Happy Canada Day! The weather is nicer than predicted, so I took advantage and got some work done at Beechwood. A few cedar waxwings were also working, flying back and forth with bits of nesting material. The kingfisher was rattling around as usual, but it left when I went over to the pond to evict a lone spike of purple loosestrife I'd spotted:

Such a beautiful thing:

Such a tragic end:

But now, a confession: having got home and looked up some info about purple loosestrife, I'm afraid I may in fact have uprooted a nice specimen of the native swamp loosestrife in my stewardship zeal. *Hanging head in shame* Any experts care to weigh in here?

While I was by the pond I pulled a big armful of thistles -- they sure do love that pond -- as well as a load of ... anyone? Yes, more tansy. It may keep me busy for the rest of the summer.

This ant was exploring a black-eyed Susan ...

... while these were cleaning out a snail shell left on a fencepost, probably by a bird:

A bumblebee getting acrobatic on some cow parsnip:

This cow parsnip is under attack from dog-strangling vine: