Sunday 19 April 2015

Bluebell Woods?


On the shuttle bus from the Visitor Centre into Harper's Ferry yesterday we could see lovely fresh green woodland with a carpet of blue beneath.


Closer inspection revealed that although the flowers were blue and bell shaped they were not bluebells as such.


They had a very different leaf and different shape.



We also saw from the bus that there was some interesting wildlife in a disused and dilapidated section of canal alongside the river..



Impossible to see in this picture but there were several different types of turtle in the murky water..


This is a Snapping Turtle - quite large - up to 2ft from tip of tail to nose.  Most of the turtles we have seen don't have large tails like this and it was a very ridged and dragon-like tail.


The other turtles that we saw - there were quite a few - included a Painted Turtle which was much smaller .. Maybe 8 or 9 inches long..


.. and an Eastern Box Turtle.. Up to about a foot long.



They seemed to be enjoying the slow bake in the sunshine.

2 comments:

  1. I like the turtles. Have you discovered what the blue flowers are?

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  2. Maggie - yes, should have looked this up! They are Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica).

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