Another Up Close Look At The Beauty Of Spring.

We have finally had some Summer-like weather here in Northeastern Pennsylvania these past few days and it has resulted in a spurt in the growth of the plants, trees and flowers. 

I took a few walks with my macro lens to once again capture the beauty of May  from an insect’s perspective. 

For a few days I was very alarmed to not find any bees at the rhododendron flowers which are now starting to bloom. 

I have been noticing fewer and fewer bees and other insects for a few years now and this year walked for two days and didn’t see a single bee. Thankfully, yesterday I finally saw a few buzzing about the beautiful rhododendron flowers gathering the first pollen of the year to feed their hive. 

I am hoping the wet and cool Spring weather we had delayed their appearance and that they once again are busily pollinating the flowers as they should. We would be in a lot of trouble if they didn’t. 

I found some tiny  blueberries or,  as we call them around here huckleberries, just starting to develop. i learned,  from photographing them up close, that the seeds form first and the fleshy fruit we eat grows around them. Very  interesting.

It is amazing how delicate and intricate almost all of the plants, leaves and flowers are when viewed up close. 

Even the dreaded poison ivy leaves have a beauty to them when viewed through with a macro lens.

I did see my first dragonfly on one of my walks but wasn’t able to get a photograph. There should be a lot more of them with the onset of the warm and humid weather. I also saw a few moths and butterflies hovering about the flowers in the fields and woods. 

And even the ordinary wasps and flies have a strange beauty when viewed up close. 

All of our plants and trees have now set forth their leaves, even the oaks, always the last to  last to leaf and the last to lose them in the Fall. 

On my way home I visited my mom’s peony plants and again found them covered with ants. 

There are so many objects to photograph in the woods, gardens  and fields near my house that I  could spend days just roaming them with my macro lens. But then I wouldn’t get to see, photograph and share the many beautiful landscapes and wildlife that inhabits them.

I do know this for certain, I will never be bored in the Spring, Summer or Fall here in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Here is a link to some more photographs I took on my hikes with my macro lens. https://keepyoureyespeeled.net/photographs-page-2/nggallery/photographs-page-two-blog/macro-flowers-and-insects-may-25-26-2016

“Look around you…Feel the wind, smell the air. Listen to the birds and watch the sky. Tell me what’s happening in the wide world.”
― Nancy Farmer