Pond and meadow

 Yesterday I sat on the lawn tractor for a couple of hours, merrily cutting the grass.
An hour before this, I was clearing some brush off of the upper lawn, when I spotted a wee brown bunny hunkering down. I picked up Thumper and JB gave me the camera.
Photo is below! I warned Thumper that Oliver is a wicked boy and ate a rabbit last fall.
Putting it down in the forest, where I saw momma lope off, I hoped the lesson was heard.
Indeed it was. I drove the tractor down to the lower meadow (Lot #2!) and as I headed to the far end, Thumper went running, hell bent for election into the forest. You can see my figure eights as I returned back to this end of the meadow, another bunny was leaping for glory in the tall grasses.

bog buffer zone

The forest canopy is beautiful All winter the forest has been bright with sunlight shining and reflecting off of the snow. Now the rich emerald greens of the fern smile towards the sun, while the crunchy dead leaves absorb any light that passes through.

Fungus and moss grow on dead elm stumps (Dutch Elm Disease), punctuating the forest floor, adding a spot of colour and fuzzy texture.

Then there is the frog pond.
Tall grasses that took root and live on the dead leaves ,which floated to the bottom in fall. Underneath this muck is a lovely layer of clay on top of the limestone. It is shallow soil in Lanark. With ponds everywhere. My pond empties into the wetland bog, a provincially protected place, surrounded by a buffer zone that is similarly protected.

There is lots of frog and bug action. But my favourite plant is this floating lily pad. Eventually, it covers the entire surface of the pond. From the satellite images it simply looks like land.

We have green frogs and bullfrogs, tons of tadpoles and frog's eggs abound. The sound of the tree frogs dominate right now. A regular cacophony in the evening. I've been trying to photograph the action on the top of the pond, but have failed so far, as you can see!

Lots of action - tadpoles, bugs