Spring Bides Its Time

Well, at least the sun came out today.  And the temperature inched up into the 50s.  About time!  It's been mighty cold this past week, which seems to have put spring on hold for now.  Last Sunday, my friend Sue and I went looking for signs of the season around Mud Pond, and we did find a few (see my post for April 19).  But when I went back to Mud Pond today, I couldn't find much that had changed.  Except that Dutchman's Breeches leaves have emerged at last from the creekbank.  There was no sign of them at all one week ago.

One good thing about this cold spell is that the Hepatica have stayed with us a while.  I saw quite a few still blooming on one bank of the pond, just where we'd seen them a week ago.  So pretty!  I noticed that the Hepatica here at Mud Pond are the round-lobed variety (Hepatica nobilus var. obtusa), rather than the sharp-lobed variety (H. nobilus var. acuta) that favors the woods at Skidmore.

There's a huge Nannyberry shrub (Viburnum lentago) that grows on the shore of the pond.  It seemed to show no signs of life from a distance, but when I approached, I could see that its long stork-bills of brown buds were beginning to open their "beaks."

There's a wide low mudflat where the creek empties into the pond, and this mud was densely covered in places with tiny green nubbins interspersed with what looked like wee pink roses.  A close look revealed that the "roses" were actually the baby leaves of Dwarf St. Johnswort (Hypericum mutilum) and the tiny green dots were the infant plants of the liverwort Ricciocarpus natans.  This liverwort is actually a floating plant, but every year I find it stranded on the shores of Mud Pond when the water levels are low.

When Sue and I were here last Sunday, we saw many ducks and turtles and flying insects.  But all was quiet today, except for a couple of Tachinid flies flitting about, searching for pollen to eat.  Good luck, dear chubby fuzzy-butt fly.  I hope the weather warms up soon, so the flowers will open and you can feast to your heart's content.