.
A thunderstorm that blew up two days ago brought torrents of rain that turned briefly to hail.
“Ice! How cool!”
It cleaned the air up nicely and brought the usual late afternoon apres storm spectacle.
.
This time it came in stages.
When the rain stopped and the trees lit up, I went out expecting to see a rainbow.
The conditions were right, but I deduced that it was likely directly overhead, thus not visible to us.
.
A bit later I hauled on my muck boots and went back out again. I didn’t notice it at the time, but it seems it may have been a double rainbow.
Almost.
.
The view was better out in the field so I trudged out, enjoying the sound of millions drips and the rustle of leaves rearranging themselves.
.
Skunks have been keeping a low profile lately, so I stopped checking before rushing out, however this one was up at the far corner, so there was no risk of unfortunate encounters.
Unfortunate for me.
.
Moments to savour.
.
Wandering about, I noticed some vetch and…I wasn’t sure what that orange thing was.
Vetch grows indiscriminately, but it has a pretty purple flower and it is popular with insects.
When I blew the image up…hmm…
.
This particular insect I’d read can be found on goldenrod, so I had hiked down the hill to search for it which got me sore leg muscles and an allergic reaction to something or other, but no sighting.
What do you know? On the vetch, I’d photographed the elusive ambush bug.
.
How terrifying would it be to be ambushed by it?
Just as well it’s so small.
Not much larger than a grain of rice, but apparently they have a painful bite.
Hope I never have a chance to confirm.
.
Yesterday at breakfast I noticed a small brown bird on a twig and I happened to have the camera to hand. Sure enough, it was the phoebe again. Aren’t they obliging?
“I wos here all along. You jus’ din’ look proper!”
.
This is who we’ve really been looking out for.
Scooter was last seen on June 8th. In spite of her disabled back legs, she was doing well.
The fact that we haven’t seen her is not necessarily significant. There have been no obvious drag marks, but the driveway doesn’t lend itself to them at the moment.
.
As we drove out yesterday, we saw a groundhog at the burrow Scooter used, so we watched. Grant felt it moved off too swiftly to have been Scooter, but last time we saw her she was moving pretty fast.
This groundhog has evidence of a back injury, but many groundhogs do and Scooter had lost most of the hair on her back. However, her hair had been growing in. It is very hard to tell one groundhog from another. There is a slight pale patch over the eye of both these animals, but there is no way of knowing for sure if they are the same creature unless we get a look at the back legs.
.
The yellow invader.
Grant insists it’s white. It is wild cucumber.
That Ambush Bug doesn’t have a lot going for him in the looks stakes but I suppose he’s handsome for the lady ambush bugs!
If Ambush Bugs were as big as dogs, we would be in trouble! We have rain all day here today, the first time for ages.
Best wishes, Pete.
It looks white to me… with yellow in the centre. As for the Ambush Bugs, what, exactly do they ambush I wonder?
Much larger bugs, apparently.
Crikey, no wonder it looks so ugly…
Indeed – very close to a double rainbow! But wow, what a moody sky. You know what: I’m really glad I can’t see insects the way they look under a magnifying glass! And what about light yellow …