The Japanese Honeysuckle are growing profusely at Fort Hill in Eastham. Japanese Honeysuckle is a fragrant climbing vine with 1“ white flowers that grow in pairs and turn yellow with age. The flowers bloom from June through August and then become black berries.
Japanese Honeysuckle, although the flowers are very pretty, is considered an invasive plant that can smother out other plants in the area.
I had seen this little Checkerspot butterfly out of the corner of my eye for a few days at Fort Hill but was unable to photograph it. It never came close enough until… We were walking on the trail by the marsh when it alighted on a leaf by the side of the trail. We were able to take a few photographs of this pretty butterfly.
I did a little research and found that “Checkerspot (butterfly), any of a group of small to medium-size butterflies with distinctive orange, black, and brown checkered patterning on their wings.”
Have you ever seen a Checkerspot butterfly? Pretty little thing!
I have seen snails such as this one at Fort Hill before, but always on the ground near the trail. This one really caught my eye as it was high (about 5’up) in one of the bushes on the side of the trail. I wondered how it got there, but then I saw that it was attached to the leaf. It must have made its own way up. Wow!
In the 2nd photograph, can you find the snail on the leaf in the center of the picture? Amazing that it was able to make its way up there on such small branches and leaves.
This little Catbird was singing away on the Red Maple Swamp Trail at Fort Hill on Cape Cod. We could see him through the bushes in the distance, perched on the branch.
He looks like a young one with his fluffy feathers, don’t you think? So cute!