Nature Photography by Win Ott

12/21/2025

“The Long Goodbye”

Winter Solstice 2025
Laurens County, South Carolina

09/04/2025

One of things I dearly love about living in the country is listening to coyote family packs calling to each other with unbridled joy and exuberance. These were not far away but I’m just recording with my phone so turn up the volume for the full effect. 🐺

08/24/2025

I’m in Maryland for a few days. And I have seen my first spotted lanternflies. It wasn’t hard. They were all over the place. These huge plant hoppers were brought in accidentally from China less than a decade ago. They have spread across the Atlantic coast and are moving southward towards my home in South Carolina.
They are weird and beautiful bugs but they may be very harmful to our plants, particularly grape vines and stone fruit trees.
If you are in South Carolina, keep your eyes out for the spotted lanternfly. Check the link below for more information.
August, 2025 Maryland

https://news.clemson.edu/invasive-spotted-lanternfly-detected-in-south-carolina/

06/11/2025

Ephemeral Splendor

Laurens County, SC
June 2025

05/30/2025

“Persistence”
In a clearcut forest, surrounded by acres of barren and herbicide treated land, this magenta-hued, musk thistle (Carduus nutans) is the tallest plant around.

Newberry County, South Carolina
May 2025

04/12/2025

Of of my favorite flowers is blooming now. But most of the time the blooms are too high up in a tree to see very clearly. This bunch was just about head height though!
Cross Vine (Bignonia capreolata)

April 2025
Laurens County, South Carolina

02/18/2025

Cold is on the way and winter still has more bite left in it. But spring is also happening and heavy rains and warm temperatures are waking animals up. This little marbled salamander (Ambystoma opacum) laid her eggs back in the fall. Her feather-gilled babies are already swimming about in fishless pools down in the flood plain. But now she’s back up the hill and living under a wooden board in the middle of an overgrown hay field.

Laurens County, South Carolina
February 2025

02/10/2025

A very happy new year!
It was 80F outside on this lovely day in February. So I suppose it’s time for me to awaken from my long winter’s nap.

Today was also the 12th day of the Year of the Snake. And it was today that I found my first snake of 2025. And what a beautiful creature it turned out to be!

This is adult female Corn Snake (Pantherophis guttatus). One of the ratsnakes, it is a constrictor that feeds primarily on small mammals.
Just emerged from her winter snooze, she was soaking up the sun on a nearby road. I picked her up and relocated away from near certain death from a passing automobile.

In these times of great uncertainty and anxiety, we all need to find some hope and joy. This healthy little corn snake is my hope. May she continue to prosper and in her prosperity, a little of the truly good things of this world will continue into the future!
Laurens County, South Carolina
February 2025

10/31/2024

Happy All Hallow’s Eve from Leucauge venusta, the Orchard Orbweaver!

10/15/2024

Happening tonight!

Calling all birders! Join us for the lecture tonight on Birds of Laurens County.

10/12/2024

If you are in the area of Laurens County, South Carolina, check out this exhibit of my father’s nature photography. He is why I am this way. :)