I haven't forgotten about Beechwood but a nasty cold has benched me for a while. Stay tuned for updates!

On my way to Beechwood this morning I encountered this perfectly charming garter snake:

Not only has it got ants and snails crawling over it, it's got an ant ON ITS EYE. Talk about nerves of steel.

Less charming is the fact that some of the garlic mustard is starting to flower already. Oh dear.

Still there on my way home:

Another day, another bucket of garlic mustard to go ...

... and another chat with someone who wondered what I was doing. Hello to Yves, if you've found your way here!

Turkey vultures were circling overhead as I left:

The wood ducks seem to be a permanent fixture on the river, but maybe if I ask nicely they'll come back to the Beechwood pond:

 

The fungus among us:

I should decorate this tree next Christmas:

A noble robin:

Hello from Beechwood! It's been a long time, but I've wandered back to the wetland. There was a very long period of extreme construction (demolition?) in the surrounding area that made being here unpleasant and impractical. Now that's finished and spring has arrived, not that we really had a winter this year. I spent some time this weekend pulling garlic mustard:

That unimpressive pile of greenery represents about three hours of work. Hey, the plants are small at this time of year. There doesn't seem to be a great deal of garlic mustard at Beechwood any more, which is great news.

Afterwards I went over to the pond, hoping for a shot of the pair of wood ducks that like to hang out there. No luck, but I saw this muskrat instead:

The season is off to a good start and I hope to continue posting as before, so stay tuned!

Here's the video I promised. Watch for the frog leaping to safety and the raccoon suddenly realizing I'm there:





You can tell that's a proper wild raccoon. A city raccoon would have kept coming, stolen my camera and pushed me into the pond.

I've been slacking off lately at Beechwood, but I made it there for a while this afternoon. After pulling up a load of thistles and Dame's Rocket I spent some time just admiring the simple beauty of things like clover:




(I'm thinking this is alsike clover, but I'll see if I can tell for sure next time I'm there.)

A cedar twig:

Dragonfly:

People may not find them as beautiful as flowers and dragonflies, but I'm intrigued by slime molds. These were on an old stump:

There didn't seem to be as many frogs around today. Do you know the difference between a frog and a toad?

I've also got a video clip for you but I can't get it to load right now. Maybe tomorrow.

Last year's rosehips are well past their sell-by date:

Some more anonymous yellow flowers:

From now on we're all frogs, all the time at the pond:

A beautiful Tree of Heaven shortly before its untimely death:

(It's the same one I cut down last year. As far as I can tell, it's called Tree of Heaven because it has eternal life.)

A few nice yellow and black bugs:

(Helpful Rosemary has identified that as Propylaea quatuordecimpunctata, the Fourteen Spotted Lady Beetle. That's an awfully big name for such a tiny bug. You can read about them here; click on the relevant picture for specifics.)


This poor lifesaving ring has been trapped below the weir for many days. How do you save a lifesaver? If that's not a Zen koan, it should be.

I saw this lovely little spring azure on my way to Beechwood today but it refused to open its wings for a photo. (Follow that link if you want to see what a pretty shade of blue it was.)

Purple-flowering raspberry gearing up for summer:




It forgot to shave its legs:




A few ants:




Meanwhile, over at the pond, there's an abundance of pondweed:

Ooh, look!

Frogspawn! Go frogs!!

It's nice to see more flowers appearing as the season progresses. Here's a Canada anemone:



This is red osier dogwood, a common shrub around here ...





... and a closeup of its flower, with requisite ant (some kind of union rule, I think):

Not all flowers are welcome, of course. This is garlic mustard:

This morning I worked for a while across the path from Beechwood, trying to clear out some of the garlic mustard in the sumacs there. It's looking good as long as you don't raise your eyes and look beyond the immediate area to see the advancing horde:

Field horsetail holding the morning dew:

I haven't seen any deer yet this year but these tracks by the pond give me hope:

Another sign of life around the wetland:



The wild geraniums are blooming and the ants seem to approve: