Neuroctena anilis

Another not so great macro and just a record shot

Not much seems to be known about this fellow.

There's some Info I found in German and some in English

European garden spider, Gartenkreuzspinne, Araneus diadematus

Not a great macro, by any means.
Just adding to my species collection :-)

Spider of the year 2010, wow ;-)

More on wiki

On this fellow I am not sure, if it's a garden spider as well?

From Germany Nature

From Germany Nature

Trash is always an issue

From Germany

Sadly, I don't seem to get away from trash and morons who litter.
It seems that times have gone back to people just dumping their shit where they stand.
Some places start to look like the beaches in Kuwait.
And the trash cans we have at some places, are not getting emptied - for whichever reason.

From Germany

Not sure what kind of things I already got out of the river these past few weeks.
Some stuff got thrown back in by morons and I got it back out.
The red thing is in the bin for the third time now :-(
The other day I found the outer shell of a toaster. Sigh.

Youngsters like to party at this particular place and tend to leave their trash and broken bottles behind.
I am glad that at least here a few other people seem to be collecting and dumping some of the trash in the bin.

Last year there has been a big 'event' where they collected stuff out of the river. And there are also less plastic bottles around (the ones you get money back for when you return them in the shop). I guess there are some good signs.

I just wish so many wouldn't fall into that same mentality that I despised in Kuwait: Dump your trash where you are standing.

River Nette, Mayen, Germany

From Germany

One of my favorite places for a quick, relaxed nature visit.
Shady, not too many people and water for the dogs to cool off in. And in walking distance.
Quite a bit of nature and wildlife as well.
Two of the more prominent visitors is a Kingfisher (I didn't see him the first two months around, but now he's back), two Grey Wagtails (it should be white Wagtails being at home here, but funny enough, I see those away from the water - German translation of their name would hint that they are the ones living close to this kind of river).

There are also all kinds of Tits, Nuthatches in abundance (I think their youngsters just learned to tend for themselves), Swifts flying over and some House Martins to go, some spotted Woodpeckers and the occasional Green one, many families of Blackcaps, Robins, a few Bluethroats, Black Redstarts, of course Mallards, very few Song Thrushes, of course Wood Pigeons, Magpies, Jays, Rooks and Blackbirds. I've seen some breeding Starlings, but they might have moved on. Occasionally there are some Collared Doves. In the bushes you see flitting Wrens (I love the German name: Zaunkoenig - Fence King).
I haven't seen the Grey Heron and the Dipper in a while, maybe they come back one of these days.
I am sure there's a lot that I don't get to see and a lot I cannot name.
All the trees, plants, butterflies and Critters. Damselflies and occasionally a big Dragonfly. Various fish species and loads of different Grasshoppers who sometimes park themselves on you when you stand still (had a fat grey one on my foot yesterday).

From Birds Germany 2012