Album of Menlo / Mill Creek Field Trip

Selected photos by Rod Crawford and Laurel Ramseyer from our 4 August 2024 spider collecting trip to Menlo Fern Hill Cemetery, outside of Menlo, Pacific County, Washington. The huge (but steep, huff puff) cemetery had a nice variety of spiders on the grounds and in the vases; grass, conifer, understory, moss and litter were available in the adjacent wooded part of the property; we left the site with 39 species. After relatively brief visits to another forested site and a riparian meadow tract, we came home with 45.
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Menlo-Willapa-Mill Creek area, 2021 aerial photo Menlo Fern Hill Cemetery, clouds about to clear
3 sites (red dots) across the Willapa River valley  (Pacific County 2021) Menlo Fern Hill Cemetery, morning clouds almost clearing      © Rod Crawford
wire fence with spider web, Menlo Fern Hill Cemetery tall conifers on south side of forest, Menlo Fern Hill Cemetery
Spider web on wire fence            © Laurel Ramseyer One side of forest consists of mature conifers             © Rod Crawford
webs on cinder block wall, Menlo Fern Hill Cemetery road between conifer and alder forests, Menlo Fern Hill Cemetery
Webs along cinder block wall      © Laurel Ramseyer Overgrown dirt road divides conifer and alder stands          © Rod Crawford
alder forest canopy, Menlo Fern Hill Cemetery shaded grass under trees, Menlo Fern Hill Cemetery
Alder forest canopy                © Rod Crawford Grass gives way to forest edge                © Rod Crawford
moss on alder trunk, Menlo Fern Hill Cemetery alder forest, Menlo Fern Hill Cemetery
Moss on alder trunk        © Rod Crawford Alder forest                      © Rod Crawford
grass under forest shade, Menlo Fern Hill Cemetery grassland habitat in undeveloped part of Menlo Fern Hill Cemetery
Grass under forest shade            © Rod Crawford Grassland habitat in the open                    © Rod Crawford
skipper butterfly Ochlodes sylvanoides, Menlo Fern Hill Cemetery ant mimic spider Castianeira longipalpa, Menlo Fern Hill Cemetery
Seems to be Ochlodes sylvanoides, a bit atypical  © Laurel Ramseyer Ant mimic Castianeira longipalpa from grave vases         © Laurel Ramseyer
butterfly Cercyonis pegala, Menlo Fern Hill Cemetery, Pacific County, Washington crab spider Xysticus pretiosus sifted from moss, Menlo Fern Hill Cemetery, Pacific County, Washington
Cercyonis pegala visits the cemetery    © Laurel Ramseyer Xysticus pretiosus sifted from alder-trunk moss             © Laurel Ramseyer
Big Douglas-fir trunk and cones, Menlo Fern Hill Cemetery, Pacific County, Washington sun shines on Menlo Fern Hill Cemetery, Pacific County, Washington
Big Douglas-fir trunk & fallen cones     © Laurel Ramseyer Late afternoon saw sunshine on the cemetery         © Laurel Ramseyer
der fawn on roadway, Mill Creek Road, Pacific County, Washington road into state forest off Mill Creek Road, Pacific County, Washington
Confused fawn in middle of the road    © Laurel Ramseyer Gated route into a state forest tract from Mill Creek Road    © Laurel Ramseyer
roadside grass in state forest, Mill Creek Road, Pacific County, Washington pile of tires in state forest, Mill Creek Road, Pacific County, Washington
Laurel swept extensive grassy roadside  © Laurel Ramseyer Someone must have gotten tired                    © Laurel Ramseyer
Rod Crawford in search of leaf litter, Mill Creek Road, Pacific County, Washington bridge on forest road, Mill Creek Road, Pacific County, Washington
Rod heads into alder stand for leaf litter      © Laurel Ramseyer Bridge on forest road had a few spiders            © Laurel Ramseyer
Araneus spider from forest bridge, Mill Creek Road, Pacific County, Washington riparian meadows and blackberry thickets,
Male cross orbweaver on the bridge    © Laurel Ramseyer Riparian meadows interrupted by vast blackberry thickets              © Laurel Ramseyer
diverse meadow flora off Lilly Wheaton Road, Pacific County, Washington meadow, shrubs and trees, off Lilly Wheaton Road, Pacific County, Washington
Diverse flora of riparian meadow surface    © Rod Crawford Concentric meadow, shrubs and trees                       © Rod Crawford
spider Theridion (Neottiura) bimaculata, off Lilly Wheaton Road, Pacific County, Washington sunset from Elma rest area, Grays Harbor County, Washington
Theridion bimaculatum swept from big meadow      © Rod Crawford Extremely lackluster sunset outside Elma               © Rod Crawford

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This page last updated 21 August, 2024