“The trees are coming into leaf
Like something almost being said;
The recent buds relax and spread,
Their greenness is a kind of grief.” ― From “The Trees” by Philip Larkin

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Another walk on the Northern Rail Trail in New Hampshire, on a mid-May day when temps hit 66F. (See past visits in April 2019)  This time there were a few flowers.

Some sort of beetle (maybe a chafer beetle) on the red oak leaves and serviceberry shrub, and a lot of them.

Always exciting to find spotted wintergreen (Chimaphila maculata) peeking out from leaves on the ground.

This is bristly haircap moss (Polytrichum piliferum) with male antheridial splash cups, part of their reproductive system (ID per a couple folks on a Facebook moss page). Moss don’t have flowers but these certainly remind me of flower buds.

Pond and trail.

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Featured image: old-style mile marker
This is one in a series of posts revisiting field trips taken from January to June 2019, as described here.