Critters, weather and some green stuff......

November 30, 2023 

Mother Nature has been trying really hard to lay her white carpet, but the trolls in the temperature department keep thwarting her efforts, as they are gleefully fluctuating the temperature up and down, from nice and cold, to mild and rainy. Apparently this is normal for an El Nino year, so say all the weather forecasters. On the colder days, our footsteps crunch through the crust on the crispy snow, on milder days, they make a crumping sound, the soft snow compressing down under each step. 

Yesterday morning, big soft snow flakes were drifting down gently.  

This morning is milder and that 'goose down' snow has evaporated.

Now that the deer season rifle hunt is over around here, there are just a few bow hunters out and I know which properties they are on, so I can confidently wander further afield.

There isn't much activity on the trail cameras... just Foxy

and the odd deer. Perhaps he hears sleigh bells....??

The twin fawns have been showing up here and there around the yard, usually later in the day just after sunset, but a few times they've been here mid day. They are eating the tufts of grass that protrude around the bases of trees and poles. (After finishing off the parsley, the catnip, and frozen phlox leaves in the garden beds.)

This was taken on the 10th of the month, and a few days later, on the 15th, milder temperatures had melted the snow down.

The fawns looked at the photographer before deciding to leave in a flurry of bounding feet and waving white tails. 

Being mild and still this morning, on our pre-breakfast walk, we ventured along a trail through our neighbour's property, where the bush is predominately beech. The beech bark disease has ravaged this section, trees and branches have fallen, blocking the trail in places. It is so sad to see the mess. It would be dangerous to walk along it on a day with any wind at all. The trees are covered with all sorts of fungi, so nature is looking after things.

This mess is pretty much right across the trail.

Sadly, once the disease has advanced far enough to cause branches to fall, the wood is not any good for firewood.
Evergreen club mosses provide a bit of greenery, sunlight warming and melting the snow away from the protruding branches, as the snow is not deep enough yet to completely cover them up. (Ground pine and Staghorn club mosses with spore clusters still visible.)

I am not so patiently awaiting enough snow to get out the snowshoes and wander further afield.