iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

⛏ Thomas Hammerich @thammerich.bsky.social · 4h

The flower has already made its entrance. Above it, another one is still waiting backstage. It makes the photograph feel less like a portrait and more like a moment in an ongoing story. 🌸 📷 Captured in Petersburg, Alaska. 🌱 #FlowersOnFriday #Cosmos #NaturePhotography #Flowerphotography #Alaska

A close-up photograph capturing a velvety crimson red cosmos flower in full bloom, positioned centrally in the frame.

The flower features eight distinct, radiating petals with subtle vertical ridges along their texture, and one petal on the lower-left displays a faint, thin white streak. At the very center of the blossom is a dense, textured, bright yellow circular disc of disc florets, creating a stark and vivid contrast against the deep red petals.

Directly above the main flower, a small, tightly closed dark purple or blackish-brown flower bud sits atop a thin stem, nestled among broad, scalloped green leaves. The background and foreground are filled with a mix of lush green foliage.

Photo: Thomas Hammerich

0120

⛏ Thomas Hammerich @thammerich.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

A bench placed in front of a giant songbird mural invited me to do something rare in modern travel: sit, pause, & observe. Not every destination needs to be checked off a list; some are meant to be sat with. 📍 Christchurch, NZ 📷 31 Dec 2019 #TravelTuesday #NZ #TravelPhotography #streetart

A street mural titled 'Organic Matters' by artist Chimp, located at the Justice and Emergency Services Precinct on Lichfield Street in Christchurch, New Zealand.

The artwork depicts a large, detailed native rifleman bird (titipounamu) with bright green and yellow plumage, a white brow, and a sharp black beak. It looks to the left, surrounded by large pink and white blossoms and tall ornamental grasses. In front of the wall sits a simple wooden slatted bench.

Photo: Thomas Hammerich

1181

⛏ Thomas Hammerich @thammerich.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Hello Luis. I hope your new week got off to a good start. Wishing you a lovely Tuesday! 🍀✨

000

⛏ Thomas Hammerich @thammerich.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

I’ve found it pays to be sceptical: never trust anything that looks simple from a distance. Red clover is a good example. Get closer and the flower head becomes wonderfully complicated. 🌱 #FlowersOnMonday #MagentaMonday #NaturePhotography #botany

A vibrant pink red clover blossom (Trifolium pratense) in sharp focus at the lower center, showcasing a dense, spherical cluster of tiny, elongated pinkish-purple tubular petals. Small green leaves sprout directly beneath the flower head. The background is softly blurred, showing numerous other pink clover flower heads and blades of green grass scattered throughout a lush meadow.

Photo: Thomas Hammerich

1595

⛏ Thomas Hammerich @thammerich.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

That’s what I’m wondering too! ‘Cunningham’s White’ is known to occasionally bloom again in autumn, apparently influenced by temperature and seasonal cues. Interestingly, autumn flowering can mean fewer flowers the following spring. I’ll see what happens!

010

⛏ Thomas Hammerich @thammerich.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Great! Thank you for sharing it. My Cunningham’s White has a few flowers, perhaps ~10-15% of its usual spring display. But only on the sunny side.

110

⛏ Thomas Hammerich @thammerich.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Ediacaran seafloor, 560 million years in the making… and now in cake form! 🥄😍 A delicious piece of geological history. 👏👏👏👩‍🍳 Brilliant work, Cathy! 🍰

010

⛏ Thomas Hammerich @thammerich.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

⛏ #FossilFriday culinary edition! 🍽 Ediacaran seafloor, 560 million years in the making… and now in cake form! 🥄😍 A delicious piece of geological history. 👩‍🍳 Brilliant work! 🍰 #geology #fossil #edusky

0152

⛏ Thomas Hammerich @thammerich.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

The rhododendron has apparently reviewed the calendar and found it lacking. 🗓 So... it has decided to flower again. 🔎 𝘊𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘩𝘢𝘮’𝘴 𝘞𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘦 🌸🤍🍂 📷 29 Sep 2026 🌱 #FlowersOnFriday #NaturePhotography #botany #Niedersachsen

A close-up shot of pristine white Rhododendron 'Cunningham's White' blossoms in full bloom. Two prominent, trumpet-shaped flowers are clustered tightly together in the center, featuring delicate, wavy-edged petals. The upper interior petal of each flower is adorned with a distinctive, vibrant greenish-yellow speckled pattern that radiates outward from the throat. Multiple long, slender white stamens with pale anthers curve elegantly outward from the center of the blossoms. The flowers are framed by large, leathery, elongated dark green leaves, with a softly blurred background of dense foliage and dappled sunlight.

Photo: Thomas Hammerich

2270

⛏ Thomas Hammerich @thammerich.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

No worries! I like them. Xanthorrhoea are always impressive... in 4MP or 45MP.

010

⛏ Thomas Hammerich @thammerich.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Please excuse my late reply. I just found your message. Lovely pictures! Thank you for sharing. Haven’t been to the Bunya Mountains NP myself yet. Beautiful grasstrees! All with their tall spikes, really nice to see!

101

⛏ Thomas Hammerich @thammerich.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Thank you for your reply! I really appreciate it. You really need patience! 😅 It took ~10 ½ months to germinate. I got three Grasstree plants. 2 survived and are now 8 years old.

000

⛏ Thomas Hammerich @thammerich.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Chives are generally expected to spend their lives improving potatoes. Occasionally, however, they put on flowers like these and become rather grand about the whole business. 🌿💜 🔎 Allium schoenoprasum 🌱 #FlowersOnMonday #NaturePhotography #Niedersachsen #botany

Two flowering heads of Allium
schoenoprasum (chives) rise above dense
green grass and foliage. The rounded flower heads are composed of many delicate, narrow, pale lilac-pink florets, with the right-hand bloom slightly larger and more fully open. Slender green stems support the flowers, while the surrounding leaves and grass blades create a lush, layered background. Fine hairs and tiny water droplets are visible on a diagonal stem in the foreground. Warm sunlight highlights the flowers and fresh green vegetation.

Picture: Thomas Hammerich

0211

⛏ Thomas Hammerich @thammerich.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Thank you, Luis! Wishing you a pleasant and relaxing weekend too! 📷

000

⛏ Thomas Hammerich @thammerich.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Likely an external cast, as it appears to preserve the organism’s external morphology and surface ornamentation. An internal cast (steinkern) would instead have recorded the shape of the internal cavity.

020

⛏ Thomas Hammerich @thammerich.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

#FossilFriday 🧩🧩 Completing the picture! 🐚 Last week we looked at a fragment of Pleuroceras spinatum. 👇 Belows illustration shows where it fits: the outermost and youngest part of the ammonite shell, formed during its final stage of growth. #Fossils #Paleontology #Geology #EduSky

Graphic comparing a fossil fragment to a living creature. At the bottom, a grayscale photo shows a curved, ribbed ammonite shell fossil fragment. A white arrow and lines point upward to a colorful artistic reconstruction of the living ammonite, featuring a reddish-brown spiral shell and a squid-like body with tentacles and an eye extending from the opening.

Infographic illustration created and designed by Thomas Hammerich (including photography of Pleuroceras spinatum fossil fragment).

Living Pleuroceras spinatum illustration by Paleoartist & Scientific Illustrator Kōhei Futaka, X: @_HETAKA (License: Wikimedia Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International).

3223

⛏ Thomas Hammerich @thammerich.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

☀️ The last light catches... ...what the summer left behind. 🥀 🌱 #FlowersOnFriday #NaturePhotography #Niedersachsen #wildflowers

Cirsium vulgare (spear thistle) in fruit on a sunny day. Several mature seed heads rise from a dense green meadow. The central seed head is sharply focused: a rounded crown of fine, silky cream-white pappus hairs catches the sunlight above the brown, dried flower head and spiny, reddish-brown bracts. Other fluffy seed heads fill the foreground and left side, some softly blurred. A partly developed, still spiny flower head is visible at upper left. Deep green vegetation and a dark tree line form a softly blurred background beneath a clear, vivid blue sky. Warm late-season sunlight illuminates the delicate hairs, emphasizing their texture and the plant’s transition from flowering to seed dispersal.

Picture: Thomas Hammerich

0160

⛏ Thomas Hammerich @thammerich.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Thank you so much, Luis! ✨ I really appreciate you taking the time to comment and like the post.

000

⛏ Thomas Hammerich @thammerich.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Thank you Luis! I appreciate your kind comment. Wishing you a lovely start to the new week.

110

⛏ Thomas Hammerich @thammerich.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Do you remember… 🎶 🎶🎵 The 21st night of September? 🍁🍂 ...apparently, Rexy does. 🦖 🎶 🎶 🎵🎶 👇 Earth, Wind & Fire 🎶🎵 m.youtube.com/watch?v=Gs06... #September21 #NightAtTheMuseum #Paleontology #dinosaur

140

⛏ Thomas Hammerich @thammerich.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Perhaps it does! “Common ragwort” certainly doesn’t sound nearly as cheerful as the flower itself. How about “Golden Sunshine”? ☀️🌼💛

010

⛏ Thomas Hammerich @thammerich.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

I know them, and they occasionally occur in my potted plants as well. 👇 flower pot parasol en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leucoco...

en.wikipedia.org

Leucocoprinus birnbaumii - Wikipedia

110

⛏ Thomas Hammerich @thammerich.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Quite true! 😊 I think there’s always room for a little more sunshine. ☀️🌼 Wishing you a good start to the new week!

110

⛏ Thomas Hammerich @thammerich.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘰𝘯 𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘵 has a reassuringly ordinary appearance. It is yellow, abundant and quite content to grow where nobody planted it. 🌼 This is often how the most interesting plants begin their careers. 🔎 Jacobaea vulgaris 🌱 #FlowersOnMonday #NaturePhotography #botany #Niedersachsen #wildflowers

A dense cluster of yellow flowers of Jacobaea vulgaris (common ragwort) fills the foreground. Numerous daisy-like flower heads are grouped together, each with bright yellow, narrow ray florets surrounding a yellow, textured central disc. Some flower heads are fully open, while others are still developing or partially open. The blossoms are borne on slender, branching green stems with deeply divided, feathery green leaves. Several unopened buds are visible among the flowers.

Picture: Thomas Hammerich

3291

⛏ Thomas Hammerich @thammerich.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Indeed! 😄 Some dates with destiny simply take a little longer to arrive. 🐚

000

⛏ Thomas Hammerich @thammerich.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Some 180 million years ago, this ammonite was swimming in the Jurassic sea. Today, it sits quietly on a wooden table. Apparently, this is what happens when you get dug up and meet a geologist. 🐚🦕 ⛏🤠 🔎 Pleuroceras sp. 📍 Bavaria, Germany ⚒ #FossilFriday #Ammonite #Paleontology #Geology

A close-up photograph of a fossil ammonite, probably Pleuroceras sp., resting on a polished reddish-brown wooden surface. The three-dimensional shell is preserved in silvery-grey mineralized material with dark brown areas of matrix. Strong, closely spaced ribs radiate across the curved whorl, creating a striking ribbed pattern. The outer edge appears to have a prominent keel. Parts of the fossil are broken or worn, revealing darker material beneath the pale mineral surface. Warm lighting emphasizes the relief and texture of the fossil and the wood grain beneath it.

Picture: Thomas Hammerich

2525

⛏ Thomas Hammerich @thammerich.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Nature has excellent interior designers: white walls, golden carpet, green furniture... ...and a bumblebee thoughtfully inspecting the premises. Even I stopped for a look, and took this photo too. 🌼🐝 📷 16 Feb 2020, Kaikōura, NZ 🌱 #FlowersOnFriday #Cosmos #NaturePhotography #NZ #botany

Photograph of a bumblebee feeding on a white Cosmos flower. The bee has a densely fuzzy black body with warm yellow-orange bands around the thorax and abdomen, and translucent wings with clearly visible dark veins. It is perched on the flower’s dense golden-yellow central disk, surrounded by numerous tiny tubular florets. The large white ray florets radiate outward, showing fine grayish veins and subtle creases. In the lower middle of the blossom the flower’s green, pointed sepals surround a rounded yellow-green developing seed head. Green foliage is visible surrounding the white flower.

Picture: Thomas Hammerich

0423

⛏ Thomas Hammerich @thammerich.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Thank you for the follow and like Luis! I appreciate it very much! 😊 Flowers have a wonderful way of making us pause for a moment. 🌿🌸

000

⛏ Thomas Hammerich @thammerich.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

#FlowersOnMonday needs flowers. Preferably bright ones. Preferably flowers that look as though they have arrived with their own lighting department. 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘦𝘢 seems to have understood the assignment. 🌸 🔎 Lathyrus latifolius #NaturePhotography #botany #Niedersachsen

Close-up photograph of Lathyrus latifolius (perennial sweet pea, everlasting pea) flowering among grasses. Several vivid pink to magenta pea-like flowers are arranged along slender green stems. The large flowers have broad, veined petals, with darker purple-magenta lines radiating across the central petals. Some blossoms are fully open, while others are still in bud or beginning to unfold. Tiny droplets of water are visible on several petals. Fine grass stems and seed heads surround the flowers, with additional pink blossoms softly blurred in the green background, creating a natural meadow-like setting.

Picture: Thomas Hammerich

2422

⛏ Thomas Hammerich @thammerich.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Thank you for commenting! The Galápagos is an incredible place… you will just love it. It’s a very special place where wildlife and geology became part of scientific history. You can still experience and explore this today.

020

⛏ Thomas Hammerich @thammerich.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Indeed! 🌏 Nature has so many different ways to paint in gold and red. It’s always wonderful to see something from Down Under! Thank you for sharing your Grevillea banksii! 🌼 Cheers to Oz!

010

⛏ Thomas Hammerich @thammerich.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Thank you very much for your like and support! 🙏🏻 Those cactus flowers are wonderful. Thank you for sharing! 🌵🌸✨

010

⛏ Thomas Hammerich @thammerich.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

That’s a very good result! 👏🦋 Insects benefit from all kinds of niches for overwintering. Another great addition would be specific food plants for 🦋-caterpillars. Then butterflies find both nectar and nursery plants in the same garden. 🌱🦋 A win for both adult butterflies and the next generation.

0100

⛏ Thomas Hammerich @thammerich.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Thank you for your reply. A little sunshine in flower form. ☀️🌼 Wishing you a lovely start to the weekend!

110

⛏ Thomas Hammerich @thammerich.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

It really is a lovely intense shade of yellow. Just the right moment when sunlight and flower color worked perfectly together. ☀️🌼

020

⛏ Thomas Hammerich @thammerich.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Oooooh yes! The end of the season always comes a little too soon. 🌼🍂

020

⛏ Thomas Hammerich @thammerich.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Thank you, Luis! 🌼⛏️ Wishing you a lovely weekend ahead!

010

⛏ Thomas Hammerich @thammerich.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Thank you! I got lucky taking this one on a walk.

132

⛏ Thomas Hammerich @thammerich.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Bless you! 😄🌼 Did you know that Giant Goldenrod is actually often blamed unfairly for hay fever? Its pollen is mainly carried by insects, rather than spread by wind. The usual culprit flowering alongside it is wind-pollinated ragweed. A classic case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time!

130

⛏ Thomas Hammerich @thammerich.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

The days are shortening, but some flowers have evidently not received the memo. 𝘎𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘎𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘳𝘰𝘥 still gathering sunlight wherever it can. ☀️🌼 🔎 Solidago gigantea 🌱 #FlowersOnFriday #NaturePhotography #botany #Niedersachsen

A close-up shot focuses on a dense, cascading cluster of vibrant yellow flowers from a giant goldenrod plant, Solidago gigantea. The individual flower heads are tiny, fuzzy, and star-shaped, densely packed together to form a plume-like flower head that tapers downward against a soft, blurred background of green foliage and dark soil.

Picture: Thomas Hammerich

824425

⛏ Thomas Hammerich @thammerich.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Happy Star Trek Day to you! 🖖 Live long and prosper!

000

⛏ Thomas Hammerich @thammerich.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Thank you! Same to you! 🖖 Live long and prosper! 🚀✨

011