Birches and Cinnamon Ferns

No big adventures today, although the Wilmotpalooza family festival was fun.  While walking back from the green I found this image of birches and ferns in autumn colors.

Low Plain

The sun emerged today, so after surviving New Hampshire's Ultimate Yard Sale and (uninspiring) Food Truck Fest, we went out to the Esther Currier Wildlife Management Area at Low Plain.  Just a nice day for a walk.  Sadly, other than one grebe, every bird we saw was a mallard.

Red maple

Coral fungus

This is not a mallard

Nodding lady's tresses

Grebe.  Not a mallard

Little frog will be sleeping soon

Mallards

Looking out from the blind - at mallards

More nodding lady's tresses

Cinnamon fern

Jan likes birches

Witch hobble

Amanita

ROAD NOT MAINTAINED FROM NOV 1st - APRIL 30th

Yesterday we took advantage of a break in the rain to explore North Wilmot.  We drove out past the camp, past the Congregational Church, and down Piper Pond Road (Road Not Maintained from NOV 1st - APRIL 30th) to Piper Pond.  It is a little jewel of a spot, surrounded by silence, trees, and asters.

Driving out North Wilmot Road.

The Wilmot Congregational Church in North Wilmot.  Not many people live around here anymore.

Past the church and turn left.

A pretty little bog across the street from the pond.

I lived in central New York for years, and had to come to New Hampshire to see a New York Aster

Marsh St. John's Wort, Triadenum virginicum, which isn't really a St. John's Wort

Last Turtle of the Year?

The temperature reached only 55F today, and I thought that all of the turtles would be sound asleep at the bottom of the pond.

But the sun was warm, and this guy was on a log, soaking up the heat.

Asters

Wagon Hill Farm in Durham, New Hampshire, is a good place to be when the asters and goldenrod are blooming, and the monarchs are migrating.

Monarch on New England Aster

New England Aster without the Monarch

Another Monarch on Stout Goldenrod, Solidago squarrosa

And another one

The seed pods of Apocynum, Dogbane

More amazing Solidago squarrosa

With a fuzzy photo of a fuzzy bumblebee

Lots of asters and goldenrods

No place nicer on a September afternoon

Silent Walk

After weeks of rain and steamy winds from the south, last night a wind came in from the northwest, bringing autumn with it.  Woke up to cool, dry air, and sunshine!

Went for a walk along the Langenau Loop Trail - I think.  The trail has just been cleared, and there are no signs up yet.  I might have wandered off onto other trails here and there.  The walk was almost entirely silent:  a deep layer of needles and leaves muffled our footsteps, and there was an almost total absence of birds and squirrels.  The wind was rustling the leaves, but that was it.

The walk started and (thankfully) ended at Messer Pond.

The pesky little beavers are very active, and last night dropped a tree across the trail.

Into the Woods

Fungus everywhere this year!

Mount Sunapee

There were moose here, but not recently

Coral Fungus of some kind

An Amanita