Photos from a quick morning walk around Woodland Hills Preserve. I like coming here because 1) it’s fairly close to my home and I can get in a quick nature walk before heading to work and 2) it brings me great joy in knowing that this used to be a golf course. Don’t you just love it when nature takes it back? The meadows are filled with mugwort, yarrow and the common milkweed is just starting to bloom. Soon this place will be filled with butterflies, sphinx moths and pollinators galore. As I passed through the wetlands, tall stalks of poison hemlock towered above the marshy grass. Dozens of red-winged blackbirds perched high in the trees drooping their wings and singing flute like notes that tapered off into a trill. Frogs in the pond chimed along with their deep croaks and bellows making for a melodious morning chorus as I walked along the paths. I spotted a monarch or two fluttering about sampling the first taste of sweet nectar on the newly blooming milkweed. And on the wing still are the Little Wood Satyrs although some of them were a little tattered and past their prime. Wild rose was blooming and the aroma wafting through the air was just incredible. It was a marvelous way to start my day. I always enjoy coming here.

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