Anne Wilder
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wilderanne.bsky.social
Anne Wilder
@wilderanne.bsky.social
150 followers 130 following 400 posts
Likes cats *and* dogs. Also the Earth, which is where I keep all my stuff.
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wilderanne.bsky.social
This is a little #gardening experiment. I transplanted some heath (Erica carnea I think) from a plot I started over 20? years ago in zone 5a to a spot in my yard in 5b. The one by the road isn't doing great (salt, I'm sure), but t'other is ok despite the grass!
A healthy heath plant with grass growing in it. Dead fall leaves and a couple of stakes are also visible. A tiny heath plant by an orange stake, after I cleared away dead leaves and grass. Incipient buds on the heath, they'll bloom in early spring, maybe even when there is still snow on the ground! Tiny buds on the bigger heath.
November 18, 2025 at 6:17 PM
wilderanne.bsky.social
One of the victory ladies hard at work on some Sweet Alyssum (Oriental Nights).
#Gardening
#Beekeeping
#Honeybees
Tiny magenta-purple flower clusters on bright green stems fill most of the picture, with some blurry dead leaves in the background. In the upper right a black & yellow honeybee gathers nectar or pollen from the flowers. Her wings shine white in the autumn light.
November 4, 2025 at 3:31 PM
wilderanne.bsky.social
National Day for Truth and Reconciliation - Canada.ca share.google/U7k5hzCho6d2...
Three people wearing orange shirts with a blurred background of trees and blue sky. Two people wearing orange shirts and purple accessories with green leaves in the background.
September 30, 2025 at 11:19 AM
wilderanne.bsky.social
Lovely ladies on some Goldenrod! 🐝😍
#honeybees
#Carniolan
#Nature
#Wildflowers
Two European honey bees forage on blooming goldenrod. The worker on the left is gray, probably a Carniolan, the worker on the right is gold, likely an Italian type.
September 17, 2025 at 8:04 PM
wilderanne.bsky.social
Tree Cricket! Observed in Kennebunk, #Maine
#entomology
A yellow & pink slender bug with a long yellow antennae and horizontal stripes strikes a pose on a khaki colored fabric.
August 14, 2025 at 1:43 AM
wilderanne.bsky.social
Lorge toady friend by our steps last night!
A brown toad blends in pretty well against the brown ground surface. Grass and wood sorrel grown nearby. The whole scene is lit by a high powered flashlight.
August 5, 2025 at 11:34 AM
wilderanne.bsky.social
A lovely frame of capped honey my bees made in one of last year's #Bettercomb frames.

#beekeeping
#honey
A hand gloved in orange holds the corner of a medium frame of capped honey cells. A blue stenciled hive is in the background.
August 4, 2025 at 10:09 AM
wilderanne.bsky.social
Male monarch butterfly at Somesville, MDI, #Maine
#Butterfly
#Nature
An orange and black butterfly with partly folded wings rests on a closed queen Anne's lace flower. The background is an out of focus meadow with a dark tree line on the horizon. A clear blue sky crowns the photo.
July 31, 2025 at 8:06 PM
wilderanne.bsky.social
Helping Jess at the Maine Renaissance Faire!
Two smiling people with a sign that, viewed in full, would say Adventure Awaits!
July 26, 2025 at 4:37 PM
wilderanne.bsky.social
Perpetrator Revealed!
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Now that I've gathered you all here in the parlor, I can show you... The white Flower Crab Spider! (Misumena vatia) or parts of her, anyway.
A white flower spider or goldenrod crab spider (Misumena vatia) lurks above the bumble bee, waiting for me to move along so she can get on with her business lunch.
July 26, 2025 at 1:56 AM
wilderanne.bsky.social
A hint:
Another view of the bumble bee, salvia spire, and plants & clapboards. Wait! What's that hiding in the flowers above!?
July 26, 2025 at 1:51 AM
wilderanne.bsky.social
Murder on the Salvia Express! A classic whodunnit by M. Nature. Witness the violence inherent in the system! Can you solve the mystery!?
A bumble bee hangs precariously off the flower spike of a Violet Queen Salvia. The perp lurks in hiding! White vinyl clapboards are the background, along with some green plant leaves.
July 26, 2025 at 1:49 AM
wilderanne.bsky.social
#FormerFoster #Kitten Taffeta, again! Possibly the most photogenic kitten I've ever fostered. Here she is learning about nature. ;)
#CatsofBlueSky
A blue eyed, long haired kitten reaches one paw up to touch the leaves on a houseplant. She has dark ears and nose and cream or pale cocoa colored fur, and whiskers and tufty ears.
July 21, 2025 at 2:27 PM
wilderanne.bsky.social
#FormerFoster #Kitten Phoenix (or Chloe, I don't recall) demonstrates an excellent attempt at a WTF face, which is what I have constantly these days.
#CatsofBlueSky
A black & white shorthaired kitten crouches on the edge of a wooden box. The top half of the kitten is mostly black and the bottom half (underbelly) is mostly white. Their expression is rather startled, and they have a little black freckle on their pink nose.
July 17, 2025 at 12:53 PM
wilderanne.bsky.social
For #whiskerWednesday here is #FormerFoster #Kitten Denim with some incipient whiskerlings for your delectation.
#CatsofBluesky
A tiny black & white tuxedo kitten is held in the palm of one hand. His eyes & ears are still closed, he might be a week old? His head is turned to the left, and in profile you can see the tiniest little whiskers just catching the light. His little white bib is pristine, and one wee white paw is peeking out in back.
July 16, 2025 at 6:09 PM
wilderanne.bsky.social
Listening to @benaaronovitch.bsky.social 's Stone & Sky. Here, in case you are also curious, is Drinnie's Wood from the mid-1800s map, courtesy of the Nat'l Library of Scotland.
#RiversofLondon
A pale tan and black pen & ink style map showing mostly fields to the east and a wooded area cut by roads and paths. An oval path near the middle has an Observatory labeled in the center, and a rhombus just to the west of it shows more deciduous than coniferous trees in that section, a plantation perhaps. South of the Observatory is another symbol that I think, per LiDAR, is a borrow pit of some sort.
July 15, 2025 at 1:50 PM
wilderanne.bsky.social
It's been ages since I posted a #FormerFoster #Kitten picture, sorry! It's been a busy few weeks. Here is Bobolink getting some sweet head scritches after surgery day! I don't usually get to keep them after surgery, so this is extra special.
#CatsofBluesky
An orange tuxedo tabby kitten with short hair lays on her side next to a person's leg, clad in lavender pants. The kitten's tummy is toward the person's leg, and her paws are in contact with same. She is getting head scritches and her tail is laying straight and you can see that her tummy is shaved and if you look closely you'll see her spay tattoo and the incision site. You also may notice her pink toe beans and cute pink nose. A blue patterned rug is the background for all of this.
July 15, 2025 at 1:03 PM
wilderanne.bsky.social
This looks so cool! Description & Zoom info in comments!

MSBA 2025 Webinar Series
"Medicinal Use of Honey: Evidence-based Applications"
with Dr. Ferhat Ozturk, PhD
Monday, July 14 at 7:00 pm
#Beekeeping
#Honey
A person with light skin and dark hair is smiling, wearing a tan bee suit, and holding a mostly empty Langstroth frame with some honeycomb built in it. There are a few bees on the comb, and the frame is framing his face.
July 9, 2025 at 11:34 AM
wilderanne.bsky.social
Here is a photo of my Saskatraz queen, The Professor. I may have mis-named her, though, because I don't think she's read all the bee keeping books I have. You'll see there's a swarm cell nearby. I got her in a 5 frame nuc and gave her a second box last week.
#Beekeeping
#Saskatraz
#HoneyBees
A medium frame of drawn comb from a Langstroth hive. The Saskatraz queen is marked with a blue dot. There is a swarm cell (looks a bit like a peanut) sticking off the bottom edge of the hive, on the left in this pic.
July 7, 2025 at 12:53 AM
wilderanne.bsky.social
Here's a pic of my excellent queen, Ljubljana, a Carniolan. She came to me in a package from Royal Bees last spring, and she's been great. Yesterday we moved her to a nuc box retirement home, which will be a resource box as needed.
#Beekeeping
#Carniolans
#HoneyBees
Closeup of a Langstroth frame of drawn comb covered with honeybees. Near the top of the frame, in the center, a dark Carniolan queen can be seen, surrounded by her retinue. She is marked with a green dot for 2024.
July 7, 2025 at 12:37 AM
wilderanne.bsky.social
A nice foxglove for you.
#flowers
#plants
#gardening
A spire of pink narrow bell shaped flowers against a background of gray clapboards. Other plants are visible at the bottom of the photo.
July 3, 2025 at 1:43 AM
wilderanne.bsky.social
#FormerFoster #Kitten Illusion when she was soooo teeny tiny! Only a day or two old, here!
#CatsofBlueSky
A very small tortie kitten rests on a fuzzy blanket decorated with paw prints. She is on a digital scale which reads 83 grams.
June 30, 2025 at 3:31 PM
wilderanne.bsky.social
This honey bee was foraging for water on the clematis yesterday morning. She'd land on the end of a petal, lick up some water, and then go find another petal.
#honeybees
#beekeeping
#gardening
A big purple clematis (jackmanii) flower with pale yellow stamens is surrounded by leaves and other flower petals, with gray shingles in the background. a single honey bee perches on a petal near the top of the flower. The flowers have rain drops on them from showers over night.
June 30, 2025 at 2:06 PM
wilderanne.bsky.social
This #honeybee is sleeping. How can I tell, you ask? It's not like honey bees have eyelids. It was a hot day and many of the bees were bearding on the outside of the hive. The others in the area were restless, shifting. This one was napping. Holding still, just hanging there. At rest.
#beekeeping
European Honey bees on the outside of a Langstroth type hive. The hive boxes are painted blue, lavender, and turquoise. Many bees cluster at the bottom of the picture. A red arrow points to one bee that is still, wings at rest, antenna down, perhaps even resting on the hive box. She is the one that I believe is napping.
June 26, 2025 at 2:44 PM
wilderanne.bsky.social
Our sweet vanilla iced cinnamon roll #FosterFail #jorts -alike is lost in the sauce with his new catnip toy from Proxima Designs Cat Toys. <3
#catsofbluesky
A short-haired orange tabby cat with white bib, tummy and paws rolls on a blue, gray & white blanket while holding a black tarot card catnip toy in his front paws. His tummy is up and his face is towards up. You can't see the tarot design on the toy from this angle, but it's awesome.
June 26, 2025 at 2:31 PM