Nature’s beauty brought by summer

HOLDEN – With the sudden appearance of warm weather, things are jumping into summer mode. The blue flag iris that cover the wetland area around the frog pond have all opened seemingly overnight.

Previously blending in with the other greenery, the beautiful purple-white-yellow flowers are now bursting with color. But beware if you are tempted to venture over for a closer look or a sniff.

Wild iris grow in the wetland and the ground is soggy where they are growing – you may get wet feet.

The large tadpoles that spent the whole winter in our pond are growing legs. It is a wonderful sight to see such large tadpoles in this transition stage. Last week the legs were visible only as stubs next to the tail, and now next to the long tail, real legs have emerged.

Next we will expect to see the tails start shrinking. In the coming weeks the legs will get bigger and stronger until soon we have fully fledged – well, hopping – bullfrogs.

Many butterflies are making an appearance these days as well. Recent sightings include the beautiful light blue, spring azure. Small, light yellow butterflies that belong to the “sulfur” group have been showing up as well as the orange-colored coppers and fritillaries.

Large tiger swallowtails have been found at the Nature Center, and more are surely on their way. If you are new to butterfly identification, the Nature Center store has many books to help the beginning butterfly watcher make sense of the names and what to look for.

Odd, but nice – there has been a remarkable lack of mosquitoes and black flies thus far. We’re not complaining!

For information on Fields Pond Nature Center, call 989-2591.