Sunday wonders - M

M is for Meal time.
In nature, any time is meal time.  Yesterday, the sun was shining, the air was warm and we took a walk by the seashore. 

It was barely past breakfast for us, yet the heron was waiting patiently for something tasty to swim by.  Can you see the remains of the osprey nest on the pole beside him?

Here is one of those osprey with his meal.  His arrival with the fish shattered the calm and sent a gull screeching off the pole.  The heron appeared only mildly disturbed.  Maybe that was the fish he'd been watching?

We walked through some wasteland by an industrial park.  The grass was high in the fenced off areas and the birds flew after bugs.  Maybe this was one of them?  It looks as though this one has its eye on an even smaller bug.

After our own lunch, we took a shady walk through a public garden.  Ladybugs were everywhere but this one had the most beautiful of dining rooms with  a coppery-coral rose petal for a table.

 
By the pond, we heard a soft splash and there was a red-eared slider turtle swimming after the water bugs.  There were also goldfish in the water but the turtle wasn't much bothered by the competition.
 

I believe that this blossom is astrantia, or masterwort.  Its sweetness is a delicious dessert for these ants.  In their case, dessert is the meal...I wonder what it would be like to eat the sweet course all day?