There has been a winter's worth of snow this December. Above is a photo of a spruce seedling I planted 5 summers ago. I took the picture on the 23rd of November. Below is an image from approximately the same location taken on the 28th of December. All you can see of the spruce seedling is one twig poking out of the snow.
Five summers after being planted, the trees have grown. Many of them have outgrown their white plastic trunk protectors. I've taken quite a few off that were tight and we'll see how the trees do without them. Below is an image of the trunk of one maple tree that got attacked by the field mice last winter. The ant is crossing the new growth that has partially filled in the wound. The tree had a plastic trunk protector on but it didn't stop the rodent. I'm going on the theory that at a certain point, the bark gets so thick that rodents no longer find the older trees very tasty. When the spirals are removed though, the trunk that was protected looks younger than the parts of the trunk that had been exposed to the weather so I am a bit worried that the field mice will attack the trees that have been newly uncovered.
A few weeks ago I was walking through the tall grass along the berm west of the 2011 planting area and I noticed that the boy scouts had planted quite a few seedlings in the area. The tall grass hadn't been cut all year and I wondered if that meant the city had given the boy scouts permission to plant there and that it was to be an expansion of the naturalization area. Unfortunately it was not to be, for only a few day later the mower came along and cut down the long grass and the couple of dozen seedlings that had survived the summer there. There are about a couple of dozen other seedlings still surviving in the 2011 planting area. The seedlings were quite small and the vetch grew very quickly, so many of them got crowded out. The boy scouts planted a lot of white pine and a few deciduous trees I had a hard time identifying. I'm fairly confident that I have the two new tree species identified now (see pictures below).
I noticed on my walk a single dog-strangling vine about 75m from the west end of the 2011 planting area. It is spreading from the infestation that is further west along the berm. I attacked that patch this spring while the young vines were still easy to pull out. That measure seemed to be effective as the plants didn't come back but there were more of them in the shade of the trees that I didn't get to so it was really just a delaying tactic. I read in the paper that scientists in Ottawa are releasing a biological control agent that is specific for dog strangling vine. I hope it is effective; I wouldn't want all the wild places of Ottawa to turn into the Fletcher Wildlife Garden.
Going for a walk in the long grass yesterday, every step I took, a couple of these fellows jumped out of my way. Usually they are quite hard to photograph but this lady obliged me while she was sunning herself on a log. You can tell she is female by the tapered abdomen and the tips of her ovipositor. A male has a rounded tail. Perhaps she didn't mind me taking her picture because she was partially blind. Her left compound eye looks quite deformed.
When reviewing the photographs at home, I was amazed at how completely covered in fine hairs she is. These insect hairs are called setae. Even her well armoured head and thorax are covered in fine hairs. These setae provide the sense of touch to the insect even though she is covered in a chitinous exoskeleton.
I find the mouthes of insects to be their strangest parts. I rarely am able to get a good look at what is going on down there. The antenna like palps around the mouth of this grasshopper have the greatest "ick factor" for me. I'm used to antennas; they sort of make sense as great big external nostrils, but four extra external tongues for tasting and manipulating food is four too many.
As I walked along I saw a couple of grasshoppers almost fall prey to a banded argiope. Unfortunately for the spider I spooked him and he broke off wrapping up his meal and went back to guard the center of his web. This allowed the grasshoppers time to disentangle themselves and make their escape. Below are a couple of other predators of grasshoppers: the only black and yellow garden spider I've seen all year and a great black wasp. The light reflecting off the wings of the great-black wasp was much bluer in person.
These pretty red and green plant bugs are only about 5mm long so they often go unnoticed even though they aren't terribly shy or uncommon.
I wish all my insect pictures were in focus like this. Jagged ambush bugs are cooperative subjects.
I didn't notice this guy had some friends with him when I took the picture
There are very few orb-weaver spiders about. A couple of seasons ago the tall grass was full of them; this is only the second I've noticed this August. I wonder what has changed, or if it just goes in cycles.
I find the structure of this spider's web quite interesting; not only does it have the zig-zagged stabilimentum below it like the black-and-yellow garden spider, it also covers the central area of the web in a very fine, almost transparent, film of silk.
There were about a dozen sand cherry bushes planted in 2009. They are poorly chosen for the location as Sand Cherries prefer a sandy or rocky location. They suffer from browsing on by the meadow voles and because they are a low bush, they have a hard time competing against the grasses and vetches. the plants have survived but have not prospered. This is the first year with a significant berry crop. The berries are actually not that bad; they are juicy and sweet, although a bit tart. There are recipes on-line for sand cherry jelly.
The Japanese beetles are pretty bad this year. They particularly like to attack basswood and grape vines where they skeletonize the leaves. The above picture is the first time I've noticed them attacking sand cherries.
