Walk in the Woods

I went for a walk in the woods today, in the hopes that the trails I had used for snowshoeing this past winter would be clear of any remaining ice and snow, and also not too boggy, since we've had a bit of a wet spring (as usual).  I did end up having to cross a few boggy areas, but in general, it was a successful walk.  I had only discovered the trail this winter in my efforts to get out more, so it was a new experience for me to walk this trail in anything other than snowy conditions.  I was delighted with the beauty all around me in this spring season.

In particular, the trail is absolutely packed with vast areas of Cladonia species of lichen, which are commonly known as reindeer lichens.  They are an important winter food source for many small animals.  I'm not sure which species this is....there are a quite a few.

This one is Giant Cladonia (Cladonia maxima)

As you can see from this photo, there are large patches of Cladonia along both sides of the trail.

I love the mixed greens that are beginning to show in the mosses and lichens.

Some areas are almost entirely sphagnum moss species, and are wonderfully green and spongy underfoot.  You can see the blue markers on the trees that help mark the trail when the snow covers the path.

The scenery is very peaceful and I find it calming to walk here.

The club mosses are also emerging now.  

As I came to the end of my walk, I spotted an interesting critter!

I don't often see snakes on my walks.  This is a Maritime garter snake.  Totally harmless, and quite exciting to see!  

I don't think it was all that happy about being photographed, so I retreated and let it go on its way.

I then came home and managed to get my snow peas and sugar snap peas planted in my raised beds.  I noticed that I had some parsnip foliage beginning to show from some leftover parsnips from last year.  I wasn't quite expecting this harvest though!

There are lots of big ones, too!

I think there's some parsnip soup in my immediate future!

Lichens and Moss

It's definitely midwinter here.  We have a fair bit of snow, although not as much as I might expect for this time of year.  Still, it's more than enough!  Sometimes winter gets me down, but I'm trying to avoid that.  Today I went for a walk in the sunshine in the woods around my house.  I took some pictures of lichen and moss - things that are still growing despite the cold.  I don't know much about lichen really, but there are many different types.  The interesting thing about lichen is that it isn't a single organism, like a plant or a mushroom.  It's a combination of both algae (or cyanobacteria) and fungi, in a symbiotic relationship.  So, here are my lichens from today, along with a cameo appearance by a moss.

Since I don't know much about lichen, I can't give you a species on these.  I've posted them to iNaturalist in the hope that I might get some answers, but for now, I'm just enjoying their different forms and colours.

I'm not entirely sure, but I think the small brown circles might be another lichen species growing on top of the greyish-green one.

I think this one might be called varied rag lichen, Platismatia glauca, but I'm not sure.

I'm pretty sure the following two pictures are of old man's beard, or Usnia longissima, but there are some other Usnia species that are similar..

Whoops, who let that chicken in here?  Hello Smidgen! 

I thought this was really beautiful - it's a small moss cushion that has lichen weaving through it.  An interesting specimen.

This seems to be the most common type of lichen in my woods, and I believe it is in the shield lichen class, but again, I'm no expert!

I just think they're beautiful, often overlooked life forms that are perhaps more visible in winter due to the lack of foliage and the abundance of snow.  One must look harder for signs of life!

 Often there are multiple lichens on a single tree.

It was a lovely day (for a short time) to be outside and wandering amongst the trees, but it soon clouded over and became grey and cold again.  I'm glad I went out for a short walk.

Friday's Hunt v. 4.12

I don't think I did very well with this week's prompts.  Just wasn't feeling too creative I suppose. Sometimes my brain doesn't want to translate the prompts into fun and exciting pictures!  Still, I gave it a shot, so here we go with:  Starts with L, Landscape, and Key.

Starts with L
Little starts with L.  We acquired two new chickens for the flock this week, and they are really little birds.  Although they are fully grown, they are about the size of a pigeon, maybe a bit smaller. They are two serama hens.  The serama breed of chicken is wildly popular in Malaysia, where they hold beauty contests for them on a regular basis.  The light coloured one is named Cream and the dark coloured one is named Jellybelly.  I decided to keep the names they came with.

Jellybelly is in the classic serama pose with the tail straight up and the wings tilted down.

Cream is very friendly and will even sit on my shoulder.  This gives you an idea of how little she is.

Landscape
I had to go to Nova Scotia today to do some clean-up at my property there, which is up for sale, but I'm moving the rest of my stuff out of it on Monday.  I intended to take a landscape picture there, but I forgot.  At home, it's trees everywhere!  So I decided to try miniature landscapes.  I took a mushroom landscape and a moss landscape.  These are landscapes from the squirrel's eye view!  See the bird feather?

Key
This is the wire gate on my goat and sheep enclosure.  The rebar is attached to the wire and it slips into 3 large hooks that are in the tree trunk - you can only see one of the hooks in this picture.  The "key" is the bungee cord, which keeps it firmly closed just in case some goat gets an idea about how to open it!

Maple Leaf

I decided to have a little bit of fun with a maple leaf that I found on the ground under one of my maple trees.  The leaves, in general, have not all turned red yet.  There are a few that are turning yellow, but this red one was probably the result of a damaged branch or other circumstances that made it turn red early.  It caught my eye, and I wanted to photograph it in different settings.  In part, I wanted to play with lens and camera settings.  Here are the results of playing with a leaf!

I took quite a few shots of the leaf on stones, especially those with interesting lichen or other visually different characteristics.

I took a few pictures of the leaf on pine trees, as if it had naturally fallen into the boughs of the tree and nestled among the needles.

I tried a picture of the leaf against the bark, but it looks a bit too contrived.

My favourite series of pictures are the ones I took of the leaf against the stones that form the wall at the bottom of my driveway.  I liked the red leaf on the grey stones with the lichen and the pine needle debris.  It makes a good setting, I believe, for an autumnal feeling.

I moved the leaf along to one of my preferred tree stumps which has a covering of lichen and moss.  I like this picture too.

The contrast of the red leaf and the green moss caught my interest, and I tried a few different versions of this.

This one captures my favourite elements - the stone, the lichen, and the green of the moss.  I think it might be the best of the bunch, but I still love the ones against the stone wall.  I'd love to know what your favourite is!