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.