7/18/17 Essex Woods

Kind of a dreary day and Cooper is still with us so we went to nearby Essex Woods. Again, I only took the macro lens, hoping for blooms and bugs. Lots of blooms.

Don't know what caused this - only one branch affected

Kelley found a little water

Japanese Beetle - other bugs wouldn't sit still for a picture.

Don't know either of these berries

A pleasant little outing and the rain held off until after we got home.

7/16/17 City Forest

Getting warm again so back to the beaver pond at City Forest. We still have Cooper with us ( who is not interested in the water) but Kelley loves the pond. I took only my 100 mm macro lens so could only get a close shot.

I had thought this was yellow crown vetch but learned that it is called Trefoil

Tiny insect on this daisy

and a ting spider on this flower

Crown vetch

Two insects on this Rudbeckia

Insect art

Once again I found lots of flowers and insects around the pond. we also walked a short distance on the West Trail. A pleasant little outing.

7/14/17 Trail Along the Kenduskeag

This is the snowmobile trail that was shown in posts last winter. I had two dogs as Cooper is with us for a few days, Didn't manage to get a shot of the two dogs and only one of Kelley. I also messed up most of other pictures- getting them out of focus- not sure what I was doing wrong.

The trail in summer

Had to go through high weeds to shallow water

A wild  Solanaceae

The stream was very low

And some more wildflowers

We just did an hour as neither dog wanted to go farther, but we all got a bit of exercise.

7/12/17 City Forest

Kelley hasn't been very interested in hiking so the beaver pond at City Forest seemed a tempting offer. Overcast and humid but the bugs were not bad. Most of the time spent around the pond with a short walk on the West Trail. Pictures of Kelley in the water and lots of blooms and bugs.

7/9/!7 Harbor Brook

Eighty degrees and mostly sunny. Head here because it seems to be the only place she consistently wants to hike.

We met a nice couple as we were starting and walked with them a short while until we came to the first place Kelley could get in the water. They continued on and we saw no one else the rest of the hike.

One of the two new bridges used to create a bypass of a section of the old trail.

Pretty  good camouflage

Not sure but I think a form of Hawkweed

Flower or weed ?

Another tiny butterfly. None of the larger sit long enough for a picture.

Unknown wildflower

Section of new bog bridge

The water was low- we apparently got less rain than I thought

Making waves - little ones

When we got to the place we usually turn back Kelley wanted to continue and so we did.This is the stream where we did turn back.

Kelley didn't like getting back to the trail from there and so headed downstream. When that did work she head back to where she had entered.

A nice hike. Kelley did very well and as noted  hiked further than what we usually do on this trail. It was very peaceful with no other people beyond the folks we met at the start. (All the parking lots we passed coming in were overflowing). 2 1/4 hours