It was a day to reconnoiter the local trails, with photography as a secondary goal. But it’s fall in New England, you can’t go wrong.

The autumn colors reflected

I missed peak colors, but there’s beauty to be found in all times and places. These photos were taken on a clear day, late in the evening. A big theme for the walk was watching the stripes of light filtering through the trees.

The trail has recently had several bridges and boardwalks added (it was fun doing my share of the ghodagiri). This was my first chance to explore the revamped trail.

First, my great regret. I was recording this lovely Phidippus audax (bold jumping spider) stalking the damselfly, and was so impressed. She was creeping up imperceptibly, and the damselfly wasn’t aware, even though it was looking straight at her. Unfortunately, my position was uncomfortable, and I had to shift, scaring the damselfly away, ruining a lot of work for the jumping spider.

This seems to be Coleomegilla maculata, the spotted pink lady beetle.

And a handsome trig, Phyllopalpus pulchellus

I would love to get a shot of a jumping spider mid-leap, and I missed it by a quarter of a second this time.

I think this is Hentzia mitrata, female.

I came here exactly two weeks ago (https://alittlewild.blog/2026/09/15/massapoag-brook-8/) and the water level was as low as I’ve seen it. This weekend we just had a nor’easter, and that dumped eight to ten inches of rain on the town, so it was certainly a little changed today.

Mushrooms (and slime molds?)

Three continuous days of rain were perfect for the mushroom population of our town.

Scleroderma aka Earthball

Calostoma cf cinnabarinum

Ceratiomyxa cf porioides, Honeycomb coral slime mold?

Trying to see some late season bugs, but there were surprisingly few out there to enjoy the afternoon sunshine.

Everes comyntas, Eastern tailed-blue

Perhaps Cratichneumon? Perhaps Platylabus?

Crane fly

Not sure what’s happening here. Exuvium? Something eaten by wasps? Anyway, perhaps Tenthridinidae larva?

Broad-faced sac spider, Trachelas tranquilus, hanging out in our compost.

Off Brook Rd. I’ve been there scores of times, in every possible conditions. I always try to see something new each time. I hope you see something new in these photos too.

A big part of what I was looking at in these photos was the standing waves in the stream, the shape of the water.

Bugs

iNaturalist says:

• Suborder Nematocera
• Infraorder Culicomorpha
• Superfamily Chironomoidea
• Family Chironomidae
• Subfamily Orthocladiinae
• Tribe Orthocladiini
• Genus Cricotopus

broad nosed weevil

A great time with Arunah Hill (https://arunahhill.org/). Some absolutely amazing starwatching on the 17 inch Dobsonian telescope. The highlight was a astonishingly clear view of the Veil Nebula using the nebula filter, plus great views of the Andromeda Galaxy, M33, M101, and many many more.

Next morning, lots of dew, as is expected after a nice clear night, and bright sun. Here are some of the highlights. I cranked open the aperture quite a bit because the camera dynamic range can’t really catch the sparkle, unless you translate brightness into size with bokeh. Rather like photos of neon lights.

This turned out to be a beetle larva in the ground beetles, Carabidae, perhaps genus Scarites (“big headed ground beetles”). But my initial thoughts were that it was a pupa of the dobsonfly, fishfly, alderfly, snakefly cohort. Fascinating creature, always moving, and an unexpected blessing to see on our driveway!