The ortolan bunting (Emberiza hortulana) is a species of bird in the bunting family, Emberizidae. A native of most European countries and western Asia, it reaches as far north as Scandinavia and beyond the Arctic Circle, frequenting cornfields and their neighbourhoods. It is an uncommon vagrant in spring, and particularly in autumn, to the British Isles. Seeds are the bird's natural diet, but beetles and other insects are taken when feeding their young. The ortolan is served in French cuisine, typically cooked and eaten whole. Traditionally diners cover their heads with their napkin or a towel while eating the delicacy. The species is so widely used that its French populations dropped dangerously low, leading to laws restricting its use in 1999. In September 2007, the French government announced its intent to enforce long-ignored laws protecting the bird. This ortolan bunting was photographed in the Sierra de Guara, a mountain range in Aragon, Spain.

Photograph credit: Pierre Dalous

Ophrys insectifera, the fly orchid, is a species of orchid and the type species of the genus Ophrys. It is remarkable as an example of the use of sexually deceptive pollination and floral mimicry, as well as a highly selective and highly evolved plant–pollinator relationship. The plants use scent that mimics female sexual pheromones to attract male wasps, which pollinate the flowers while attempting to mate with them. It is classified as a least-concern species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, but considered to be vulnerable in Great Britain. This o. insectifera orchid was photographed in Niitvälja, Estonia.

Photograph credit: Ivar Leidus

Golden Delicious is a cultivar of apple. The cultivar arose from a chance seedling, possibly a hybrid of Grimes Golden and Golden Reinette. The original tree was found on the family farm of J. M. Mullins in Clay County, West Virginia, and was locally known as Mullins' Yellow Seedling. Mullins sold the tree and propagation rights to Stark Brothers Nurseries and Orchards for $5000, which first marketed it as a companion of their Red Delicious in 1914 (although the two cultivars are not closely related). Golden Delicious is one of the fifteen most popular apple cultivars in the United States in 2008, popular for eating as well as in salads, apple sauces, and apple pies. This photograph of one whole and one halved Golden Delicious apple was focus-stacked from six images.

Photograph credit: Ivar Leidus

The orange is a fruit of various citrus species in the family Rutaceae, primarily the cultivar Citrus × sinensis, also known as the sweet orange to distinguish it from C. × aurantium, the bitter orange. The sweet orange is a hybrid between the pomelo (C. maxima) and the mandarin (C. reticulata), with the pomelo being the chloroplast genome and maternal line. The orange originated in a region encompassing south China, northeast India, and Myanmar, and the earliest mention of the sweet orange found in Chinese literature dates from 314 BC. The sweet orange reproduces asexually (apomixis through nucellar embryony); varieties of sweet orange arise through mutations. The whole genome has been sequenced. This photograph, depicting a whole orange, a halved orange, and a peeled orange segment, was focus-stacked from eleven images.

Photograph credit: Ivar Leidus

Campanula cervicaria, also known as the bristly bellflower, is a species of flowering plant in the bellflower family, Campanulaceae. Native to Scandinavia and central Europe, C. cervicaria has also become naturalised in parts of the U.S. state of Minnesota. Its natural habitat is woodland edges, hillside meadows, dry meadows and banks, and it also flourishes where soil has been disturbed, for example after slash-and-burn or forest clearance. The plant has a hairy stem, with light blue flowers about 1 to 2 centimetres (0.4 to 0.8 in) long and grouped together. This C. cervicaria flower was photographed in Keila, Estonia.

Photograph credit: Ivar Leidus

Petasites hybridus, the butterbur, is a species of herbaceous perennial flowering plant in the family Asteraceae native to Europe and northern Asia. Although used over centuries in traditional medicine to treat various disorders and sometimes sold as a dietary supplement, it has no approved medical uses. Concerns about the potential toxic effects of pyrrolizidine alkaloids limit its use in human and animal studies. This P. hybridus inflorescence was photographed in a forest near Keila in northwestern Estonia.

Photograph credit: Ivar Leidus

Daphne mezereum, commonly known as the mezereum, February daphne, spurge laurel or spurge olive, is a species of daphne in the flowering plant family Thymelaeaceae, native to most of Europe and western Asia. D. mezereum is very toxic because of the compounds mezerein and daphnin present especially in the berries and twigs. The flowers have a four-lobed pink or light purple (rarely white) perianth and are strongly scented. This D. mezereum flower was photographed in a forest near Keila, Estonia.

Photograph credit: Ivar Leidus

Valerian (Valeriana officinalis) is a perennial flowering plant in the family Caprifoliaceae, native to Europe and Asia. In the summer when the mature plant may have a height of 1.5 metres (5 feet), it bears sweetly scented pink or white flowers that attract many fly species, especially hoverflies of the genus Eristalis. Valerian has been used as a herb in traditional medicine since at least the time of ancient Greece and Rome; Hippocrates described its properties and Galen later prescribed it as a remedy for insomnia. This valerian flower was photographed in Niitvälja, Estonia, in 2021.

Photograph credit: Ivar Leidus

Tenthredo scrophulariae, the figwort sawfly, is a species of insect in the family Tenthredinidae, found across Europe. The larvae are relatively large, with a length of 30 millimetres (1.2 in) and having 22 legs. They have a white body with black spots, and feed on mullein and figworts. They feed from August to September and emerge as adults in May the following year. This T. scrophulariae larva was photographed near Keila in north-western Estonia.

Photograph credit: Ivar Leidus

The pomegranate (Punica granatum) is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub in the family Lythraceae, subfamily Punicoideae, that grows between 5 and 10 m (16 and 33 ft) tall. The pomegranate was originally found only throughout the Mediterranean region. It was introduced into Spanish America in the late 16th century and into California by Spanish settlers in 1769.

Photograph credit Ivar Leidus

Equisetum arvense, also known as the field horsetail or common horsetail, is a herbaceous perennial plant in the Equisetidae (horsetails) sub-class, native throughout the Arctic and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. It has separate sterile non-reproductive and fertile spore-bearing stems growing from a perennial underground rhizomatous stem system. The fertile stems are produced in early spring and are non-photosynthetic, while the green sterile stems start to grow after the fertile stems have wilted and persist through the summer until the first autumn frosts. This fertile spore-bearing E. arvense stem was photographed in Keila, Estonia.

Photograph credit: Ivar Leidus

Trifolium hybridum, also known as the alsike clover, is a species of flowering plant in the pea family Fabaceae. The stalked, pale pink or whitish flower head grows from the leaf axils, and the trifoliate leaves are unmarked. The plant is up to 40 centimetres (1.3 ft) tall, and is found in fields and on roadsides – it is also grown as fodder (hay or silage). It blooms from spring to autumn. Originating in mainland Europe, it has become established as an introduced plant in the British Isles. This T. hybridum flower was photographed in Keila, Estonia.

Photograph credit: Ivar Leidus

Pyrite, or iron pyrite, is an iron sulfide with the chemical formula FeS₂. It is the most abundant sulfide mineral. Pyrite's metallic luster and pale brass-yellow hue give it a superficial resemblance to gold, and the mineral is known informally as "fool's gold". The color has also led to the nicknames brass, brazzle, and Brazil, primarily used to refer to pyrite found in coal. Pyrite is usually found associated with other sulfides or oxides in quartz veins, sedimentary rock, and metamorphic rock, as well as in coal beds and as a replacement mineral in fossils, but has also been identified in the sclerites of scaly-foot gastropods. It has had various uses over time, including as an ignition for firearms, a source of sulfur dioxide and as jewellery. These cubic crystals of pyrite were found in the Huanzala mine in the Huallanca District of Peru.

Photograph credit: Ivar Leidus

The hazelnut is the fruit of the hazel tree, including all nuts of the genus Corylus, especially those of the species Corylus avellana. Hazelnuts are used as a snack food, in baking and desserts, breakfast cereals such as muesli, confectionery, and also in combination with chocolate for chocolate truffles and products such as chocolate bars, Nutella and Frangelico liqueur. Hazelnut oil, pressed from hazelnuts, is strongly flavored and high in monounsaturated fat; it is used as a cooking oil and as a salad or vegetable dressing. Turkey is the world's largest producer of hazelnuts, accounting for 64% of total production in 2021. This photograph shows two whole hazelnuts alongside two kernels, one of which is peeled.

Photograph credit: David Ifar

The lemon (Citrus × limon) is a species of small evergreen tree in the flowering plant family Rutaceae, native to Asia, primarily northeastern India (Assam), northern Myanmar, and China. The tree's ellipsoidal yellow fruit is used for culinary and non-culinary purposes throughout the world, primarily for its juice, which has both culinary and cleaning uses. The pulp and rind are also used in cooking and baking. The distinctive sour taste of lemon juice, derived from citric acid, makes it a key ingredient in drinks and foods. This photograph shows a whole and halved lemon against a black background.

Photograph credit: Ivar Leidus

Prehnite is an inosilicate mineral of calcium and aluminium with the chemical formula Ca₂Al(AlSi₃O₁₀)(OH)₂. Limited Fe³⁺ substitutes for aluminium in the structure. Prehnite crystallizes in the orthorhombic crystal system, and most often forms as stalactitic, botryoidal, reniform or globular aggregates. Prehnite is brittle with an uneven fracture and a vitreous to pearly luster. It has a hardness of 6.5 on the Mohs scale and its specific gravity is 2.80 to 2.95, while its color varies from light green to yellow, with some specimens also colorless. Prehnite is used as a gemstone, and was first described in 1788 for an occurrence in the Karoo dolerites of Cradock in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. It was named after Colonel Hendrik Von Prehn, the commander of the military forces of the Dutch colony at the Cape of Good Hope from 1768 to 1780. This prehnite crystal, measuring 4.0 cm × 3.5 cm × 2.0 cm (1.6 in × 1.4 in × 0.8 in), was found in Southbury, Connecticut, in the United States.

Photograph credit: Ivar Leidus

Hyles gallii, also known as the bedstraw hawk-moth, is a moth of the family Sphingidae. The species was first described by S. A. von Rottemburg in 1775 and is found in North America, in Europe to the Arctic Circle, in Central Asia, and in Japan. This image shows a late-stage H. gallii caterpillar in Keila, Estonia. Caterpillars of the species can reach a length of 70 to 80 millimetres (2.8 to 3.1 in), with variable colouring. One type is olive green with cream spots and a reddish-brown head, while another is almost entirely black.

Photograph credit: Ivar Leidus

The raspberry is the edible fruit of a multitude of plant species in the genus Rubus of the rose family, most of which are in the subgenus Idaeobatus. The name also applies to the plant itself. Raspberry plants are perennial with woody stems. It is an aggregate fruit, developing from the numerous distinct carpels of a single flower. Originally occurring in East Asia, the raspberry is now cultivated across northern Europe and North America and is eaten in a variety of ways including as a whole fruit and in preserves, cakes, ice cream and liqueurs. Raspberries are a rich source of vitamin C, manganese, and dietary fiber.

Photograph credit: Ivar Leidus

The pomegranate (Punica granatum) is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub in the family Lythraceae, subfamily Punicoideae, that grows between 5 and 10 m (16 and 33 ft) tall. The pomegranate was originally found only throughout the Mediterranean region. It was introduced into Spanish America in the late 16th century and into California by Spanish settlers in 1769. This photograph shows a number of arils from a pomegranate.

Photograph credit Ivar Leidus

Leptura quadrifasciata, the four-banded longhorn beetle, is a species of beetle in the family Cerambycidae. It is found throughout the northern and central Palaearctic region. The species is distributed in northern and central regions of Europe and Asia. It is particularly common in Scandinavia, Finland and Great Britain, and typically seen during the summer months. The larvae make meandering galleries in various trees, including oak, beech, birch, willow, alder, elder and spruce – typically in dead and decaying wood, with a preference for damp areas. Adult beetles are 11 to 20 millimetres (0.43 to 0.79 in) long, black with four more or less continuous transverse yellow bands. In extreme cases the elytra may be almost entirely black. The life cycle of the species lasts two or three years. This L. quadrifasciata female was photographed on wild carrot flowers near Keila, Estonia.