I have said a lot of bad things about New England weather. Winters here are too long, too cold and involve way too much snow removal. And all the other seasons are too short and too weird because of the winter bias. But there is a little slice of Autumn in the middle of October where if things happen just right there are some very cool things moving around in the yard.
For instance, we haven’t seen a water snake around the yard all year.
But here at the point where the water snakes will soon head underground for the winter one of them has taken to sunning himself in front of one of the gardens. He looks as if he’s been feeding extraordinarily well. I assume all the rain has resulted in a bumper crop of frogs and fish. He shows up in the afternoon and basks in the sun soaking up the heat he needs to metabolize the food in his stomach. The temperatures are predicted to start falling into the 30’s at night. That probably will send this snake underground for the winter.
And when all the other flowers in the yard are almost completely gone two flowers reach their peak in October.
Here’s the Montauk Daisies with two visitors a hover fly shows up for some pollen and nectar.
And a katydid gets to work devouring the leaves.
And the other flower I always look forward at this time of year is Wolfsbane. Also known as Monkshood, the appearance of it’s bright purple flowers tell me Halloween is right around the corner and time for me to dust off my classic monster movies and quickly finish up my fall yard work. Snow in late October is far from unheard of.
Here’s a salamander who was doing some fall foraging for his last meals.
And here are some interesting shots of milkweed seed pods.
I was disappointed not to have any candid shots of the local werewolf community. Perhaps next week.
