Late Summer Green Ridge Walks With My Macro Lens. More Butterflies and Insects.

Late Summer  arrived here in Northeastern Pennsylvania with more heat and sunny days. I spent a few of those hot, sunny afternoons walking in the woods near my home in the Green Ridge section of Hazle Township with my macro lens.

Once again the  patch of flowering mint near my house attracted a number of insects and butterflies, including this fillitary butterfly, I  am not sure if it is an aphrodiare or a great spangled fillitary .

This, I believe is a sliver spotted skipper butterfly.

I tried but couldn’t identify this one. 

And this, I think is a red-spotted purple butterfly. 

This one, a monarch butterfly, I am pretty sure is correct. 

Once again I will say I write this blog as a hobby.I am not an expert naturalist. So I apologize for any incorrect identifications and ask to please correct me if I am wrong.  In addition to the butterflies their was a number of different, wasps 

and bees near the mint flowers.

After watching the insects at the mint flowers  I  hiked into the old strip mine reclamation areas near my home in Green Ridge where I  came  upon this garden orb spider. 

I have always been intrigued by these spiders. There were many of them in the wooded lots near my house when I was growing up. They are not poisonous but can still give a nasty bite. i remember when my dad got bit by one. He wasn’t happy. 

Along the trails I found some late summer flowers in bloom including the invasive  tansy flowers,

and he daisy like fleabane flowers. 

The  last of he elderberries are being quickly consumed by the birds. 

There are some wetlands in the reclamation area,

and although it has been dry, there were still a few dragonflies darting about as I walked. 

I enjoy these walks with my macro lens, exploring the world of the insects we often overlook. So much beauty all around us from he sars in the sky to the insect under our feet. You jus go to take a walk and keep your eyes peeled. Here is a link to some more photographs from my hikes with my macro lens in Green Ridge. Macro Hikes August 17 to 30 2020.

“Butterflies are self propelled flowers.”   ― Robert A. Heinlein

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