Nature Diary
Notes from the field, essays, and observations.
Angles and flows
Another set of ice images:
Stream ice can form angular geometric patterns or irregular, snaking flow patterns under the ice. In the last image, the flow is the moving water under the crystal-lined hole in the ice. The other images were all taken the same day, but I have no idea why the ice forms angles in one spot and irregular curving flows in another.
Winter woods and meadow
Sights from snowy days:
I love the way snow creates simplified settings and also the play of light and shadow on snow in late afternoon. My walks started in the woods. I climbed a hill, following the tracks of cross-country skiers and found the grove of beech saplings in the bottom left. I was happy to find the healthy trees, so many beeches in the east are dying from beech blight disease.
The understory of the woods was dotted with lowbush blueberry (lower right), the dark branches contrasting with the snow. Out in the meadow, the sun cast the shadows of aster and the other plants not covered by snow. Click an image to view it in a larger size.
Ice arabesques
Curving ice patterns with crystals:
When stream ice freezes, melts, and freezes again, crystals can form in the gaps in the ice. I’ve seen needle-like crystals like these before, but not crystals in curving flow patterns. Ice crystals are one of the prettier things that grow in winter.
Twelve from 2025
A collection of images from the past year:
Starting at the top, the images are:
- Oak leaf on stream ice
- Hawkweed filaments
- Winterberry (Ilex verticillata)
- Limestone peak near Le Baux de Provence
- Forked bluecurls (Trichostema dichotomum)
- Blue-eyed grass and Syrphid fly
- Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) and fleabane
- Coastal oaks and poppies (Petaluma, California)
- Ice stars
- Pale corydalis (Capnoides sempervirens)
- Starflower (Lysimachia borealis)
- Cypress grove, Point Lobos (California)
There were a number images I regretted leaving out purple blue-eyed grass, hepatica, a cascade, and Lake Bimont in Provence (I didn’t realize Mt St Victoire was in the background).
Happy New Year! Thanks for all your comments and visits to these pages.
Leaves, ice, and reflections
Winter sights from the northeast woods:
The oak leaf at upper right has a shape I love. In the second image, there was snow falling in the woods, making slight ripples in the reflections of the snowy forest. The last image is from a frozen brook in Middlesex Fells, a huge open space area with mile after mile of trails. From a distance, the ice surface didn’t look interesting. In my viewfinder, I could see thousands of bright icy bubbles and the shadowy leaf outlines.
Happy holidays!
Along the brook
Ice and ice crystals found along a brook:
There haven’t been many cold mornings here. These are the first crop of ice crystal images (and stream ice images) for this year. Ice crystals are like plants – they grow in the right conditions. I took these in a favorite spot along the watercourse of a local book. All but the image in the bottom right were at the stream edge, If you look closely, there are different crystal forms: spikes, plates, and other shapes.
The crystals on the oak leaf at bottom right were higher up on the stream bank, about a yard from the stream. No ice at the stream surface had as many crystals form. Perhaps rising water vapor is the source for these crystals.
A few leaves
Fall and winter leaves I’ve seen in the last month or so:
The icy leaf scene is from the woods, after a recent snow started to melt. At upper right is a fern in late afternoon light, and last, the most colorful leaf I saw this season.
Spikes and seeds
A random collection of fall/winter closeups:
Clockwise from top left, the plants are beebalm, a tall grass I need to identify with long spiky awns, willowherb, wild cucumber, and a closeup of beebalm.
The willowherb is likely Epilobium ciliatum. GoBotany tells me that the genus name is from the Greek words epi, meaning “upon,” and lobos meaning “pod or capsule”. The way the pods split open to regular rows of seeds is something I love to find. The fluffy seeds are often gone, leaving behind masses of curving open pods (link). I also learned another botanical name for the fluff: coma, also Greek. The wild cucumber is Echinocystis lobata, alwys a striking sight late in the season. The beebalm is Monarda fistulosa.
Asters after a rain
Asters absorb rain differently:
Some asters close shut when wet, like the white wood asters in the second image. The other two asters (a different species) collect rain drops in their fibers (pappus) and balloon out. It’s curious how the fibers meet at the top, despite the weight of the water. I’m sure there’s an explanation – surface tension or electrochemistry – but I’m more interested in their beauty.
Thanks to all who come to visit, like, and comment. Best wishes for gratitude day!
Fall grasses
Grasses I’ve found in nearby meadows:
From left to right, they are Broomsedge bluestem, Fall panicgrass, Switch grass, and Indian grass. The last two grasses have a glow from late afternoon light. Switchgrass grows in dense clumps. In views like this one, the intersecting seed stems become an abstraction. The dangling cluster of Broomsedge bluestem seeds caught my eye. It’s less common than little bluestem and grows alongside it.
Nature Diary 
