Trilliums Ending

As we pottered about on the Two Hundred Acre Wood yesterday, there was sunlight and blue skies, and the air was full of grosbeak songs, always a pleasure at this time of year, at any time of the year at all in fact. I looked for bluebirds, but they have not yet returned, and their nesting boxes along the old rail fences are empty and somewhat forlorn in appearance.

There were black flies in profusion, and they were biting so it should not be long before the bluebirds return, but in their absence, the first dragonflies of the season have already hatched out — they are all swooping about on the hill and partaking of the springtime smorgasboard. When I checked last year's nature diary, I discovered that the dragonflies made their first appearance on this same date last year too.

The trilliums (alas) are almost past their blooming, and I couldn't resist posting two last photos of my favorite springtime flowers this morning. White or red, their vivid presence in the woods in May is always a happy thing. It was also a happy thing to discover yesterday that within a few days our wild orchids and columbines will be in bloom.