Bugs attracted to milkweed

I love when the milkweed begins to attract bugs. Every year I see insects I've never seen before. Here are some spotted in June 2017. The milkweed has buds but has not yet begun to bloom. Shouldn't be too long now though!

Various insects found in the garden

Continuing photos from recent scouting out in the back and front yards. Photos of creepy crawlies spotted.

Bees and other critters buzzing in the garden

So thrilled to see so many bees returning this year. I was getting worried. Every day there are plenty of photo opportunities of different flying critters just in my own yard. Here are some from this past week.

I wish I knew what this bug is. It is a super tiny critter and I see them every year anywhere I go to take photos in Virginia. They seem to love the rudbeckia (black-eyed Susans) in my yard.

Honey bee lands on the rudbeckia.

Bumble bee on yellow flowers. I do not know what they are called but I believe they are one of the flowers considered to be native for Northern Virginia.  They spread like crazy, grow in both dry and flooded conditions and attract lots of flying critters. 

 Peek-a-boo bumble bee

Hello little ladybug(s)!

Ladybugs are one little critter that is kind of elusive to me. My photos of them typically come out too blurry (I don't photograph movement very well and these buggers can be pretty quick once they are on the move). Every so often, however, I do get a somewhat decent shot.

I'm not even sure where I took this one, it was sometime during 2016. She almost seemed like she was posing for the pic.

I call this one peek-a-boo ladybug. On the move and I seemed to get more detail of the grass blades and water drops than I did of the ladybug, but I'll take it!

This photo was taken on a sidewalk somewhere

The wonderful world of bugs

I always find it fascinating to watch insects as they go about their daily routines. (Unless they are in my house of course then, depending on the bug, all bets are off!). When we are outside, bugs typically catch my eye and sometimes I like to follow them around a bit to see what they'll do next. These are some shots from warmer days gone by.

This (wasp?) was busy in my wildflower garden last summer and seemed particularly interested in my black-eyed Susans

I followed this ant for quite a while when walking along a path in the Manassas Battlefield last year. The ant is a little harder to see in the photo because it is dragging such a large carcass of another insect. The strength ants possess is pretty amazing!

Spotted this one a few minutes after seeing the ant. I don't know if it was my eyes playing tricks on me or not, but this one seemed to change color every time it flew and landed. Mostly bright greens and blues (which you can kind of see in the photo a two-tone appearance), but I swear I saw a greyish color too.

Milkweed bug party at Leigh's yard! Taken last summer.

 

Rainy day azaleas and bugs

We've had almost three straight weeks of daily rain here in Northern Virginia, some days lighter than others. An upside of having so much rain is that the water that falls is so pretty. 

One morning during a reprieve I went out to take some photos of the recently bloomed azaleas. These photos are the result.

Thousands of ants on sidewalk

I've seen tons of ants in one spot, but this was unlike anything I'd seen in a long time. The other night while I was walking and snapping photos, I looked down and saw all these ants. So I stopped for a minute..

This is only a fraction of them. The ants had lined up this sidewalk pretty good.

Buzzing bees on flowers at Chatham Manor

Today's photos were taken during a trip to Fredericksburg, Virginia in 2011. I believe I took this series of flowers at Chatham Manor, which is a historical property now run by the National Park Service (NPS).
 
 

Visiting the beautiful Oatlands Plantation in Leesburg

This morning, once again, I've got spring on the brain. As I look out my window and see the remains of this week's snowstorm, it is hard to believe spring is right around the corner. Today I began thinking about how I should take another ride out to Leesburg this year and visit Oatlands Plantation. It's been a while - the house tour has an interesting history and is connected to many historical figures that had spent time on the property. 

Then there are the gardens, which have been restored and are beautiful. Here are a few photos I have taken in the past.

(For a much more in-depth history of the property - I invite you to visit my other blog which is dedicated to the Washington DC Metro area where I have a very detailed post with many additional photos of the rest of the property).
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Front of the main house at Oatlands

I've always thought the rear of the main house to be attractive. That sitting area looks so cozy to me

 

One of the fountains found in the gardens

Busy bees at work in the garden

There are literally dozens and dozens of varieties of flowers in Oatlands' gardens. Here are some peonies.

Exploring the critters of Long Beach Island (New Jersey)

In my first weeks of this blog, I shared my close encounter with a clam. Today I head back to the beach with photos of other various critters found in a bay located on Long Beach Island (in Barnegat Light). 

It truly is an amazing eco-system to observe. Here are some of the critters that came out to say hello (well except this first one, he was forced to stick around for a brief moment before scurrying off).

Getting cozy with the bees at Burnside Farm's Sunflower Festival

Burnside Farm has two lovely flower festivals during the year. The first, the tulip festival, takes place during the spring (it's a beautiful display - I'm going to write about that in a future post). Today's series of photos was taken at the farm's Summer of Sunflowers event. In addition to the beautiful blooms, there are literally tons of bees of various shapes and sizes.

I have a fear of bees, but when behind the camera I tend to forget all about not wanting to be near them. They really are such magnificent little creatures.

Two bees happily at work side-by-side

A view of one of the rows of sunflowers. There were literally thousands and thousands of bees everywhere. Amazing to see the volume of bees these sunflowers attract

Trio of bees