, Perchtoldsdorfer Heide	Tooth-wort, Schonbrunn palace woods. It's a parasitic plant!
Squirrel, Schonbrunn palace woods	Squirrel with corydalis flowers, Schonbrunn palace woods
Souslik, seen on my 30th birthday at Perchtoldsdorf	Black woodpecker, Perchtoldsdorf
A jay, woods at Perchtoldsdorf	A siskin, woods at Perchtoldsdorf
Hepatica (liverleaf) flowers, woods at Perchtoldsdorf	Adonis flower buds, Perchtoldsdorfer Heide
Canada goose, Alte Donau Wasserpark	Female red-crested Pochard, Alte Donau Wasserpark
Female red-crested Pochard eating water weeds, Alte Donau Wasserpark	Greylag goose, Alte Donau Wasserpark

[Spritelady]

Here are a few photos of my own to contribute, largely taken at a wildlife sanctuary in the Lincolnshire Wolds!

     


     

[Silver Wolf]

     

"Mibph!"
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PL9iMPx9CpQ