On the San Juan Islands, a variety of ecosystems exist side by side. Here a wood, a meadow, and a salt water cove. Photo by Barbara Newhall
By Barbara Falconer Newhall
Beach, forest, wetland, meadow — in some places the various San Juan Islands ecosystems coexist just steps from one another. An afternoon’s walk can take you past woodsy kinickinick, sun-loving oxeye daisies, and salty pickle grass wafting in the tide.
These photos were all taken last summer during the second week of July in the space of a few acres, so they represent but one small slice of what goes on flora-wise on the San Juans — and just a hint of what planet Earth will do, left to her own devices.
I don’t know if there’s a God out there, but it seems to me that we live in a miraculous world — on a few small acres in the Pacific Northwest, so much desire, so much effort, so much complexity unfolding.
In the meadow: Eurasian oxeye daisy.Berries in the woods: Osier dogwood . . .. . . and bunchberry. Photos by Barbara NewhallAlso: Oregon grape . . .. . . service berry . . .Snowberry and wasp.In a moist and shady woods, moss flourishes on tree stumps and fallen logs. Photo by Barbara NewhallMore woods loving plants: Sword ferns . . .. . . bracken fern . . .. . . a rotting nurse log feeding plants and lichen . . .. . . a kinnickinnick shrub . . .. . . salal . . .. . . and a mushroom. Photos by Barbara NewhallMeadow grass. Photo by Barbara NewhallWhere wood meets beach: Lichen on tree twigs.Meadow: Pearly everlasting . . .. . . and a dandelion? Photos by Barbara NewhallMore meadow: Clover . . .. . . gumweed . . .. . . and thistle.
Pickle grass and algae grow along the shore. Photo by Barbara NewhallBeach grass. Photos by Barbara NewhallThe handiwork of the pileated woodpecker. Can anyone tell me why the photos I take in the woods always look so blue? Is there a setting I can use on my Canon G12 to prevent the color shift?
Please feel free to share links to my posts with one and all and to quote briefly from them in your own writing, remembering, of course, to attribute the quote to me and to provide a link back to this site.
Please feel free to share links to my posts with one and all and to quote briefly from them in your own writing, remembering, of course, to attribute the quote to me and to provide a link back to this site.
