Saturday, October 7, 2017,
These pics were taken back in August. I just never got around to posting them till today. I was strolling the grounds of Sweetbriar Nature Center when I saw this Butterfly Bush that was covered with butterflies, mostly Monarchs and Black Swallowtails. But, as you can see in the photo above, there were a few Skippers around as well. JK
JK
Wednesday, September 27, 2017,
Dear reader, after two flowery posts of, well, flowers, I felt we needed something a bit grittier. Something to keep us all grounded. I never promised anyone a rose garden, or all Asters either. Beauty comes in all shapes, even gruesome ones. I came across this scene in one of the fields at Avalon Park and Preserve. I had just seen a mother Goldfinch feeding one of her fledglings and I was thinking that was a cool thing to see when Mother Nature presented me with another treat.
This spider and her prey put me in mind of Shelob, the spider from the Lord of the Rings story. For those of you who didn’t read the books or see the movies, Shelob is a monstrous spider that pretty much captures and eats anyone or anything that comes her way. She captures Frodo, one of the heroes of the story and then she…. She tells you to read the book ’cause it’s a great tale.
JK
Saturday, September 23, 2017,
This is a New England Aster, the same kind of flower that was featured in my previous post. Click on the photo to see a larger version. I’d like to thank my friend Sue Avery for identifying these flowers for me. Sue, who is a Master Gardener, makes nearly all of the plant identifications that I post here at Joe Kayaker. When I post a pic of a butterfly, chances are that Sue is the person who told me the name of the flower that butterfly is perched on. Sue has her own blog, The Tangled Wood, in which she shares her own observations of nature. It makes for a good read and I wholeheartedly recommend that you check it out. JK
Wednesday, September 20, 2017,
JK
Tuesday, September 19, 2017,
JK