A Year in the Valley

The reed canary grass is growing taller.  There are still some tufts of dead grass and two patches of flattened dead grass.  Little Venice is still really muddy and carpeted with weed at the end nearest the pond.  We have clumps of speedwell, celandine, and buttercups.  We’ve seen peacock, orange-tip and other white butterflies, beetles, bees, even a grasshopper – just one so far!  The willows and alders are sprouting leaves.  There are three alder saplings that we are keeping an eye on as they don’t have any leaves yet.  Watermint is popping up, water horsetail, as well as nettles and bindweed curling up out of the mud already.  There are docks and sorrels – I still think there are more types than I have noted, but they all look much the same to me!  In the pond, there are tadpoles, water snails and other pondlife still to be identified, and then there have been mayfly and midge larvae in the stream.