Everywhere I look these days I'm seeing "bunches." Sometimes it's good, like (finally) fruit to harvest from the tomato vines:
I thought I'd been watering a lost cause!
and berries on the Viburnum hedge:
Robins have been gorging themselves on these!
Even insects are crowding together:
I understand ~ I've been seeking the warmth of a sweatshirt in the early AM's & PM's too.
There are a few clusters I'd rather not see.
Like these oak galls found abundantly on the undersides of the Bur Oak leaves:
At least I now know why I have so MANY yellow jackets on the Mugo Pine (that grows beneath the oak.) The galls secrete a sweet substance the bees eat. I'm hoping a neem oil application next spring will help because I'm frustrated at not being able to enjoy the front patio area.
I've also noticed quite a few Tachinid flies, this one on a cluster of aster blooms:
Too many Tachinids could spell disaster for the caterpillars recently discovered in the garden.
One thing I've been looking for all summer and wishing I'd see in multiples ~ toads. Finally, at the edge of summer, an appearance:
Hoping for greater numbers next summer.
So many other "groupings" not photographed ~ flocks of geese flying overhead morning and evening, gatherings of starlings ~ sorry, but I won't miss them at all ~ etc., etc. No matter how hard I try to deny the arrival of fall, there's no escaping. The change is in motion as evidenced in the garden. I'm sure you've noticed it too...