Beautiful shells

Shells are one of the most beautiful presents of nature. You can find them on the beach, where they wash ashore. Because I collect shells, me and my sister go often to the beach to find some nice shells. Over the years, I have collected quite a few shells, and I thought it would be nice to show you some.

Most of the shells in the pictures are found by myself on the beach, but some of them are bought in naturalistic shops. Tip if you want to gather your own shells: you can find the most shells at low tide.

This picture contains the following shells:

• Small, double, pink shell: Thin tellin (Tellina tenuis)
• Long, white shell, down the thin tellin: False angelwing (Petricolaria pholadiformis)
• Big, double shell, center: Pullet carpet shell (Veneruptis corrugate)
• Three, pointy white ones, bottom center: Common wentletrap (Epitonium clathrum)
• Long, blue one, left, with barnacles on its shell: Blue mussel (Mytilius edulis)

The scallops in this photo are from a naturalistic shop. So is the cone snail in the center. Unfortunately, I don't know the species of this shells. The other shells are Blue mussels (Mytilius edulis).

This is an American razor shell (Ensis americanus). I picked this one up, because of the barnacles on the tops of both blades.

This oysters have some strange holes in their shell. I first tought the holes were caused by some predatory snails, but there are so many! Whatever it was, I like them and I think they are very inspiring.

I am not sure what kind of oyster this is, but I think it is a Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas). This is one of my favourite shells.

These small Netted dog whelks (Nassarius reticulatus) have some barnacles on them. I have a lot of those small snail shells, but only a few have barnacles on their shell.

Sometimes, I have a lucky day and find shells like this: a Common whelk (Buccinum undatum). They are not very rare, but only now and the you find an intact shell (most of them are broken, and you find just small pieces). Look how big this one is, compared to the small Netted dog whelk!

Finally I have a picture of three empty carapaces. They are from common littoral crabs, the Carcinus maenas. You may think the empty sockets are a bit spooky, but these carapaces are one of my favourite objects.

Feathers

Today I would like to show you a part of my feather collection. Last month, a  lot of birds were moulting, so when I went outside, I could gather a lot of feathers in the parks and fields in my neighborhood.

This picture shows two tailfeathers of pheasants (the ones in the bottles). The biggest one is from a male Chinese Pheasant (Chrysolophus pictus). The smaller one is from a female Common Pheasant (Phasianus colchius). The beautiful blue-gray feather in the front is from a Gray Heron (Ardea cinerea).

There are several feathers in the pharmacy jar. I keep the smaller ones in this jar, so they stay clean and free of dust. The feathers you can see in the jar on this picture are from a female Common Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) and Wild Ducks (Anas platyrhynchos). The feather on the front is from a Greylag Goose (Anser anser). As you can see, I turned it into a quill.

This is just a small part of all the feathers in my collection, but I thought it would be nice to show some to you.

'The Great Naturalists' (edited by Robert Huxley)

Today, I'd like to show you one of my books. I bought this book a few days ago, in a bookstore near the shop where I bough my butterfly.

The book is about all the great naturalists who did or discovered something fundamental for the naturalistic science.

The book is devided in four time sections:

• Classical writers
• Renaissance
• Modern history
• The 19th century

Every section contains several chapters, one for each naturalist. The book describes the lifestories of the naturalists, what they did and why that was so important for the development of biological science. 

It is not only a book to read, but also a book to just look at. I like the design very much, and the book is full of beautiful, old images. Images from other times. Plants, animals and notes, all made by those naturalists, all from the books they wrote during their lives.

Ok, I stop my narration, now. Step into the wonderful world of The Great Naturalists.

Rain!

Over a week, it was very nice, hot weather. The hot weather had also a disadvantage: dryness. But! Today there was rain! 

First, I sat down under the marquise of our summerhouse, enjoying the freshness and scent of that great rainwater. I saw snails and earthworms coming out of their hiding places, and I was astonished about all those little wonders of nature, all living in my own garden. I saw spiders, using leaves like we use umbrellas.

Then the rain stopped for a while and I stood up to give all of this small animals a closer look. I  took some photos, which I'd like to share.

The snails were very pleased with the rain:

This little friend sat on our ivy:

Hardworking bumblebees on great globe thistle (Echinops sphaerocephalus):

Hello there! A harvastman (Opilio parietinus):

This spider (Tetragnatha montana) is having dinner:

My new acquisition

Yesterday, I went to a shop called 'Natural Choice' in The Hague. They sell naturalistic preparations such as skulls and animals in formaldehyde, but also feathers, gemstones, shells and a lot of other naturalistic things. I bought this precious butterfly.

It is a Large Tortoiseshell (Nymphalis polychloros). I chose this butterfly, because of the natural colors and the fact that I can see them flutter around in my own garden. This is my first prepared butterfly, so I am very, very happy with it!

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog!

This blog will be about the things in my life I want to share with others. The things I create, collect and read, but above all about the things I admire.

I would like to exemplify the title of my blog, first. 'Monstrum naturae' is Latin, and means 'freak of nature'. For 'freak of nature' is not a very nice-looking phrase, I chose Latin. Besides, all of the plants and animals have Latin names too.

I came up with the idea to start a blog, because of my internship at a sheepfarm in Wales. I kept a blog while I was there, now one-and-a-half year ago. I really loved doing that, because everyone at home could read and see where I was and what I was doing. The reason that I haven't start my blog previously, is that I was very busy with school.

I hope you will enjoy my blog =)

(In the next days, my blog maybe change a bit, because I am still not very pleased about the design.)