Winter twenty steps from Spring

Starlings and Red-Wings are back on the berm telling us it's spring but the northside hasn't got the memo yet.

End of Winter

This winter has been cold; it has stayed below -10C for most of February. The Rideau Canal Skateway was open for a record breaking 59 days this winter but finally closed for the season yesterday. The past three days, with pleasant sunny days melting the snow off the roof and eating away the snow banks along the road, have definitely ended the cold streak. We may have more snow and even more cold weather ahead but it is days like today that let you know that winter has lost its grip.

Deep Freeze

We've been in a deep freeze for about two weeks. We had some freezing rain a couple of weeks ago and we have five or six inches of nice fluffy snow resting on top of the ice layer. Tomorrow it is supposed to briefly go above zero before going back into the deep freeze for the rest of the week.

2014 Plantings

The boy scouts planted trees to the west of the 2011 planting area as well as inside the 2011 planting area last year but the mowers cut the area in the fall. They replanted the area to the west of the 2011 area this spring and I put a few of the white tree protectors around the new seedlings over the summer so that the seedlings might get noticed this fall by the mower operator.

The mower operator this fall was more keen sighted than last year and I think the seedlings are safe. The mower operators also decided to leave the pathway around the 2009 area untouched this year so the wild flowers and poplars have invaded the pathway.

The 2014 planting area

The 2014 pathway

Keeping an eye on me.

When visiting the roadside area, the birds remind me who is the real curiosity there. They'll perch in the trees and caw or chirp to tell all and sundry that I am here. Today a family of crows took up the call as I was walking past the crab apples. I attempted to get a picture of one before they flew away. Later, as I was putting white plastic tree protectors on the newly planted trees, a family of goldfinches kept me under observation. Again it was not easy to get a picture with my little old Fuji F550 as they kept well away from the intruder.

Last week as I was biking east along Hunt Club Road I surprised a deer standing by the edge of the road. It's the first time I have seen a deer on the road's side of the farm fence. She was located just a few hundred meters from the tree planting area with the only obstruction in here way being the 4 lanes of traffic. Someday perhaps there will be deer visiting the apple trees of the berm area.

Plant Succession

I find it very interesting how when the city stops mowing the grass there is a rapid succession of plants, first comes bird's foot trefoil then purple vetch and then the grass comes back as the dominant field plant again. I imagine there are further stages but I haven't encountered them yet.

In the above photo taken earlier this summer, you can still tell where the mower reached in 2011. This is a view along the edge of the 2011 planting area; in the summer of 2011 the mowers were guided by the easily visible newly planted trees. The city then put the naturalization area sign in later in the summer a few feet in front of the treed area. In the following years the mowers couldn't see the trees as easily because of the long grass and so took their cue from the location of the sign adding another broad swath of lawn to the uncut area. The strip in front of the tree planting area has since grown over in trefoil. In contrast, the 2011 tree planting area further back from the bike path has had four summers without mowing and is mostly past the trefoil stage and is now more dominated by purple vetch.

The 2009 tree planting area which is in its sixth year without mowing is mostly free of both trefoil and vetch; there the field areas are dominated by grasses again with the patches of sumac rapidly invading the open spaces. Some trees are tall enough to compete with the sumac but I have broken off some sumac stalks to let the light down to a couple of spruce trees that were becoming overgrown.

Viper's Bugloss

Clouded plant bug(Neurocolpus nubilus)

Things sometimes change very slowly in the natural world; the Manordale students that first planted trees out on the berm have mostly all graduated to middle school or even high school by now, yet many things persist out on the berm. The patch of devil's paint brush is ever in the same spot; the patch of chickory keeps coming back despite the mower, and there are always one or two viper's bugloss flowers tucked under the sumac by the road. This year the mower hasn't seen fit to mow the path between the 2009 planting area and the trees so one of the viper's bugloss plants has ventured out into the sun. When taking a picture of it I noticed a bunch of familiar looking bugs hanging out on the spike of flowers. I think they are clouded plant bugs; although there are so many similar plant bugs I am not confident in the identification.