a place where nature, photography and writing meet
Our second day of bioblitzing took place at a couple of our favourite conservation areas in the Lanark Highlands region of eastern Ontario. We didn’t encounter anything near as exciting as the encounter with the snapping turtle seen the previous day, but we did discover many wonderful little surprises that might have been overlooked if […]
I’ve been watching for the first appearance of Twice-stabbed Lady Beetles (Chilocorus stigma) for several days. They’re very tiny and not so easy to find unless you know where to look. As it happens, they may be found wandering over the lichen-covered bark of Trembling Aspen, which we have quite a lot of here at […]
Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) – one of hundreds found on the snow. Click on all images for larger views. Yesterday, Don, Sabrina and I spent part of the morning hiking at the Ferguson Forestry Centre near Kemptville. When we left the house, the temperature was around -13C (9F), but the sun was shining brightly. We […]
We’re getting a small snowstorm here today. Flakes are swirling outside the window. However, we don’t really have that much snow on the ground so far. That’s made it fairly easy to walk around in the fields without snowshoes, although I may have to get them out this week. Don and I have spent the […]
Note: Each horizontal row of images can be clicked on for a somewhat larger view This is my Darwin Day tribute to Charles Robert Darwin, born Feb. 12, 1809. Originally, I set out to create something rather different, but changed my plans when I realized that they were far too ambitious. In the end, I’ve […]
We’re finally into a stretch of cold weather now, with temperatures dipping to -18 C. (0 F.) or further by nightfall. By day, the skies are usually a clear, cold blue with near translucent ribbons of clouds. What little snow we have is dry and powdery, but when packed, it becomes crunchy so that it […]
Yesterday, I said I’d put up something nice for those who didn’t appreciate the post about spiders, so consider this to be it. About a week ago, we spent a couple of hours hiking the Lime Kiln Trail at Mill Pond Conservation Area which lies a few miles south of Smiths Falls. I shot quite […]