The first snow seemed to arrive early this year. We found a little at Ross Farm in mid-November and then enough fell in Mahone Bay on November 27 to make some straggly snowmen. (Exactly one month before the first snowfall of 2015.) The first real snowstorm blew in on Monday December 12. Surprisingly school wasn’t … Continue reading
July and August 2018 have been the hottest and most humid months ever experienced in Nova Scotia. The temperatures have remained in the high 20s/low 30s since the beginning of July but the killer has been the humidity. The humidex values have been high 30s and low 40s *every single day* for 6 weeks now. … Continue reading
These are Red Goldenrod Aphids (Uroleucon nigrotuberculatum). They only live on goldenrod apparently and don’t harm the plant. They provide food for ladybirds and other insects so I’m leaving them where I found them just on the edge of the woods by the bridge where they seemed to be dancing in unison on the leaves. … Continue reading
It was an absolute scorcher of a day — over 30°C this afternoon and humidex values closer to 40°. I was in the kitchen after dinner when I spotted what I thought was a raccoon out in the field. We’ve seen a few recently. I put my glasses on and took another look… and yelled … Continue reading
This year, 2018, will go down in Hall family history as the summer of broody robins. Back-to-back-to-back-to-back broods. It’s July 1 and we are on the third round of egg-laying already! Another short 5-day break between broods, and we are on batch #3 of the summer. We couldn’t believe it when we saw the new … Continue reading
We came home around 10:15pm after watching fireworks at the yacht club and Evie suggested we look for fireflies in the long grass at the back of the field. We saw them immediately! A whole host of twinkling lights in the grass and at the edge of the woods — the best display we’ve seen … Continue reading
These two sweet and very small baby raccoons were huddled up against the school wall last week. It was the Thursday before the end of school (June 28) so no students were present. The mother raccoon had left the babies all day — Milo and Charlie spotted them earlier in the day — we had … Continue reading
Here are a few of my favourite “finds” this spring in Nova Scotia. Here’s a painted turtle laying her eggs on the side of the Dynamite Trail — photographed by a friend, Callen, who spotted her while we were out for an evening bike ride at the end of May near Oakland Commons Pond. They … Continue reading
The top three birds found in Nova Scotia are red-winged blackbirds, American robins and European starlings. I was curious what the nests and eggs looked like of these and other common garden birds, so I collected some images — blue is a common theme. Check out all these shades of blue! And speckles. But my … Continue reading
The June bugs are out in our part of Nova Scotia. Seems we’ve had an early spring this year. I haven’t kept track of the June bug dates with the same dedication as the spring peepers, but here’s what I’ve been able to find in the archives. 2013 – May 23 -(missing a few)- 2016 … Continue reading
The American robins have returned to their favourite nest just outside our back door. Although everything I’ve read says that robins build a new nest for every new brood, this is not the case at Casa Hall. They come back time and again to the same nest, and don’t appear to make any upgrades or … Continue reading
