
This area was full of Queen Anne’s Lace. The underside of the flower was facing the sun, showing off its fine detail.

I saw these flowers in a nature reserve and assumed they were native plants. Although considerd invasive and can displace native plants, I do like their delicate beauty. As I only saw a few of them growing and they seemed to be contained to a small area, I’ll have to check on them again next year.

While photographing some wild flowers, I noticed this frothy substance on a nearby plant. It is produced by spittlebug nymphs and protects them from predators and temperature extremes. A mature spittlebug is also called a froghopper. It’s been a number of years since I’ve seen one. Actually, I’ve seen few insects so far this year. It’s been colder than usual, that might be the cause.

We saw a large group of scaups at the very beginning of May. They were swimming in a small man made lake in a park close to the river. As the river was still high I guess they preferred the more shallow water. We only saw them that once and at quite a distance but I was happy with the sighting.