Snaps of Animals

Snaps are captured in nature with all its glory with these animals enjoying British blooms.

Ducklings! These feathery friends find a hinding place among the buttercups

Hello petal! A meercat tries to sweet-talk a daffodil

Danger mouse: A daring harvest mouse scales a bloom

Not to be sniffed at: This lamb likes the smell of daffs

Eye say: A cheeky week from a wise old bird

In the pink: A piglet nestles between rose blooms on a farm in Devon

These aren't bananas!A gorilla at Paignton Zoo sniffs a bunch of roses

Cunning hiding place: A fox cub looks out from beneath a bunch of daffodils

Quacking snowdrops: A pair of ducklings play among spring flowers

Butterfly- The Beautiful Insect

Butterflies are the insects which not only looks beautiful but also spreads bliss and joy around. Butterflies have large, often brightly colored wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. They are one of our favorite insects. I ponder that how gracefully they fly with their delicate wings. What a lovely species in the world of insects! When I see a butterfly moving around a flowers, it seems like the flower is so close to interact and loves to be with flowers all the time. When I was in second grade of my school, I used to chase and catch butterflies with my friends after leaving school. But now I feel that its better to watch them with the flowers rather than arresting them. They are so adorable to view them fluttering around the flowers.

Poor butterfly that it has got short span life to live. I really pity on butterfly that which adds beauty to the nature and spreads happiness, has got short life in this earth. In fact they do not sting or bite. People would seldom think of killing them otherwise they do not become pests in people's home. We think that butterflies simply make the world a prettier place.

Quote:-

“We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.”

Moreover, they are helpful to the nature. From animal point of view, butterflies are near the bottom of the food chain and provide food for birds, mammals, and other insects. They pollinate flowers to produce seeds and thus fruits reproduced. They pollinate flowers to produce seeds and thus fruits reproduced.

Dedicated to butterfly lovers

More About Butterflies

It is thought that word butterfly may have originated in England when people observed pretty insect reminded them of the color of butter. Eventually it was shortened to "butterfly". The scientific name of its order, Lepidoptera, means "scaly wings" in Latin. This is a correct description since their wings and their bodies are covered with tiny scales. Butterflies and moths are th only insects that have scales. Moths and butterflies are mainly different in their appearance and activities. Moths fly mostly at night and usually have a dull color. Butterflies are active during the day and are brightly coloured. Their bodies are thin and hairless, while most moths have plump and furry bodies.

They are found nearly everywhere in the world except Antartica. They have lived on Earth for at least 150 million years. Although some tropical butterflies can live up to one year, the average life span of a butterfly is at most two months. Butterflies display every color of the rainbow in their wings, and no two butterflies are exactly alike. This coloring serves many purposes: from attracting a mate, to blending in with its surroundings, to warning its enemies that it is poisonous and should be avoided.

One of the most interesting things about butterflies is their unique life cycle. When a butterfly changes from a slow-moving, fat caterpillar to a colorfully winged, beautiful flying insect, one of nature's most magical events occurs. This metamorphosis happens to most insects, but not as dramatically as it does to a butterfly.

Thus, they are incredible fliers that have got strong wings to fly to fastly and can migrate over 3000 miles to spend the winter in a warmer place.

The Beauty and Symbolism of the Butterfly
The Butterfly is a universal symbol of change, resurrection, transformation, celebration, young love and the soul.

In some myths, the Butterfly bring sleep and dreams. In others, it is symbolic of female fertility and is thought to be the bringer of children. The butterfly also represents love and relationships.

The Butterfly is a powerful symbol in myth and religion and in many cultures, the butterfly has been the symbol of the soul that physical death can not destroy.

In Greek myth, Psyche (which literally translates to mean "soul") is represented in the form of a butterfly. Befittingly, Psyche is forever linked with love as she and Eros(Cupid) (the Greek god of love) shared an endlessly passionate bond together - both hopelessly in love with the other.

In Christianity, it a soulful symbol as well. The butterfly is a symbol of rebirth and immortality. The butterfly is often seen depicted on ancient tombs, and Christ has been illustrated holding a butterfly in Christian art.

In China it symbolized conjugal bliss and joy.

American Indians call upon the butterfly for guidance in change, color, and happiness.

This is the message from the nature as life moral throught the Butterfly life cycle-
Like the butterfly, we are all on a journey. On this journey we encounter endless turns, shifts, and conditions that cause us to metamorphasize. All change is good - even if it may not seem so at the time. Change is what life is made of and it is necessary to grow and learn. At our journey's end we are inevitably transformed - not at all the same as when we started on the path.

click here to view pictures of butterflies-

http://blogonnature.blogspot.com/p/colorful-butterflies.html

Discover the facts of clouds

Cloud is a visible mass of water droplets or frozen ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere above the surface of the earth. Clouds give us a clue about what is going on in our atmosphere and how the weather might change in the hours or even days to come. Each type of cloud forms in a different way, and each brings its own kind of weather. 

Cool Condensation 

Clouds are water. As you probably know, we can find water in three forms: liquid, solid and gas. Water as a gas is called water vapor. Clouds form when water vapor turns back into liquid water droplets. That is called condensation. It happens in one of two ways: when the air  cools enough, or when enough water vapor is added to the air. You’ve seen the first process happen on a summer day as drops of water gather on the outside of a glass of ice tea. That’s because the cold glass cools the air near it, causing the water vapor in the air to condense into liquid. Unlike the drops on the side of your glass though, the droplets of water in a cloud are so small that it takes about one million of them to form a single raindrop.  Most clouds form this way, but the cooling comes not from ice in a glass, but as the air rises and cools high in the sky. Each tiny cloud droplet is light enough to float in the air, just as a little cloud floats out from your breath on a cold day.

Too Clean for Clouds? 

Our air has to be just a little bit dirty for clouds to form. That’s because water vapor needs a surface on which to condense. Fortunately, even the cleanest air has some microscopic particles of dust, smoke or salt for water droplets to cling to, so the air is rarely too clean for clouds to form. 

Common Cloud Types 

1.Stratus Clouds(Low Clouds)

It's Latin for "covering" or "blanket."  Stratus clouds look like a flat blanket in the sky.

Stratus clouds are layered and cover most of the sky. They are much wider than they are tall.   If you see them in broken or puffy layers, they are stratocumulus clouds.  If you see them in thin high layers that turn the sky solid white, they're cirrostratus clouds. The tiny prisms of ice in a cirrostratus layer can bend the sun's light. As a result, often you can see a halo or veil of rainbow colors around the sun.  When stratus clouds are very thick, they become dark nimbostratus clouds, which can produce rain, drizzle or snow.  

Stratus clouds are uniform grayish clouds that often cover the entire sky. They resemble fog that does not reach the ground. Usually no precipitation falls from stratus clouds, but sometimes they may drizzle. When a thick fog "lifts," the resulting clouds are low stratus.

Nimbostratus clouds form a dark gray, "wet" looking cloudy layer associated with continuously falling rain or snow. They often produce precipitation that is usually light to moderate.

2. "Alto" Clouds(Middle Clouds)

Clouds with the prefix "alto" are middle level clouds that have bases between 2000 and 7000 m (6500 to 23,000 ft.).

Altocumulus clouds are middle level clouds that are made of water droplets and appear as gray, puffy masses, sometimes rolled out in parallel waves or bands. The appearance of these clouds on a warm, humid summer morning often means thunderstorms may occur by late afternoon.

Altostratus clouds are gray or blue-gray middle level clouds composed of ice crystals and water droplets. These clouds usually cover the entire sky. In the thinner areas of the cloud, the sun may be dimly visible as a round disk. Altostratus clouds often form ahead of storms that will produce continuous precipitation.

3. Cirrus Clouds(High Clouds)

It's Latin for "curl."  Cirrus clouds look like curls of white hair.

Cirrus clouds are high and thin and made entirely of ice crystals. Forming above 20,000 feet in the atmosphere, they often look like wisps of white hair. Cirrus clouds, which are a sign of warm moist air rising up over cold air, are sometimes an early signal that thickening clouds could bring light rain or snow within one or two days.

Cirrus clouds are thin, wispy clouds blown by high winds into long streamers. They are considered "high clouds" forming above 6000 m (20,000 ft). Cirrus clouds usually move across the sky from west to east. They generally mean fair to pleasant weather.

Cirrostratus clouds are thin, sheetlike high clouds that often cover the entire sky. They are so thin that the sun and moon can be seen through them.

Cirrocumulus clouds appear as small, rounded white puffs. The small ripples in the cirrocumulus sometimes resemble the scales of a fish. A sky with cirrocumulus clouds is sometimes referred to as a "mackerel sky."

4. Cumulus Clouds

In Latin, this means "heap."  Cumulus clouds look like a heap of cotton balls or whipped cream.

Cumulus clouds are low individual billowy globs that are low, have flat bases and look a little like cauliflower. They are at least as tall as they are wide and form on sunny days from pockets of rising air.  Their constantly changing outlines are fun to watch because they can take the shapes of almost anything, including animals and faces.  Cumulus clouds usually signal fair weather. If they build into the middle or high part of the atmosphere they get the name cumulonimbus. A cumulonimbus cloud is tall, deep and dark and can bring lightning, heavy rain and even severe weather such as hail, damaging winds or tornadoes. It is a sign of rapidly rising and sinking air currents.

Cumulus clouds are puffy clouds that sometimes look like pieces of floating cotton. The base of each cloud is often flat and may be only 1000 m (330 ft) above the ground. The top of the cloud has rounded towers. When the top of the cumulus resembles the head of a cauliflower, it is called cumulus congestus or towering cumulus. These clouds grow upward, and they can develop into a giant cumulonimbus, which is a thunderstorm cloud.

Cumulonimbus clouds are thunderstorm clouds that form if cumulus congestus clouds continue to grow vertically. Their dark bases may be no more than 300 m (1000 ft) above the Earth's surface. Their tops may extend upward to over 12,000 m (39,000 ft). Tremendous amounts of energy are released by the condensation of water vapor within a cumulonimbus. Lightning, thunder, and even violent tornadoes are associated with the cumulonimbus.

Try to learn the names of the different clouds, and the next time you look up into the sky, take notice of what kind of clouds you see. And if you try, you might be able to guess what kind of weather they will bring.

Joy of Rain - The Wonderful Season

http://blogonnature.blogspot.com/p/amazing-rain-drops.html

Rain is the most wonderful and beautiful season of all. Mostly, rainy season is the beloved one for most of us. This is the one of the incredible gift of nature that water drops falling from the sky. Sometimes I wonder, infact, it looks like a magical thing happening. The whole atmosphere becomes fantastic and feels like heaven. It sounds and smells great when it rains on the earth. Its the season of chill and relaxation.

If we look around after the rain, we can see the beauty of nature. The dew drops on leaves or flower petals looks like diamonds which really glitters. Perhaps, drops seem to be coloured transparent marbels which cannot be held. I really feel excited to take those pics in the rain and make albums in my shelf. There are various minute things in nature for which we dont get time to enjoy them like smell of mud, drops on plants, birds chirping etc. Rain has got its own music if we observe.

For loving couples, this can be predicted as the season of love and romance.
It can also be called as "Romantic climate" for lovers to spend some good time with each other. I think it would be really heart-touching and certain to create some beautiful memorable moments of our life.

You know, this is the time to enjoy and to forget all worries and tensions. The best way to interact with rain is to make your face upward to feel the drops falling on face and open up arms. And see the change in your feel from inside! Even people fond of dancing in the rain, which is the one of the best ways to express ur joy.

Children also love to play in this season. For instance, playing football, making paper boats to flow in the smalls streams of water, etc. But mothers cease them to get wet in the rain to protect from getting cold or fever. I would say that the whole family should hang out in the rain when they get leisure time from their daily fast pace life.

The nature is at her best in the rainy season. The old earth becomes young. Her wrinkles change into green and long grasses. Her looks become quite fresh and young. The dry and sandy beds are again alive with flowing water. The murmuring sound of water fills the heaths of the young with pleasure.

In the Rainy Season, the earth wears green colour. Trees and creepers are filled with new leaves. Flowers appear on them. The beautiful rainbow falls in the sky. The sun plays hide-and-seek with the clouds. The sun shines through them and the gray clouds get multicolored. The boatmen ply their boats across the river. Peacocks dance in the woodland. Their beautiful tails speared like fans behind them. Thus, every creature in the world feels joy and happy at this time.

Usually, people wish rain to come soon and anticipates to watch Rainbow. That is infact Rainbow has got incredible view of the nature which has gifted us.

Fun of Gazing Clouds in the Sky

There is fun of watching clouds in the sky.

http://blogonnature.blogspot.com/p/horse-clouds.html

Clouds add beauty to the sky. They appears to be dancing in the air. You can try your luck at weather forecasting by looking up into the sky. Clouds give us clue about the weather.

As Kids are known to be good observers(or learners) at their age, they observe nature and try to draw the images of different shaped clouds with crayons.

When you look at the clouds during sunrise or sunset, the layers of clouds getting lit by the first or last rays of sunlight. It gets the color of orange-red. Its the real marvelous scene of the day to stare at the sky. In the leisure time, I look at the clouds and try to imagine pictures in it like someone face, tree, or animals etc. It could be image of anything.

In the cloudy night with moonlight get the adorable scene having the shade of gray-indigo color. Whenever the electricity goes, I get excited to move to the terrace to view night sky. Even in the parks if you lay down its you can see the wide view of cloudy sky. I feel joy to relax in that way and it is one of the best way to get peace and think free of external disturbances.

http://blogonnature.blogspot.com/p/incredible-cloud-forms.html