21-Jun-2019
Wolf's milk slime mould (Lycogala epidendrum)
This slime mould looks a lot like pink bubblegum that has been dropped onto the log. When older, it turns a silvery gray.
21-Jun-2019
Bird's nest fungus (Cyathus)
There are various species of bird's nest fungi, all different in appearance, but all with much the same way of dispersing their spores. In this photo you can see the old fungi from last year (small black cup-like things), and the new fungi, fuzzy brown. Some have started to open, those with a white 'skin' or membrane across the cup. Inside are small sacs that look like eggs, hence the name. The spores are dispersed when rain hits the sacs, bursting them open.
21-Jun-2019
Bird's nest fungus (Cyathus)
Another shot of the fungi. For an explanation about these intriguing fungi see the previous shot.
21-Jun-2019
House wren
The wrens were very, very busy carrying food back to their nest. This is a time of year of great bird activity and nesting birds are especially stressed by people lingering for too long very close to their nest site. There seems to be a certain distance they'll tolerate, but crossing that line adds great stress to their already stressful lives.
21-Jun-2019
Common ringlet butterfly (Coenonympha tullia)
The only butterfly I saw on a warm, sunny day, but I'm sure there were more around that I didn't notice.
21-Jun-2019
Oblong running crab spider (Tibellus oblongus)
A small, slender, attractive spider often found hanging out on the underside of leaves of various plants.
21-Jun-2019
Golden alexander (Zizia aurea)
A very pretty native species in the parsley family, sometimes called golden meadow parsnip. It would be easy to confuse this with a non-native member of the parsley family, wild parsnip, if you looked only at the flowers. However, the leaf structure is very different and this plant is shorter and far more delicate in appearance. It was planted at the garden and seems to be popping up in various spots around the site.
21-Jun-2019
Song sparrow
A very common nesting bird at the wildlife garden, often building its nest on the ground in tangles of last year's dog-strangling vine.
17-Jun-2019
Red Admiral
SG: This Red Admiral butterfly was laying eggs on Stinging Nettles. The caterpillars wrap themselves in the leaves of this touch-me-not plant for protection from predators.
17-Jun-2019
Fly pollinator
SG: This flower fly (Syrphid family) was visiting Yellow Avens (Geum aleppicum), a common, but often overlooked, species at the FWG.
04-Jun-2019
Land snail
SG: Discovered while planting, this tiny (1 cm diameter) land snail seemed to be trying to look much larger inside the empty shell of a Cepaea snail.
18-Jun-2019
Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum)
SG: I noticed holes in some of the Boneset plants near the pond in our Backyard Garden.
CH: These are the larvae of the Eupatorium plume moth (Oidaematophorus eupatorii).
