Sundays at Little Walden

 I used to try and go to the Little Walden Butterfly Garden every Sunday,  and I did not really plan to go last week, but I just happened to pass by AND had my camera with me (have got to get back in the habit of taking it everywhere!) so I decided to stop.  It was pretty dang hot, so I didn't stay long, but I did get a few pics.

Eastern Tailed-Blue - I love these tiny little butterflies

Silver-Spotted Skipper

I don't know a lot about dragonflies, but I think this is a Common Whitetail

I also did some herb gardening this week-end.  

Fairy and Oregano

And I went to the Cobblestone Farmers Market at Old Salem on Saturday.  Took my camera, but my bag filled up pretty quickly and it was so hot (I know - again with the heat excuse) I didn't take any pictures.  The one below I took at home with my iPhone.  It should be cooling down a little this week, so maybe I will try again on Saturday.

Fridays at Reynolda Gardens and Sundays at Little Walden

So many cool things to post last week I am behind schedule!

Friday:

Common Buckeye

 The lion head fountain is one of my favorite features of the Gardens.

 Ailanthus Webworm moth on Sedum, got some of this for my butterfly garden, I hope I don't kill it, I don't exactly have a green thumb.

Sunday:

 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

 Dragonfly - lucky shot, he was fast!

 Little stone building on the nature trail

I know most people call these Daddy Longlegs, but I have always called them Grandaddy Longlegs.  Probably something my Grandaddy told me when I was little. :)

Sundays at Little Walden

Ahhh, Sunday.  And even better, no getting up early Monday morning!

 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail - I never get tired of seeing these.

 Long-tailed Skipper - I used to never see these and this year I have seen them all over.

Baby Deer - so excited to see this little cutie (and 2 older deer) as I was leaving.  Good thing my son was driving so I could take some pictures from the car.

Sundays at Little Walden

Oh happy day!!

Eastern Tailed-Blue

Common Buckeye

Monarch!

This is a male, you can tell by the scent patches on the wings.

What a cutie!

Sundays at Little Walden

Didn't know if I would make it to Little Walden today, it rained all morning.  It cleared up, but no sun.  It was actually a little chilly, but no complaints here!

 Hummingbird Moth

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Sundays at Little Walden

Another beautiful day at the Little Walden Nature Trail.

 Skipper

 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

 Teeny-tiny little butterfly.  I believe this is a Least Skipper.

Horace's Duskywing

Sundays at Little Walden

The Tanglewood Butterfly Garden and the Little Walden Pond are becoming a tradition for me on Sundays.  It's so peaceful there I love it.

There were tons of Skippers there today.  They especially seem to like the Lantana.  I should get more for my own garden.

These 2 are the same Skipper.  This is a Zabulon Skipper.  So bright and colorful!  I love when they open their wings.  They remind me of tiny little fighter planes.

I wasn't sure what type of Skipper this was, so I checked by book, then checked on-line, then rechecked my book, and I think this is one is actually a Zabulon also.  This is a female and the first one is a male.

I got a new lens (Olympus M Zuiko 45mm f1.8) for my camera (Olympus E-PL1) this week-end.  I have wanted this lens for a looooonng time!  By itself it is not the lens to use for butterfly shooting, but with my MCON-P01 macro converter, it's not too bad.  It takes some getting used to, I am used to zooming in and out whenever I need too and the new one is a fixed length.  But so far I am really enjoying it.  All the photos from today were taken with this lens.

I even got to use it when I got home and had a visitor in my own butterfly garden.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Little Walden Nature Trail

There is a little known trail at Tanglewood Park in Clemmons called the Little Walden Nature Trail.  I say this because in the time since I discovered it I have only seen a handful of people there.  Surely there would be more people visiting if they knew how beautiful and peaceful it was there.  But then maybe it would not be so peaceful! There are also a couple of gardens - a butterfly garden and the AIDS Memorial Garden.  The trail itself goes around a pond and then into the woods where it passes a little stone building (I have no idea of the origin of the building, but I love it!) and down to a creek.  To get to the trail, you don't go into the main Tanglewood entrance, it's the entrance right across from Harper Road and then take the first left.  And you don't have to pay 2 bucks to park!

Silver-Spotted Skipper

Eastern-Tailed Blue

This was taken a few weeks ago.  I was walking around the pond and this little guy kept flitting around me so I held out my hand and he landed.  Good Luck!  I have never seen one of these before and not sure exactly what it is.  I think some sort of Elfin.