What's Happened to the Great Meadow?

Actually, nothing awful.  They just mowed large portions of it.  I guess that they have to, or it wouldn't be a meadow very long.

Parts of it haven't been mowed.  I don't know whether they just didn't get to the whole thing, or whether they are letting some grow up.

But, there was still a lot to see.  The apples are beginning to show a little bit of color.  Looks like the deer have been jumping the gun a bit.  They have those bottom branches pretty well stripped.

There were Clouded Sulphur butterflies everywhere.  They seemed to be especially fond of the Butterfly Weed that was still blooming.

And, I even found a blue butterfly.  I think it's a Silvery Blue, since they are common in this area.  But, the picture isn't really good enough to make definite identification.

Things are going to seed.  The Bull Thistle, that just a couple of weeks ago was beginning to bloom, is now brown, and releasing puffs of silky seed parachutes.  I saw a Goldfinch feeding on them, but he darted away as soon as he saw me.  I guess he's not as bold as the ones at my feeder, who will let me get pretty close before they fly away.

And, the Everlasting Pea is going to seed.  You can certainly see, from the pods and the seed, that they are related to our garden peas.  See the little caterpillar on one of the seeds in the third picture?  I didn't until I downloaded the picture.  Good thing, or I probably would have been sufficiently icked out that I would have dropped the whole thing.

There were these little Puffballs all along the trail.  I wish I was mushroom savy.  I would have picked them, since they look so lovely.

And, in the sky, the Turkey Buzzards were soaring.

But, the best thing to see on the Meadow, again, were the many swallows, darting and swerving after insects.  This time, I remembered that I had a video feature on my camera, and took a short one.  Enjoy.