We seemed to be the first ones at the Mer Bleue Boardwalk so we hoped we might see a beaver
A lone beaver was swimming back to the lodge. All you could really see was a dot and ripples in the distance.
The walk down from the parking lot had a lot of evening primroses in bloom along the edge of the tall grass. We spotted three primrose moths amongst the blooms, and a few of them had visiting eastern calligrapher hoverflies (left).
If you look closely through the grass you can see the caved-in beaver lodge. I noticed a, new-to-me, muskrat lodge in amongst the reeds
Steeplebush blooms were everywhere at the first part of the boardwalk
What I first thought was a sparse Queen Anne's lace blossom, turned out to be a bulbet-bearing water hemlock. A (poison) plant I had never taken note of before
A few spotted jewelweed plants had bloom. All had dew drops
The cotton grass seems to be going through a new phase. The long wispy strands all disappeared weeks ago. Now a white blossom is appearing, and it seems to be turning brown
I had been thinking I needed to check for Indian pipes at a local spot where I know hundreds grow, but for the first time, I spotted them along the boardwalk.
They are a perennial plant that contains no chlorophyll
A very few watershield plants have blooms left.
Whatever squiggles through the watershield plant leaves each year seems to have started doing it.
The European frog's-bit blossoms were everywhere one looked. The marsh skullcap was blooming at the end of the boardwalk
Buckthorn and northern wild raisin
My wife, who was well ahead of me on the boardwalk, had a glimpse of what she thought was a raccoon family. A parent and 3 kits coming towards her. Both parties spotted each other at the sametime. The raccoon family quickly turned and disappeared long before I could gat any photos