First of spring

Today we saw the first Coast Rockcress (Arabis blepharophylla) flowers of the spring.  This species grows near rock outcrops in grassland areas on Bodega Head.

 

 

These pictures are for Michelle, who is heading south to Marin County, but will always inspire us to look more closely at wildflowers and grasses wherever we are.  

Remembering walks with Michelle will also remind me to always have fun during natural history adventures — who else would agree to lie down next to a badger burrow and diggings to provide a sense of scale? 

 

(Michelle is ~5'3" tall, so perhaps that gives you a feeling for how much soil was dug up by the badger!)

P.S.  To learn more about the Coast Rockcress in the pictures above, review the post from 28 March 2012.