July beauty

One of the environmental highlights for us this past week on Prince Edward Island was a calm day, without any wind, when the sea and sky became one. On such a day, the horizon disappears and different elements are indistinguishable.

I wonder what the cormorant sees when it looks around?

Our family went camping this past weekend, so my husband and I had the golden grand-dog for a few days. Those days included a visit to the beach at Mont Carmel. Daisy can be off-lead there as few people frequent the beach. She loves to fetch a ball out of the water.

It was a calm day and local cottagers were enjoying water sports . Paddle boards, Sea-doos, 

and a hydrofoil provided hours of entertainment for the cottagers and those watching.

Other days we walked on trails where other walkers were obvious in the distance and Daisy could run free before they approached. Unfettered, she runs ahead and stops periodically waiting for the seniors to catch up. 

We know it was a successful outing with Daisy if she is tired afterwards. A tired dog is a good dog.

Nature provided hours of entertainment this past week as the parade of wildflowers continues along the trails. Along the Confederation Trail, fireweed is resplendent in some areas. 

Queen Anne’s lace dominates in places though the two are usually not together. 

In the fields, some potato plants are in blossom already while others have some growing yet to do. 

A wheat field that borders the Confederation Trail looks to have benefitted from the rain we’ve had recently.

Along the boardwalk, the wildflowers are doing well. Yarrow 

and St. John’s wort grow beside the trail and brighten the days with their colour. 

At more than a metre high, wild roses and vetch attract bees. We stopped to watch the bees among the roses as we could hear their collective buzz.

Another interesting sight this past week was a swarm of flies we suspect were midges. They are visible in the photo below 

and a close-up is better than I thought it would be. We were lucky they weren’t biting.

I was fortunate to see a Great Blue Heron fishing in the salt marsh one day.

Another fortunate photo was the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker with a beak full of pin cherries before it entered the nest to feed its young.

Finally this week, one evening, just after dark, we passed a young fox out hunting. It was near a wheat field where the hunting is good. The fox wasn’t afraid of us when we rolled down the window to photograph it. 

Our encounters and experiences in nature continue to brighten our days and keep us moving.

Reaching for the sun

They reach for the sun along the pathways and trails, in the meadows, around rivers and ponds and along the seashore, anywhere they can get a root hold. A variety of colours, they give their best to creation, from seeds to plants, blooms, pollen and eggs. They colour our paths and brighten our days.

Wildflowers don’t need human prompting, they manage on their own just fine. Seeds, carried on the wind, by birds or other animals, sprout and reach into the soil. Before long, voilà! The leaves and showy blooms are reaching for the sun again.

Sometimes they stick with their own kind. 

What looks like one bloom per plant, such as bunchberry, 

or numerous clone-like blooms like yarrow are worth a look.

Various colours catch the eye, such as the yellow of St. John’s wort with the tiny stripes on its buds which look to be painted there.

The pink and white of bindweed is always a nice surprise as it climbs its way up and around shrubs. This may please onlookers but not the plant it climbs. 

One notices a white plant among the bushes but the details of this male Tall Meadow rue with the lemon anthers and white stamens are beautiful on closer look.

Blue Flag iris is always a nice addition to the banks of a wetland.

Even seed heads, such as this one of Yellow Goat’s beard, which resembles dandelion seeds, makes us stop for a look.

Pinks and white of Dame’s rockets fill the ditches and pathways. The natural beauty of the wild roses, rockets and clover along this section of trail by the sea is a seasonal treat.

And the most spectacular of all is the riot of colour when a variety of wildflowers share a space such as here

or here,

or here.

Mother Nature is an excellent gardener.