Hello my Dearest Steemians,
It was a beautiful weekend in the middle of August when I visited Ratrray Marsh Conservation Area. As you can see from the photos, it is a little bit wild, yet tranquil place where Ontario nature can thrive peacefully. Well, except when annoying photographers like me come for visit, but I got bitten by bunch of mosquitoes as a payback so we are even, lol. Nevertheless, I took lots of photos and I only wish I had a better camera. Hopefully next year!
I guess these two lovely Monarch butterflies don't need a special introduction. They were quite a sight when I sported them enjoying this fragrant flower and I was happy they didn't fly a way and let me capture their beauty.
Bridges are the way to walk trough here and this is the one at the very beginning.
This imgage gives you an idea of the landscape and in the distance where the marshland ends are actually private properties.
Most of the flowers growing here are quite common yet very pretty wild flowers such as Corn Flower and Impatiens Capensis also called Spotted touch-me-not.
I took many photos of Spotted touch-me-not, but I don't really like any of the photos. These cute flowers are so tiny and strange looking that I am having hard time capturing their beauty the way I see it in reality. For some reason they always look like the Rolling Stones symbol on most of my photos, lol. But not on this one!
I have quite a story about this photo that is not taken with my camera, because it was impossible. As I was walking on the bridge and admiring everything around me, I couldn't believe I am seeing such a big spider. I had no idea we have spiders like this in Canada. However, according to Wikipedia, this spider is not so unusual as I thought and it can by found in gardens. Argiope Aurantia also called Yellow Garden spider is actually not even that dangerous as it looks. However, you cam read more about that if you follow the link. The story I am going to tell you is about
this photo.
As I mention at the beginning, I was not able ti take a very good photo with my camera, mainly because I was on the bridge and the spider was about five feet away from the bridge in hanging on her spiderweb in the tall grass. I was very disappointed that I couldn't come closer and I almost gave up, when I saw a young couple walking towards me. The man was obviously a photographer, because he was holding huge camera. When they came closer, I approached with the smile and pointing at the spider while explaining how desperate I am. When they saw my tiny humble Canon, they understood my problem and took a photo of the spider for me. I gave them my email address and shortly after I received this photo. I am really happy meting these nice people and having not only this wonderful photo, but interesting story to tell as well.
There was lots Elderberries along the bridge but they were not totally ripe yet and too far to reach.
There were also areas without marshland but with woods instead. I was thrilled to see a Red Cardinal with his lady, but she was gone before he was.
Thistle is a very popular flower among butterflies and bees which you could see pretty much everywhere.
And here it is, my second attempt this summer to photograph dragonfly, in this case, the Whitetail . This rascal was literally playing game with me. I was moving so carefully, trying to get little bit closer, but soon as I made two steps closer, she flew further a way, exactly the same distance as I she was before, lol.
This is the distance how far she was. I took few photo by zooming out but they are not what I was hoping for.
The Hickory Tussock Moth Caterpillar was much easier to photograph, although this cute creature is not suited for petting, lol. I just found out online that you can have a severe allergic reaction from touching it.
This guy was having a feast on this huge leaf and he wasn't bothered by me, too much lol.
Rosebay Willowherb are also very common wild flowers that look beautiful up close and from afar.
Well I am sure you are all familiar with the infamous stinky bug also called a Shield Bug, lol.
I find these purple berries quite pretty, unfortunately I have no idea what is their name. I was looking online for a while but I got nothing :(
And now I am going to say goodbye with our famous Canadian Goldenrod that wasn't in the full bloom yet. I hope you enjoyed my visit in our Credit Valley Conservation area, which by the way goes much further then I was able to cover that day. Next time I will take a differnet path and will see what I am going to discover there.
This is my entry for the #beautifulsunday challenge, hosted by @ace108 and for #sublimesunday by @c0ff33a.
PHOTOS TAKEN WITH CANON ELPH 300
THANK YOU FOR VISITING Lena's Photography
