We are early risers and the brunch was scheduled for 10 a.m. What to do with our time??? A hike, of course! It was quite pleasant to roam around and wander up and down those exotic landforms known as "hills" - we don't have many of those down here in the Coastal Plain. And, of course, we had to check out the wetland area on the property.
I haven't taken the time to ID this fern yet. It was quite tall though.
This boardwalk leads to what they call a river in these parts -- it was only about eight feet wide at this point. It does get much larger as it heads east.
Again, I haven't taken time to ID...most likely some sort of rodent.
The butterfly is a great spangled fritillary. We don't have these in the swamp.
I had to rescue this juvenile ring-neck snake from the road. It was not an easy task. The little guy made himself as flat as he could and wiggled like crazy.
Back in the long ago when Treebeard and I lived in the Piedmont, this was one of my favorite wildflowers. It has the crazy name of fire pink.
5 comments:
You have lovely fingernails.
Pablo,
They were polished for the wedding. Polish hides a host of ills ;)
I think I bought a fire pink at a plants sale once in West Virginia. I guess it didn't like Pennsylvania. Or voles got it. It bloomed twice, then disappeared.
The fern is probably ostrich fern (I guess without seeing the whole plant). It's endemic to seep and spring wetlands of the piedmont and upper coastal plain. It's state-endangered in DE and state-threatened in MD. I bought some from another state and had them shipped here for my bog garden :)
Only other (native) fern that big is Cinnamon. I have a feeling you know that one, though, and would have guessed it if you saw it.
Those are cool pictures of the boardwalk & butterflies. My students & I just finished a video about our University's swamp- http://youtu.be/pO2d2gIGO1I
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