4 August 2024
Current out of doors sights have been flowers, bugs and the play of sunshine on water. These are few issues seen final week and even earlier.
Water beads made tiny lenses on leaves on 23 July. Since then its been too sizzling for condensation.
Pokeweed (Phytolacca americana) and teasel (Dipsacus fullonum) are in bloom.


Bugs are pleased with our sizzling climate. On 28 July sycamore tussock moths (Halysidota harrisii) dangled by silk threads as they lowered themselves from the sycamore bushes. The one option to {photograph} one was to attend till he landed.

Zabulon skippers (Lon zabulon) have been simple to seek out. A few of them look ragged.

We discovered a pair of greenhouse millipedes (Oxidus gracilis) who saved strolling as they mated. Two million legs in a single photograph?

And on 29 July I used to be shocked to see seven widespread mergansers (Mergus merganser) at Duck Hole. They made arrow shapes on the river’s reflection as they swam. (The seventh one is diving.) All however considered one of them seemed feminine; they had been in eclipse and/or molting.
