July 13, 2025

Here we are, practically halfway through July already.   It has been HOT here!   But the wildlife has been interesting and in some cases, very pretty.  The Pink Water Lily has now had its second bloom!  Keep your eye on that little brown bud at the lower right of the big picture.   I'm interested in this since the Lily buds themselves look more like the ones at left...

I went out to visit Misty Brooks at the Whitehouse Nature Center this afternoon.  I had given her some tiny tadpoles which were left after the American Toads visited the Pond a couple of weeks ago.  My beloved fishes seem to have devoured the ones that I left in MY pond.  You can see from this old photo how very small they start out.  (They are the tiny black squiggles.)  It is great to be able to share my tadpoles with the Nature Center.  Then if my fishes go natural and start pigging out on the little guys, I have a nice repository for the shared ones.  This first picture is from a few weeks ago.  The little tiny black things are American Toad tadpoles.  

Unfortunately, the Fishes ate all the Tadpoles that I didn't give away.  Here is the picture Misty gave me yesterday of one of the "toadpoles" as it morphs into an American Toad in the Whitehouse Nature Center's Toad Sanctuary.

The wildlife has been plentiful this week.  Early in the week I found a lovely Cicada, whose formal name seems to be Dog-Day Cicada.  I am taking it that that is a general name for many kinds of Cicada that we see about this time of year.  

Here is a group of Aphids that were dancing (really!!) all over this spike of a plant, which I can't identify right now, on July 10.  

The Black Raspberries have been ripening for some time.  I don't know what the light green ones are, but I've been stashing the black ones into the freezer for the day when it seems time for a cobbler of some kind!  

 The Deptford Pinks that I was showing you last week are still with us.  I love that dappled pink coloration.  Yesterday I had to dig up the ones in the front yard to save them from the people who are resurfacing the street!  Yes, that still goes on...

Here are some tiny white flowers.  iNat says they are Daisy Fleabane  (Erigeron strigosus).   The yellow beauty next to it seems to be Rough Cinquefoil (Potentilla norvegica).  The third flower was semi-identified as belonging to 

Pinks, Cactuses, and Allies (Order Caryophyllales) in iNat.  I wish I remembered where I took the picture!

Here is an oldie but a goodie.  I know I've known its name but what is it?  It is a Common Yellow Wood Sorrel.  The second one is White Clover (Trifolium repens).  Third is what seems to be a Nightshade - oh yes, it was just identified as Carolina Horsenettle (Solanum carolinense) on iNat.

The Trumpetvine has been magnificent this summer, even though it thwacks one in the face as one tries to get past it on the way through the Back Yard.    

My neighbor Deb called to say her Mimosa was blooming for the first time in ages.  I remember well the Mimosa next door in Hopewell, VA.  The braver kids seemed to enjoy climbing in it.  

Let's have a look at some of the little creatures we've seen this week.  Here is a Dark-winged Fungus Gnat from Family Sciaridae, followed by a couple of Wasps.  Number 2 was identified in iNat as an Ichneumonid Wasp of Genus Idiolispa.  Number 3 is one of those little purplish and black Wasps one sometimes sees in the mud.

The Barklice are coming back out now.  Here are a few from the past couple of weeks.  Sorry to say, I will have to start learning their names again gradually.  They were rather missing in action for a number of months and so must my brain have been!  The last one of this lot (number 6) may or may not be a Barklouse (Psocid). If you know what it is or isn't, please tell me!

Here is one of the Hover Flies.  I believe it is the Eastern Calligrapher (Toxomerus geminatus).  It's the first one I've seen this season!  Number 2 is also the first one of its kind I've seen this year.  It's a Japanese Beetle, lover of tender plants!  Third is a Lightning Beetle.

I wonder what this fly is.  Well, I wondered what it was - it got put into the category of Bog Flies but it seems to be the only member of this distinguished caste, so it achieved instant Research Grade for some reason!  It's a Bog Fly.  

I think we have now come to a good stopping point.  Please spend some time admiring your environment, and thinking of how we can work together to give it a good future.  Love, Martha