Coming Home - Rediscovering Warner parks through a new lens

November 2021

Jamie Rosencrans

My childhood summers were largely spent in day camps stomping around Warner parks. Looking for crawdads in the creeks. Chasing butterflies. Returning home every day sunburned and absolutely eaten to bits by mosquitos. Even as an adult, I spent so much of my time hiking these trails listening to music on my headphones, that just absolutely zoning out into some forest bathing goodness became a therapeutic necessity in my life. 

If I close my eyes at this very second and think of home, my mind flashes straight to moments in those woods. Brilliant sunlight dappling through the trees. The crisp October air. Looking up from the path only to find that my gaze is being held by a curious waking owl. 

Here I am - ten years later returning home from a very different life in London. I honestly believed that I appreciated and understood all of the amazing things existing in these forests. But here I am - wandering around the same old woods I’ve known since the 1990s and it’s like I’ve been gifted new eyes. A sixth sense for finding critters and fungi. A heightened awareness I didn’t previously possess. And, I guess in a way, I have been. 

When I moved away, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, but I’m returning home fully formed as a deeply passionate macro photographer. As a result, my brain has seemingly been rewired!

It’s calibrated to sense movement - spot color variations - scan the ground, felled trees, mossy rocks. Every leaf my eyes land on gets assessed. It’s thrilling and exhausting. A treasure hunt that never ends. But somehow on this trip home, after years away I am truly beginning a love affair with the park I’ve known my whole life. Like a veil has been lifted and I’ve been given access to a secret world. A vast understory of magical creatures I just somehow never saw before. Please take care of it for me - until next time!

Alright, enough waxing poetic about nature and nerding-out over macro photography! Let’s have a look at some of the beautiful things I discovered over 8 trips to Edwin Warner Park in August (including the amazing Nature center grounds!). 

Blue Dasher Dragonflies (Pachydiplax longipennis) at the tiny pond next to the nature center.

Pale tussock moth caterpillar (I think!)

Birds Nest Fungi (a first find for me!)

Tiny pond frog

Lynx Spider peeking up from the leafy meadow

Weevil rummaging around the flower and vegetable garden

Purple Deceiver mushroom (and teensy friend!)

 Platydesmida Millipedes 

Jumping Spider hiding inside of a bamboo chute - part of the Edwin Warner nature center insect hotel

Bio via Olympus: https://my.olympus-consumer.com/members/jamie-rosencrans

Instagram: this_forest_floor

Website: https://this-forest-floor.picfair.com/