Oops!

I haven't posted in a few weeks. It has been a conspiracy of events. The weather did not cooperate for much of the that time, with either really windy or rainy, wet weather. Not really conducive to wanderings with a camera.

A couple of big events occurred, though, on days that were better.

The first was the cutting of our hay field. It was a shock when I went out right after the hay had been cut! My lovely meadow, strewn with a palette of wildflowers, grasses swaying in the breeze, buzzing with life ... gone.

I know we are a farm, and I knew it was coming, but after a month or two of daily walks and close observation, it was a bit sickening to see it all disappear. Only a small strip of meadow was left around the periphery of the field. It was crowded with skippers, who rose in clouds as I walked past. Most of the dragonflies were gone, probably because there wasn't much left to hunt. Ah well, we carry on.

The second big event: My morning walk was rudely interrupted by the sudden appearance of a black bear, about 100 yards off.

I grabbed Kara's collar (I saw him before she did), yelled at him, and he/she just stared. Eventually, it wandered south to the property across the road. While I'm wary of bears, it's neat to have them here at Wildhart, reinforcing the appropriateness of the first part of our name.

A few days earlier, I had been photographing near the old house site when I looked up and realized I was being watched ....

She stood there for quite some time, but didn't wait for Cathie to arrive.

There have been some new insects at Wildhart . This is a golden backed snipe fly. It's remarkably pretty for a fly, no?

 I also spotted a pair of them doing something (ahem) ...

Some new dragonflies/damselflies spotted (including a small brown dragonfly that I haven't got a shot of). This is an eastern fork tail, a damselfly.

A new moth .. with orange pants!

 A stunning metallic beetle ...

A mystery object, possibly an insect built structure, made of small pieces of grass ..

A shield bug, just hang in' around

The grasshoppers are growing.

And in the plant world, I spotted this flower. If you look closely, you'll see that it is a Siamese twin.

 The wild strawberries are ripe

And the milkweeds are ready to bloom (they've developed since this image was taken)

We have seen the  occasional Monarch in the last 2 weeks, along with some swallowtails and mourning cloaks. While the skippers are here in clouds, and are remarkable for their sheer numbers, larger butterflies have been relatively rare. We worry about that.