Hello Friends! Tonight’s Feature Image is titled “Plains Coreopsis 100620a” and is available for purchase by clicking the thumbnail and reaching out to me on the contact page.
The gentle October winds gently shake the field near the Battle Run Campground at Summersville Lake. Small grasshoppers spring into the air and take wing through the drying stems of fading wildflowers. Occasionally a Sulphur Butterfly flutters through checking each bloom for the disappearing nectar. They’ll need every precious drop of energy to make the long journey south. Along with the butterflies Fenches,Chickadees and Wrens forage the tall weeds of the spillway. Some search for insects and others pick seeds from stems that held the wildflowers a few short days ago. The small ones are silent as they feed but in the distance the caw of crows carry on the breeze reminding us that they own the lake now. Gone are the skiers and swimmers and the lower waterline now draws more attention from fishermen trolling the banks in hopes of raising a monster from the inky depths. The soft down of thistle floats gently by and turns skyward. In my inner child’s imagination I see it fly to heaven above and land on a cloud at the feet of an angel who will guard it well until the Spring planting. The seasons flow like a river and nobody can hold it all in their hands. Here in the waning water days of the sun I learned to enjoy the last light rather than mourn its loss. Light to us humans is like the last drops of nectar for the butterflies. We should take in as much as we can to carry us through our journey.
And with this thought I close tonight’s post. Enjoy your time and be blessed throughout your days.
Hey Friends! Just a quick reminder that Lloyds Lens Photography is available for portraits!
Tobook me simply reach out using theContact Pageand we’ll set a date. If you’re within a 50 mile radius of Summersville West Virginia all travel fees are waived.
If you would like to Follow me on Facebook the web address is
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 “Carnifex Ferry Overlook 100620a” and is available for purchase by clicking the thumbnail and reaching out to me on the contact page.
Standing on the edge of the mountain at the Carnifex Ferry Overlook and gazing down to the Gauley River certainly gives me the feeling of flight. I’ve written before that as a child I would open up my jacket and pretend that I could catch the wind and sail like a kite. But of course the fantasy was decades before wing suits and the jet pack was in its infancy. But call of the horizon was strong and in my childhood dreams were plans of paper hang gliders and trash bags modified to become hot air balloons. Little did I know that I would live to see these things become more of a reality. Well, maybe not the trash bags but helium balloons and lawn chairs were close enough to count. For now I’ll have to settle for looking out over the edge of a cliff and feeling the wind on my face and perhaps opening a jacket to catch the wind when nobody is looking to see a fullgrown man pretend to fly. And of course in my dreams I’ll build all kinds of crazy contraptions in order to get airborne. In fact I think it’s time to go work on that now. Good night friends, be blessed and maybe even catch the wind in your dreams tonight.
Hey Friends! Just a quick reminder that Lloyds Lens Photography is available for portraits!
Tobook me simply reach out using theContact Pageand we’ll set a date. If you’re within a 50 mile radius of Summersville West Virginia all travel fees are waived.
If you would like to Follow me on Facebook the web address is
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 “Comma Butterfly 100620a” and is available for purchase by clicking the thumbnail and reaching out to me on the contact page.
The October sun reaches its zenith as the big blue truck rolls to a stop on Muddlety Creek. Running errands has become a bit of a double duty for me. It’s a chance to to get off my mountain and get some variety of scenery. I’ve come to the spot where the old barn slowly fades into the past. I fear that the end is near for her but I digress. If the mind has an eye that shows us worlds just beyond perception then the heart has an ear that listens to the story of those worlds. The old barn speaks in whispers so your heart has to open wide to hear her. As I tuned my heart to listen to the old barn I distinctly heard a different voice giggling playfully. The giggle came from a dead leaf off to my left and was causing the barn to pause her story. I lowered my lens and before I could take a step to see what this giggler was up to the wings slowly opened to reveal the beautiful orange colored wings of Wood Nymph Butterfly. Abandoning her perfect perch on a twig she launched herself my direction and circled my head before landing at my feet and displaying her magnificent wings. Her pattern was nearly identical to her cousin the Question Mark Butterfly. “Are you a.. Comma Butterfly?” I asked softly. The butterfly slowly folded her wings and revealed that identifying mark.
Image Titled “Comma Butterfly 100620a” and is available for purchase by clicking the thumbnail and reaching out to me on the contact page.
She couldn’t couldn’t help but to cause a pause in the conversation between the old barn and I. After all, she is a Comma Butterfly.
While the Patty Duke Show is a little before my time I had heard the theme song and while looking at the pictures of the two butterflies that song kept playing in my head.
So let’s take a look at two and how we can tell them apart.
I’ll start with a blown up version of the underside of the Comma Butterfly wing.
Comma Butterfly wing details
The Comma Butterfly had a mottled brown pattern underneath where the pattern of the Question Mark Butterfly was bluish Grey but that color may not be consistent in all individuals. It’s very possible that the tone may vary like hair color but I hadn’t really looked that deep. The one thing that the guides agree on is the silvery spots. In the Question Mark Butterfly this spot is followed by a silver dot that forms the “?”. Comma Butterflies never have the dot. Unfortunately I was not able to get a picture of the underside of the Question Mark Butterfly but there’s plenty of examples online.
The upper side of forewing has a distinctive mark as well as seen on the next image.
The top butterly is a Comma Butterfly. The wing pattern has three black dots in a row. The other marks might be different from one individual to the next but a Comma Butterfly always has just three dots. The bottom image is from last night’s post and shows the Question Mark Butterfly. The Question Mark Butterfly will have the three dots but is always followed by a fourth elongated mark near the margin. I also noticed that the Question Mark Butterfly is lighter in color but again that could be individual genetics and not a difference between species. The information I have immediate access to is pretty basic and doesn’t really go beyond the dots on top and the silvery spots underneath. As I mentioned before they are both Wood Nymph Butterflies as is the silver spotted skipper I featured throughout the Summer. I’m not sure if they are specifically cool weather Butterflies or not but they do seem to have more fur than the Swallowtail Butterflies I see the most of.
Running into a Comma Butterfly so soon after the Question Mark Butterfly was really fortunate. They were about 15 miles apart. The Question Mark Butterfly was near Summersville Lake and the Coma Butterfly was near the edge of the marsh. Both were on the edge of woodlands which is something else that the guides agree on.
So as the season continues to change keep an eye on those ragged edged dead leaves. One just might open up and come to life in brilliant colors.
That’s it for tonight. Be blessed throughout your day friends!
Hey Friends! Just a quick reminder that Lloyds Lens Photography is available for portraits!
Tobook me simply reach out using theContact Pageand we’ll set a date. If you’re within a 50 mile radius of Summersville West Virginia all travel fees are waived.
If you would like to Follow me on Facebook the web address is
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 “White Turtlerheads 92520a” and is available for purchase by clicking the thumbnail and reaching out to me on the contact page.
Deeper into the hidden world the Mountain’s call pulls me. The big blue truck rolls beyond the old fence posts covered by roses that have gone feral and surrounded fallow ground with thorns and bright red hips. Below the road and beneath twisted branches squirrels play where once a groomed orchard grew. And still, the sleeping mountain calls me deeper into the seldom seen to show me how well she has been healing. And there in a ditch where the forest meets the road was a treasure I’ve only seen in books and gardens during all my wanderings. A colony of white Turtlerheads! Now I realize that this is a common sight in the garden but in 52 years I have not found them in the wild. Which is odd to me because here we have an Appalachian Native plant that seems to have migrated from forests to gardens.
The plant gets its name from the shape of the flower which resembles a turtle with it’s mouth slightly open.
Image is titled “White Turtlerheads 92520b” and is available for purchase by clicking the thumbnail and reaching out to me on the contact page.
There is a reason for the open mouth look. In the pre-Columbian era this ensured pollination by bumblebees. The opening is slightly more narrow than a bumblebee’s body. But, only the bumblebees are strong enough and the right size to force their way into the mouth to reach the supply of nectar that pools in the bottom of the flower. European honeybees are not strong enough to force their way in and the large carpenter bees are too large to fit in. So the bumblebees are the sole pollinators for Turtlerheads. If you look closely at tonight’s Feature Image you’ll notice a structure that looks amazingly similar to a human tongue. And the top lip seems to have a single “tooth” hanging down. These are the reproductive organs of course. As the bumblebees wiggle their way into the flower they pick up and transfer huge amounts of pollen.
However, the European honeybees have discovered a hack. They chew their way through the side of the flower and rob the nectar without any pollination. None of research actually says it but I conclude that the same pollinators that are so necessary for the food production of the world are also a limiting factor in the success of the Turtlerheads. So what does it matter. Well, it matters to the Baltimore Checkerspot Butterfly that hosts its eggs almost exclusively on the Turtlerheads. The implications being that without the flower we lose the butterfly. Fortunately, we have many cultivars that are planted simply for beauty by some and specifically for preservation of the Baltimore Checkerspot Butterfly by others.
Image Titled “White Turtlerheads 92520c” and is available for purchase by clicking the thumbnail and reaching out to me on the contact page.
But what really made these special is because in the mid 90s I helped cruise the timber that was clear cut before the mountain was strip mined down to bare earth. And we’ll soon be coming up on the 30 year mark in the forest regeneration of this mountain. So to find a plant that I have not found in the wild growing so close to an unlikely location gives me great hope for the full restoration of the forest in this area. It takes a long time for nature to reclaim this kind of thing on her own but she can do it. I have been on land that is beautiful rich forest today but was cleared fifty or more years ago. But don’t think that makes me against mining. These men pull light from darkness and supply the carbon that strengthens the steel that modern world is built from. No, I am pro reclaiming that which was mined. We can have the best of both worlds and all it takes is a little thinking and planning. But that will have to be a topic for another day because this post has gotten way larger than I intended. So good night friends and be blessed throughout your days.
Hey Friends! Just a quick reminder that Lloyds Lens Photography is available for portraits!
Tobook me simply reach out using theContact Pageand we’ll set a date. If you’re within a 50 mile radius of Summersville West Virginia all travel fees are waived.
If you would like to Follow me on Facebook the web address is
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 “Cardinal Flower 92520a” and is available for purchase by clicking the thumbnail and reaching out to me on the contact page.
The cool shadows have begun to grow noticeable longer as rattling sounds of grasshoppers fade away like the heat of summer. The unpaved county road leads my big blue truck slowly through the the rich bottomland where dust rolls off of the road like the mists of a river. Diesel engines growl in the distance as tractors move giant rolls of hay under the shelter of a barn. And the road calls me deeper into the hidden world beyond the boundaries of Asphalt and concrete into a labyrinth of trails and gravel to seek a treasure overlooked by miners and lumberjacks many years ago when they laid bare the mountain’s bones. They pulled forth a city in lumber and powered it with the coal. The mountain gave birth to civilization and fell asleep. For age she slept and healed preparing for the day when her true treasures could shown again. The big blue truck drifts to halt in a welcoming fold between the hills. Here in the shelter of a young forest I find a treasure of floral rubies not planted by the hands of mankind. The Cardinal Flower stands proudly on the edge near her Blue Lobelia and with a special prize that I have not found in person until I yielded to the mountain’s call.
To be continued…
Hey Friends! Just a quick reminder that Lloyds Lens Photography is available for portraits!
Tobook me simply reach out using theContact Pageand we’ll set a date. If you’re within a 50 mile radius of Summersville West Virginia all travel fees are waived.
If you would like to Follow me on Facebook the web address is
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
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