Tiny lives

Even our desperately depauperate back garden (it's a rental, so we're limited in what we can do to change it) is home to a surprising number of species -- most of them very small indeed. I found this tiny slug chewing on some fallen flowers when I went out to hang the laundry up this morning.

Autumn colors

The leaves are starting to turn here now; I took these along Jewel's Lane, on our walk into town for a pub lunch. It's a soft change -- the greens drifting slowly to yellows, with here and there a maroon to provide some contrast. I miss the fiery oranges and scarlets of North America's maples.

 Field Maple

Japanese Maple

Jewel's Lane

The footpath I take into town is called "Jewel's Lane", and it seems particularly apt; it's the only green space in a maze of brick houses and tiny lots. Birds -- Eurasian Jays, European Robins, Common Chaffinches, Common Wood-Pigeons, Long-tailed Tits, Eurasian Blue-Tits and more -- swarm along the corridor, and the sound of the leaves stirring in the wind provides a subtle counterbalance for the noisier avian conversations. It always makes me wonder: why are natural surroundings "second thoughts" for so many developers?

Summer's end

The garden is beginning to wind down now, with the last few flowers poking bravely above the vegetation, and various plants beginning to die back. Much as I love this time of year -- migration and all that -- I really do hate to see the end of the growing season.

Afternoon stomp

A leaden gray sky didn't dampen our enthusiasm for a mid-afternoon stomp around the patch. This is one of the views along the Weaver's Way -- a private garden along the placid Bure.

Snow, snow, beautiful snow...

A rare calm and snowy day in south Jersey made our meadow look like a fairyland. Every branch, leaf and grass stem wore a cap of white -- gorgeous!

If at first you don't succeed...

Well, last year's experiment turned out to be a total dud, but a new year means a new effort, so here we go again. Today's photos were taken while participating in the Cape May Bird Observatory's "Kick Off Your Year List" event -- a great day with good friends and more than 75 species of birds.

Do geese party on New Year's Eve? These guys looked decidedly hung over... Sleeping in, perhaps?

 

The first sunset of 2015