After working in the garden most of the day, digging and planting potatoes,onions,lettuce, spinach, I decided to do a bit of a walk about in the lower pasture.
This anthill was not there last year.
The bumble bees were busy
This little butterfly plus a whole bunch more just like him were flitting around.
A few Tiger Swallowtails were flying around.
Then there were these guys, zillions of them all over the place. It must be the year of the worm.
More of the horrible little critters! I don't know what eats them. The only time I saw anything chewing on them was a hunter spider. (See last year's blog)
There are a few things to do in the main garden, but they can wait for another day.
those are future butterflies, i think. maybe black swallowtail?
ReplyDeleteokay, they're apparently forest tent caterpillar moth larvae. whew!
ReplyDeleteOh no, those are tent caterpillars. They generally have a 3 year cycle in an area and they cause massive devastation in those 3 years. We had them here a couple of years ago and many of the sugar maples in the area are not going to recover from it. They are dieing off in massive numbers. If people aren't aware of them in your area yet, you might want to get in touch with your version of DEC and let them know. There are some things you can do to protect your fruit trees, but you have to act fast.
ReplyDeleteWhat an ant hill! Don't think I'd want to mess with them!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful bee and butterflies!
ReplyDeleteGood to know about the caterpillars have to keep that in mind,usually we have the green ones that like to eat.Ants geesh I can't stand those.we have the big red ones here and we have a 4 foot area out front that has millions running in and out but none in the house thank goodness.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photos of the bees and butterflies. Can't say the same for the caterpillars.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photos and that is quite the anthill!
ReplyDeletesome beautiful captures....i like them better as butterflies!!
ReplyDeleteand the bee is WoW, talk about focus, it's awesome!!
Ian, I love your close-ups!
ReplyDeleteHellooowww my friend. How are you? These pictures are just amazing my friend. I thought of sending out a couple of wasp ones.....ugh yours are way better. What kind of camera and lens are you using...??
ReplyDeleteWell hope the ants don't build them houses to high ;-)
And the little creepy little buggers iieeeee I'm not much into them.
Well happy times to you and sooo glad to see that all the snow is gone.
Hugs and be well.
Dagmar