Bluebells at Riverbend Park

 

This afternoon we visited Riverbend Park on the Potomac river. It is renowned for its carpet of Virginia Bluebells at this time of year.

 

Virginia Bluebells are a different flower altogether to British or even European Bluebells but, like the American Robin, they were erroneously named by early settlers and the name stuck!

 

The path winds through the woods alongside the river.  It is fairly soft and sandy as it is part of the flood plain when the river rises rapidly.

 

Today the wide river was fairly low and very calm and quiet.

 

Other wildflowers are also in bloom.  I haven't yet identified these pale mauve ones.

 

Some were easy to recognize..

Towards the end of our walk we met someone who told us of a Bald Eagle nest upstream and so we walked to have a look.  No long lens today but with binoculars we could see the parent bird sitting on the nest at the top of a tree on this small island.

 

Our most unexpected sight of the day was this...

 

A well camouflaged Northern Water Snake is curled up on this piece of tree trunk at the edge of the river.  As we watched there was some splashing and he had an improbably large fish secured in his jaws.

Although the photos look tiny, he was 30 inches or so long and the fish was probably 5-6 inches long and very lively initially.

 

He gradually manoeuvred it to a position where it could be swallowed..

 

 

The whole process taking some time - we watched for 15 minutes or so and the fish was only half in.

 

Next time I will be sure to have a long lens with me - such opportunities missed!!