THE LURE OF MAY....
I finally made it over to the campground after a much too long absence. My eyes kept moving from one exciting image to another, including the bursting of blossoms on the apple trees. They always make a Memorial Day statement, and were true to form. Less dramatic, but quite numerous were the blooms of blueberry and gooseberry plants. There was one blueberry bush on Joe's Head that should make for a lot of pancake excitement. The Beach Peas are just starting to blossom with a show of pink in protected places. The Strawberries are still in bloom, and the Bull's Head Lilies are starting to shoot up those yellow ball-like flowers. Shadblow shrubs were full of white petaled flowers. One of my favorites, Silverleaf, was blooming on Joe's Head. Here are the Gooseberry blossoms.....

As for the animals on this late spring day, the gulls were numerous and vocal on Head Beach. We've had some high winds, and the sea turbulence has washed in a lot of kelp. The gulls were investigating, and I was too, for sea life in those holdfasts. The tide was a bit too high for much crab and sea star hunting; that activity will await. The water is still quite cold. Just in handling the Kelp, my fingers started to tingle from the chill.

The Cattail Marsh is still brown, awaiting the emergence of green stalks. No doubt if I had been walking in the evening, the Peepers would be singing, but it was quiet except for the squawking of the Red Winged Blackbirds. I made my way over to the Lily Pond and caught a Painted Turtle on the shoreline. I wondered if it was a female and contemplating egg laying. I picked it up to check the gender and noticed a Leech attached to the rear leg. I pulled it off as I placed the turtle back in the water as it swam to deeper water. Egg laying may come later. No signs of beaver......the former housing of that rodent has green plants growing on its top. Deer tracks were numerous in the dry roadways and paths. I even saw what I thought might be those of a mink on the prowl.

Here is Head Beach strewn with Kelp. It had sprinkled earlier, but the sun was breaking through the clouds and went on to give us another sunny day. On my way home, I bumped into John Gardiner headed down to the boat shop. We chatted about observations in the changing world of nature and he shared the news that a young whale has washed in on one of the Small Point beaches. I shall try to track that down in the days to come.
5/22/08 Ronnie, full of May.