It’s a bees world out there.

Last week I went down to bush-hog one of my fields , the only one not done this summer , so it was quite overgrown with weeds,( I am using the word weeds loosely here for the moment.) 

As I was cutting  up and down I soon realized that these weeds were a small thriving eco-system , bees, grasshoppers, dragonflies, bumblebees , wasps and butterflies to name a few . I soon started feeling very guilty about destroying there home especially when three Monarch butterflies kept dancing around the tractor looking for flowers that I was mowing down . ( I think they were Monarchs but they could have been Viceroys , the two look very similar ) I have a great admiration for the Monarch as it’s the only butterfly that actually migrates south in the winter and returns the next spring , amazingly it’s an offspring that returns as the monarch does not live long enough to make the round trip ) 

I didn’t get the whole field done so yesterday I went down with the camera to take some shots of this amazing eco-system before I totally destroy it or winter does. Here are some of the pictures I took , unfortunately I saw no butterflies so either they were migrating or just moved on , I like to think they were migrating !

Funny how we kill off the so call weeds just to plant flowers , what's the difference ???

The small eco-system, doesn't look like much until you have a closer look ( next 4 pics )

I wonder why we call them weeds, they are quite beautiful !!

Busy bee !!

Look how full it's leg sacks are !!!

I love spiders, amazing colours !!

Here a bee got caught in the web, now it's spider food, natures way!

Lots of Bumblebees, the one on the right was coming out of it's burrow.

Wasps sunning themselves , they are just about done for this year the cool weather keeps them close to home.

Autumn is just around the corner and with it's cold weather all of this eco-system will disappear.

Montana was helping, at least she thought so !!

A very interesting mushroom I found growing on the side of a dead tree.

Eastern Bluebird, for some reason I only see them in the spring and the fall.

Chickadee, a regular visitor to our bird-feeder , but not so much during the summer when it's off rearing it's young.

Milkweed pods, Monarchs feed of the flowers.