Evening stroll...

...in a small preserve area close to the Tauber Valley.

Today it's raining cats and dogs.

But yesterday my sweetheart and I enjoyed one of these perfect summer evenings with perfect mix of temperature, wind, sunshine and great nature.

Strolling along a narrow foot path of our small natural reserve was like a short getaway from daily routine.

As a reward making a stand against gravity and getting up from our sofa we had plenty of accidental meetings with the local "population": grashoppers, butterflies and various beautiful floral gems.

Here's a pair of Marbled White (Melanargia galathea) butterflies we call 'Schachbrett' (literally translated into chess board) in German.

The umbels of this species of grass glowed in the light of the low evening sun.

And here comes a trio of purple beauties...

brown knapweed - Centaurea jacea - Wiesen-Flockenblume

I assume this might be one of the Gymnadenia orchid species, but I'm not absolutely sure...

...and even here I was not sure what kind of beauty I had I front of my lens.

Does anybody know????

Ok, even the most beautiful evening must come to an end.

I hope you enjoyed our evening stroll.

A pleasant weekend to all of you!

Tree personalities on the island of Vilm

The Baltic Sea island and nature reserve of Vilm lies in the bay south of the much larger island of Rügen, it is one of Germany's most remote and tranquil spots. Covering less than 1 km², Vilm is the remnant of a moraine left as the glaciers retreated about 6000 years ago.

Although it is small, the surprising natural diversity and beauty of the Isle of Vilm has attracted hundreds of landscape painters over the last 2 centuries. Most of it is covered in forest that has been undisturbed for decades, and even centuries, with the result that its oak and beech woods are among the most untouched and impressive in Germany, and the island boasts a rich diversity of birds and small mammals. Part of the island – most of Middle Vilm and all of Little Vilm – is strictly closed to all human presence.

 One of the most spectactular and characteristic oaks in the northern part of Vilm - the "double branch oak".

View on the Middle and the Small Vilm with its beautiful, but inaccessible / "forbidden" beach.
Do you see the undulated sandy structures in the bay?

The "lightning strike beech"...

...still sprouting!

Oak and blooming cherry bush living in harmony near the north-eastern beach.

The elephant.

"Blick zur Insel Vilm", / "View to the island of Vilm", Caspar David Friedrich, 1809.

Lost without trace (?) / missed since 1945.

 View from the island of Vilm to the "white town" of Putbus, Ruegen, especially to the classicist market at the Circus of Putbus on top of the rise and its harbour Lauterbach on the waterfront.