Hello Friends! Tonight’s feature image was taken specifically for this article. The Title of the photo is Queen Anne’s Lace On Peter’s Creek 7319. All of the photos on my blog are available for purchase by following the instructions at the bottom of the article.
One of the first wild edible plants that I ever learned was Queen Anne’s Lace. I imagined myself as Tarzan living in the jungle and surviving on what nature provides. One had to be careful when collecting this “exotic” wild edible. It has an infamous impostor. Poison Hemlock! The quickest way to tell the difference is by a single tiny floret in the center of the cluster. The guide books all point to the red dot in the center of the cluster. However, the textbook example is most often found in the textbook and not in field.
In the next photo you can see the the “red dot” is almost black.
Here you can see the the center floret is almost black.
I have an understanding that the soil ph is the reason for the difference. The stem is also hairy. The amount of hair can also vary depending on the soil and genetics.
Poison Hemlock has purple splotches on a hollow stem where Queen Anne’s Lace has a solid fibrous stem.
The root is the part that you eat. Queen Anne’s Lace is in fact a wild carrot. Domestic carrots have undergone massive amounts of selected propagation for flavour and nutrition. Like most wild food you might need to adjust your expectations. The seeds are usually strong flavored and are sometimes used like a spice.
In closing, please do further research and remember that my blog is about the photos and Forage Friday is only intended to be an interesting conversation starter. If you confuse Queen Anne’s Lace with Poison Hemlock the results could be life threatening.
Hello Friends and thank you for your support of my page. If you have enjoyed the photos or the writings please let me know by commenting and sharing my work on your social media. I also want to invite you to Follow Lloyds Lens Photography on Facebook
If you would like to Follow me on Facebook the web address is
Did you know that I also do portraits by appointment? If you’re interested in a portrait session either message me on Facebook or Use the Contact form. The YouTube link below takes you one of my slideshows.
I’m now using Zazzle to fulfil orders. What this means for you is a secure way to place an order, discount codes & a broader product selection! Simplymessage me on Facebookoruse the contact form on my websiteand tell me which image you want and I’ll reply with a direct link to where you can place the order.
Lastly, all of the photos and writings are my original work unless otherwise specified and are not to be copied or reproduced without expressed written permission from the photographer.
Hello Friends! Tonight’s feature image is titled “Into The Mountains” and is available for purchase by following the instructions at the bottom of the article.
I stand again in the middle of the two tracks looking towards home. The long day of being on the road is nearly over and I crave comfort of my recliner and a home cooked meal. As the storm passes beyond the river the high hills shield me from the ominous clouds and howling wind. The big blue truck seems to know it’s way through the winding road like a faithful horse in days gone by. The engine races as I round the last curve and roll into the driveway. Before I even insert the key into lock I can hear my little buddy Scout baying out his welcome song. The door opens and he brings his favorite toy to share. The warm smile of my wife’s engaging eyes let’s me know that I’m not just at my house. I’m home.
Hello Friends and thank you for your support of my page. If you have enjoyed the photos or the writings please let me know by commenting and sharing my work on your social media. I also want to invite you to Follow Lloyds Lens Photography on Facebook
If you would like to Follow me on Facebook the web address is
Did you know that I also do portraits by appointment? If you’re interested in a portrait session either message me on Facebook or Use the Contact form. The YouTube link below takes you one of my slideshows.
I’m now using Zazzle to fulfil orders. What this means for you is a secure way to place an order, discount codes & a broader product selection! Simplymessage me on Facebookoruse the contact form on my websiteand tell me which image you want and I’ll reply with a direct link to where you can place the order.
Lastly, all of the photos and writings are my original work unless otherwise specified and are not to be copied or reproduced without expressed written permission from the photographer.
Hello Friends! Tonight’s feature image is titled “Swamp Rose 62919A” and is available for purchase by following the instructions at the bottom of the article.
My big blue truck rolls down the quiet country road in Nicholas County West Virginia. I have come to check out what might be happening in the marshland of Muddelty Creek. As the dust from the road thins into breeze I can hear the Red-winged Blackbirds. The calls seem to come from everywhere. I look out among the cattails and bullrush in search of one of the singers. The landscape is full of pink dots all throughout the delta.
A red-winged blackbird perched in a sea of Swamp Rose.
The pink dots are one of the simple beauties of the marshland. They are the native Swamp Rose. Swamp Rose is native to the Appalachian Mountains. Knowing that roses in general have many traditional uses for food and medicine I’m sure that they were important to Native Americans. In my imagination I can see a birch bark canoe silently glide through the marsh as one of the occupants casts tobacco leaves onto the surface in payment for the rose products collected.
It’s not hard to imagine that a native canoe is gliding through the water.
The beautiful and serene setting is one that I could visit on a daily basis if life’s circumstances allowed. And in truth I have wished that there was a public boardwalk that one could take to reach deeper into the landscape.
This little marsh is kinda rare in my mountains. In most places the landscape is not level enough to form this kind of delta. At one point this would have been the home of whooping cranes and herons. The herons are occasionally spotted but I haven’t seen or heard a whopping crane since the early 1970s. However that unique call may once again echoe through the Appalachian Mountains. If we can preserve the wetland areas that they rely on.
Earlier this year I captured a photo that while beautiful represents a danger to the ecology of this marsh.
The Yellow Flag is a warning that native species are in danger of being crowded out.
The color of the invasive Iris is the same color of a warning flag. In fact this European plant is commonly call “Yellow Flags”. As I researched the plant it became painfully obvious that it’s beauty is it’s only desirable quality. In spite of a posts stating that it’s been used as a medical plant the warnings were so numerous and dire that I have no plans to ever even touch the plant. And that’s in fact one of the warnings is that it can cause a severe rash in some people. But the biggest problem is that it completely overwhelms everything else in the swamp. Once established it grows so thick that you can stand on it. It’s thick enough to prevent native species from germinating and thus plants like the native Swamp Rose are choked out. The seeds are prolific and spread for miles because they float downstream. In some cases herbicides are used to control the spread but I’m dubious as to the safety of that action towards the aquatic life. Normally what’s required is physical labor to chop out and remove the whole plant along with the soil it’s growing in. It’s also likely to be a plan that has to be repeated occasionally because they come back from any piece of root left behind. And as they spread they clog the waterways and block migration of fish.
What is needed is a conservation club that can go into these areas and restore the environment under the guidance of a qualified expert. Perhaps the DNR would be needed because of the impact of such drastic measures.
I walked back to my big blue truck as these things weigh on mind. The Yellow Flag was brought here by people who wanted to add something beautiful to their landscapes. I took a second glance at wild Swamp Rose with it’s pink pedals and edible fruit and I can’t help but wonder why it was overlooked by those people.
It’s a much better idea to work with native species in landscapes.
Working with native species in landscapes can be rewarding. Using plants like the Swamp Rose or Cattail not only yields a beautiful landscape but also a food source. Rose hips were made into jams in Victorian times. The flowers are strong scented and in bloom for six weeks while the Iris flowers last three weeks on the average and produce no food.
Turning the key brings the big blue truck to life and I drift slowly back to the main road on my way towards the next photo and the next adventure.
Hello Friends and thank you for your support of my page. If you have enjoyed the photos or the writings please let me know by commenting and sharing my work on your social media. I also want to invite you to Follow Lloyds Lens Photography on Facebook
If you would like to Follow me on Facebook the web address is
Did you know that I also do portraits by appointment? If you’re interested in a portrait session either message me on Facebook or Use the Contact form. The YouTube link below takes you one of my slideshows.
I’m now using Zazzle to fulfil orders. What this means for you is a secure way to place an order, discount codes & a broader product selection! Simplymessage me on Facebookoruse the contact form on my websiteand tell me which image you want and I’ll reply with a direct link to where you can place the order.
Lastly, all of the photos and writings are my original work unless otherwise specified and are not to be copied or reproduced without expressed written permission from the photographer.
Hello Friends! Tonight’s feature image is titled “Snowberry Clearwing on Butterfly Bush” and is available for purchase by following the instructions at the bottom of the article.
I’m still searching for the Spicebush Swallowtail. And I still haven’t gotten a confirmed photo of what is said to be common to my area. As I was driving though the Kanawha Falls area I noticed a large butterfly bush near the side of the road. I brought my big blue truck to a screeching halt in the gravel and grabbed my trusty DMC-FZ30 Panasonic Lumix. I searched the butterfly bush for several minutes. The bush seemed to be abandoned at first. But then something large emerged from the other side of the bloom. It moved like a hummingbird but had the colors of a large bumblebee. It had the tail of a lobster and extended a long proboscis like a butterfly. It hovered in place sipping netar by probing each little bloom individually. It’s not butterfly at all. It’s a moth.
The Clearwing Hawk Moth is the day walker if the moth community. It’sresemblance to a bumblebee gives it a certain level of protection from most predators. They come in beautiful colors and a little farther North is a variety with bright red trim on its wings.
A refreshed edit of an earlier published image shows the Snowberry Clearwing On Multiflora Rose.
The variety that I’m the most familiar with is the Snowberry Clearwing Moth. Although they get their name from hosting on wild snowberry they also host on Dogbane (also known as Indian Hemp) and they can be a pest on fruit trees. In the adjoining image the Snowberry Clearwing is resting on a Multiflora Rose.
They’re mostly active during the day which makes me wonder how they navigate. Moths gather around your porch light because they navigate by keeping their bodies at a certain angle to the moon. When they encounter an artificial light they assume that the brightest light is the moon and adjust accordingly. But because the sun is so bright and not polarized like the moon they must have a way to compensate. But they do continue activity into the night. I have encountered them while walking with a flashlight and the greenish yellow eye shine is a little confusing the first time that you see it. The first time that you see one in daylight your first thought is “Whoa! Big Bee” and is sometimes accompany buy high-pitch squealing.
A quick Google search shows that the USDA considers the Snowberry Clearwing Moth a pollinator. When you notice how thick it’s fur is then it makes perfect sense that some pollen will be transferred as it hovers around from bloom to bloom.
One of strangest names for these moths is “Flying Lobster” and that name seems to come from my home state of West Virginia. The only photo that I have that shows the fan shaped tail that this class of moths share is a variety with a bright yellow body and brown bands that resembles a Yellowjacket wasp more than a bumblebee.
This Clearwing Hornet Moth looks like a Yellowjacket but has the same “lobster tail” that is not visible in the other photos.
Once again Google came to my rescue and gave the ID on this Clearwing Moth. This one is even capable of mimicking the hornet’s flight patterns. Something that I can verify myself because when I took the picture with my cellphone the insect lifted off and charged me pulling away at the last minute just like a hornet would. It’s bluff works. My reflexes took over and I ducked to avoid being stung.
I might have missed out on the Spicebush Swallowtail again but the excursion will go in the win column since I got a few shots of one of Appalachia’s interesting pollenators.
The big blue truck is still idling with the door open as the moth in the first image hovers over to a new plant. It’s time to tuck the camera back into its holster and leave the gravel in favor of the road home.
Hello Friends and thank you for your support of my page. If you have enjoyed the photos or the writings please let me know by commenting and sharing my work on your social media. I also want to invite you to Follow Lloyds Lens Photography on Facebook
If you would like to Follow me on Facebook the web address is
Did you know that I also do portraits by appointment? If you’re interested in a portrait session either message me on Facebook or Use the Contact form. The YouTube link below takes you one of my slideshows.
I’m now using Zazzle to fulfil orders. What this means for you is a secure way to place an order, discount codes & a broader product selection! Simplymessage me on Facebookoruse the contact form on my websiteand tell me which image you want and I’ll reply with a direct link to where you can place the order.
Lastly, all of the photos and writings are my original work unless otherwise specified and are not to be copied or reproduced without expressed written permission from the photographer.
LLOYD'S LENS PHOTOGRAPHY LLC 