Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: at base of tree

On 17 August 2016, I drove my painfully noisy vehicle for just a very short distance, as far as a local park. Each year, I tend to visit the area to look for any mushrooms, and I knew that I just couldn't miss a quick visit. Found a few fungi to photograph, including this little cluster, so I was happy. August is reckoned to be the peak of the fungi season here.. Later, I remembered that I had found mushrooms in a different part of the park in other years, so two days later, I risked an even shorter drive to see what I could find. Everywhere was very dry and I saw quite a few shrivelled fungi. Luckily, I came across a few that were fresher and worth photographing. At the end of this second walk, I sat at a picnic table near the parking lot and kept an eye on all the large holes in the ground, made by Richardson's Ground Squirrels. I was just about ready to give up, when I happened to look down close to my feet and there was one solitary 'Gopher' three or four feet away from me. They are such fun to watch.

We saw a couple of these Yellow Jacket wasp nests when we were on a botanizing outing in Bragg Creek Natural Area two days ago. They were built at the base of two different trees. We all scattered when I announced that several wasps were flying away from the nest - thought immediately of friend Doug who received about 12 wasp stings recently! We were impressed with the scallop design that the wasps had created : ) Just managed to get a couple of quick shots before rapidly departing.