A few thousand years ago as the last age was melting, what is now Montreal was mostly at the bottom of a huge sea. Gradually the water levels fell and islands appeared. This bank was once a lakeshore shelving down into the water and this forest is now growing on what was once a sandy beach.
This seashore is in the Arboretum.
Happily moving about in the open getting some rays. This fellow was especially brightly coloured and quite shiny -speculating that it had only recently shed its skin.
After a summer of publishing one new page a day and, thanks to the C-19 virus) not travelling further than a couple of miles from home to seek inspiration, I am no longer guaranteeing that there will always be one new picture daily. Quality before quantity will be the watchword – but I do have some ideas to work on. Stick with me, if you are signed up to follow this site/blog there will still be a selection posted to you each Sunday.
Not as young as I was either.
British readers will know this bird as a Great Northern Diver but here we know them as Loons, probably because of their maniac laughter calls. The sound of the northwoods it has been described as. For almost twenty years at this time of September we would rent the same cottage at Kenauk and spend the best part of week pottering in the forest boating on the lake, watching birds and harassing beavers … occasionally the odd bear too. This was one of the iconic Loons on the lake back in 2009. We haven’t been there for a while, not since retirement in fact on the basis of get ut while it’s still a good memory (and affordable which it is increasingly less so). Loons are always special though.
This “bunch” of flowers was rescued from an about to be mown roadside last year (we collected a small friend for it yesterday). In the wild it achieved maybe 2 feet in height – this year it is at least twice that. There are a number of forms of this plant which can vary from one foot to six feet tall – what will it achieve in 2021?
Two of the most important native flower groups to have in the garden (or anywhere) at the end of summer are Asters and Solidago (Golden Rod). The look spectacular too. Here they are showing their best in the early morning.
EXIF details
Coming in to land on New England Aster flowers – the number of Monarch butterflies have been reduced this year – apparently because of weather problems in central Mexico where they over-winter and then prolonged and cold winds from the north in spring that made sure many never made it back north of the Great Lakes. Some got here though and now the return migration has begun.
EXIF details
Birds are starting to gather and groups and head south before the cold arrives. This was one member of a group of juvenile American Robins (you can tell their age by the spotty chest) that arrived in one of our rowan trees to flop around and snack on a few berries. Scruffy creature.
Coprinopsis lagopus – popping up form a heap of wood chippings in town. These fruiting bodies (aka: mushrooms) last only a few hours before dissolving into a black ink. The vague resemblance of the young fruit body to the paw of a white rabbit has apparently earned this species it’s common name. Anyway, eye-catching.
