The Red Trail

I have taken two walks since I last posted about them. Normally, I would combine both of them into one entry but both were so great and I have so many pictures, that I think I will give each one its own space.

Monday was the Red Trail. This is the trail that is mostly in the woods, and I was thinking that I wouldn't find much new to write about, as most of the flowers that bloom in the wooded areas are done, now that the foliage is out. But, I was wrong. I did find that the moss was doing very well.



One of the first flowers I identified was Herb Robert. I am surprised every time I go that it is still blooming, and still beautiful.



We had heavy rains over the weekend, and the many small streams in the woods were running full.






The paths through the woods are so beautiful.







There is a swampy area in the middle of the woods. These reeds are growing there. They are already so tall that I wonder how big they will get by the end of the season.



Do you ever wonder where artists in cartoons got the idea for those scary trees with faces, and long arms that reach out for you? Maybe from trees like this?



I did take the extension to the Red Trail that leads through part of the Great Meadow, again. The raspberries are set and should be ripe in early July. I have wild raspberries around my place, too, and nothing is as good for breakfast as a bowl of them, dead ripe and with a little sugar on top.



The milkweed is closer to blooming.



I got a better picture of the Birdsfoot Trefoil



And, I found the prettiest new flower. This is a Depford Pink and the picture doesn't fully capture it's vibrant color.



There were butterflies everywhere, and I, finally, managed to get some good pictures of at least a couple of them.

Though I have gotten a picture of a Red Admiral Butterfly before, I thought this one was fun because I got a Six-spotted Tiger Beetle in the same shot.



This is a Sachem Butterfly. It's pretty small, and it flits, in the true sense of the word. I must have 15 pictures of where this type of butterfly was, just milliseconds before I took the shot.



This is the shot of the day, though. It's a Question Mark Butterfly. It's a little battered, probably because of the storms over the weekend, but that didn't seem to affect its ability to fly. What a pretty thing to see fluttering among the bushes.



I'll leave you, today, with a picture that may be hard to distinguish. See how the plants are all mushed down in the middle. This is where a deer slept through the night.



Tomorrow, a different place -- The Big Woods.