Category Archives: Slovenia

The friend who fell from the skies

Animals, English language posts, European Hornet, Insectlife, Insects, Life in Slovenia, Neanderslavia, Slovenia, Videos, Vojnik, Wetlands, Zhuzhana the Hornet, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

One fateful Saturday, a pair of sky warriors crashed to the ground, locked in battle.

They say every fight you can walk away from is a good fight. I guess that means our new friend had a good one indeed.

Her opponent, however, flew off. Because this is what victorious hornets do, after successfully shredding their rival’s wings.

So there she was – bruised and battered and suddenly pedestrian.

Under any ordinary circumstances, this would have meant she would be torn apart, limb by limb, by an army of gleeful ants. Unless she were lucky and a hungry bird got to her first.

But these were no ordinary circumstances. Because the turf on which she landed was ours.

She may have lost the duel but she won our love, along with a life-time supply of sugar water.

Zhuzhana, as we named her, was born a worker. But she ended up living like a queen.

#hornet #europeanhornet #Vespacrabro #pethornet #rescuedhornet #injuredhornet #rescue #feedinghornet #handfeeding #insectfeeding #insectrescue #insectlife #petinsect #zhuzhana #srsen #wetlands #vojnik #slovenia #neanderslavia

Catch of the day: an elderly snail

Animals, English language posts, Life in Slovenia, Neanderslavia, Slovenia, Videos, Wetlands, , , , , , , ,

When two garden snails really like each other, they show it by mutual stabbing. They’re equipped with special love darts for this very purpose – they’re hermaphrodites and their love dueling, which goes on for hours, is how they exchange seed.
Throughout history, garden snails have loved hitching a ride with humans and this is how they’ve managed to reach some of the farthest corners of the Earth. They’re cute in their own right but their appetite can spell disaster for crops in areas where their natural predators are scarce. Good biodiversity is your friend – frogs, birds, lizards and many bugs will happily keep snails in check for you.
But if all else fails, you can always scare garden snails away with coffee grounds – they seriously dislike coffee. That’s probably for the best because the idea of fast-moving, twitchy snails is borderline disturbing.

You’ll want some clover before you scratch your nose

Animals, Insectlife, Insects, Life in Slovenia, Neanderslavia, Photos, Slovenia, Vojnik, Wetlands, , , , , , , , , , ,
An angry rescued female stag beetle
An angry rescued female stag beetle (Lucanus cervus)

I was walking on hot asphalt and so was this lovely lady.

Cars were about to join us.

Concerned for the lady’s safety, I volunteered my relocation services.

She objected by running.

Obviously, I insisted by picking her up.

She responded by spraying my fingers with a memorable fragrance.

Stunned but undeterred, I moved her to a safe location.

Just as we went our separate ways, I had a wild realization. (Can you imagine.)

The thing is, I’ve picked up many a stag beetle in the tiny little nature reserve that I run.

(Usually because they got indoors and wouldn’t leave.)

But they rarely ever ran from me, much less sprayed me.

Yet the lady I met today went full battle mode.

I couldn’t shake the thought that stag beetles behave differently around the people they know.

I feel deeply honored.

I would consider nicknaming my beetles if I hadn’t already done so.

PS. Clover is your lucky plant if you need to get rid of angry beetle perfume.

A baby beetle

Animals, English language posts, Life in Slovenia, Natural ponds, Ponding, Slovenia, Videos, Wetlands, , , , , , , ,

On this earth, there are 300 pounds of insects for every pound of human flesh. They fly, they dig, they swim, they bite and sting and spray. And they can make more babies in their lifetime than the whole of humanity ever has. We’re outmaneuvered, outgunned, outnumbered and sometimes outsmarted too. Just something to keep in mind 🙂

Possibly, nah definitely a leech

Animals, English language posts, Life in Slovenia, Natural ponds, Ponding, Slovenia, Videos, Vojnik, Wetlands, , , , ,

One of the best things about creating a wildlife pond is watching new critters move in. This spry little slinkie – unfairly known, as I’ve learned, as the horse leech – has managed to find my magic little lake. And quite possibly, my new friend is exactly what these waters needed… because right now, they’re ruled by voracious dragonfly larvae who could use a good old-fashioned fear of God put into them… Dragonflies can murder their way through a sizeable batch of tadpoles in a disturbingly short time – a relatively well-known fact in the ponding world. But they will also actively stalk small fish, which is much less known about them. Supposedly, horse leeches hunt dragonfly larvae, so maybe nature will balance itself out.

Metal Day Vojnik

Charity, Fundraiser, Life in Slovenia, Slovenia, Videos, Vojnik, Waste management, , , , ,

(I found a way to combine my love of charity and garbage. We Slovenians are weird like that.)

Če človek sam zbira odpadne kovine, ga prehitro vse mine! Tudi jaz sem se vdala, preden sem dovolj pločevink nabrala, da bi jih z dobičkom na odpad peljala. Če pa se zbiranja lotimo vsi, zlahka v zlato pretopimo smeti! Dober teden smo si dali, da bomo kovinske odpadke ločevali, kaj dlje bi s kupom praznih konzerv le stežka zdržali. Kovinske pokrovčke, konzerve, žice, tudi kak star plug – vse to bomo zbrali ter 23. septembra na kup pripeljali. Nato se bomo vsi skupaj veselili, saj se ne bomo le navlake znebili, ampak tudi mnogo dobrega storili! Izkupiček bomo namreč za šport in duševno zdravje otrok namenili, pa še okolje bomo lepše za sabo pustili!

Drži ali ne drži?

“Metal dej, povej naprej! Za šport, okolje in zdravje gre zdej!”

Spremljaj nas na facebook.com/metaldayvojnik

Kako pa ti zbiraš kovinske odpadke? Objavi foto ali video pod ključnikom #metaldayvojnik

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