In 2016 I’m doing a 365 Nature project. Each day of the year I will post something here about nature. It may be any format, a photo, video, audio, sketch or entry from my nature journal. It could be a written piece. Each day I will connect to nature in some way and share it here by the end of that day. You can keep up-to-date by subscribing to the RSS feed or be notified by email. See all the 365 Nature posts.
The rain which had drenched us the last few days left with a flourish last night and this morning we were greeted with clear skies. Even now it remains sunny with a few white clouds passing in front of the sun occasionally. I went out to the backyard to envision my overall design plan again and take stock of what plants are blooming or leafing out. Things hadn’t change a whole lot since I checked on the plants on Day 37. But the front yard’s purple wash of crocus was already fading and the Snow Drops have shriveled up. New plants are pushing through the soil and I suspect our yard will again be awash in purple once the Bluebells start blooming.
The native gooseberry is starting to bloom in earnest now and the Purple Deadnettle is blooming all over the backyard lawn. I hesitate to mow our shaggy mess because the flowers of the deadnettle provide an early source of food for pollinators. The Indian Plum is fully in bloom , and with many buds yet to open, it will be providing flowers for some time. Many of the ferns have newly grown fiddleheads still wrapped up in their centers like babies yet to emerge.
My daughter discovered a larva swimming – most unwillingly – in a puddle of water which had gathered from the recent rain storms on the cover of our picnic table. We rescued it and examined it trying to decide what kind of insect it was.
As we stood outside a Chestnut-backed Chickadee flew into the Forsythia right next to us and chirped and tweeted while we had a very nice close encounter.
