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.

Staying til Dusk

I wanted to see some bats this year so I decided to stay out on the berm this evening. It didn't get dark enough until around 9:30 and the mosquitoes kept me on the move walking around the berm area. The mosquitoes are pretty bad this year, fortunately I can tolerate being bitten as my skin doesn't react very much to mosquito bites. I noticed a few june bugs that would make a good meal for a bat. They seem to like to hover around the young maples along the edge of the 2009 planting area. I eventually saw a couple of bats swooping around and then hurried back home to get away from the mosquitoes. On the way back I spotted some fireflies hanging out in the long grass. I don't think I have noticed them in previous years so that was some reward for my patience (and blood) in staying out til dusk.

Amber Snails

Amber Snail (Family Succineidae?)

There has been a population explosion of amber snails in the 2009 tree area. They are climbing all over the grass and meadow plants. There are so many you have to watch where you step. It's strange that they only seem to be in that area and in the adjacent bushy area. There is no noticeable concentration in the 2010 or 2011 or 2013 areas or in the grass across the road. I tried to estimate how many there must be in the concentration by counting the number in three test areas chosen at random. In one one meter square area in the strip normally mowed but not yet cut this year (close to the forest) there were 23 snails, in a second in the bushy area there were 50 and in a third in the 2009 area there were 10. The total area is about 2000 square meters so there are probably tens of thousands of amber snails climbing all over the meadow.

One that climbed to the top of the flowering kentucky bluegrass. In the background are two snails that might be mating.

A fairly clear picture of one on a dandelion leaf.

A whole group at one of their typical hangout spots: a clump of fescue.

Emerald Ash Borer is here

The trilliums are just about over for another year. Above is a picture of some of the trilliums we transplanted to the 1995 tree area in 2009. This clump and the clump of bloodroot transplanted at the same time are only slowly expanding.

There is an ash tree close to the trilliums that I have suspected for a while was suffering from emerald ash borer. The winter before last I saw a hole which looked like a woodpecker had been feeding on the tree and last year it only had a sparse canopy. This year while visiting the trilliums I noticed that there are several of the D shaped holes (see below) in the trunk that Emerald Ash Borers make when they emerge as adults from the tree.

This spring the only signs of life on this tree are on the shoots coming up from the base. Presumably the emerald ash borers have completely girdled the trunk of the tree. The shoots at the base of the tree are another indication that the tree is under attack, but I probably should use the past tense as once you see the exit holes the emerald ash borers have done their work and have already left.

On the berm beside Huntclub these are the first definite signs I've seen of Emerald Ash Borer but last year the damage from the ash borers really became noticeable in this part of the city. There was a whole line of dead ash trees on Baseline and some dead trees along Woodroffe.

Winter Damage 2014

I took a walk around the berm area today inspecting the winter damage. The winter damage to the pine trees was more severe than last year. Some of the buds look dead. There was also a lot of meadow vole damage. The sugar maples in particular were severely damaged but even the sumacs were hit. Below is a picture of the base of one of the sugar maples where the voles got at it below the white plastic protective spirals.

Orange-Banded Arion (Arion fasciatus)

Spring Equinox

This is the official start to spring but there is still a lot of snow on the ground and the weather is supposed to stay cold for another week. This has been a cold winter for much of North America. In Ottawa the snow came early and has stayed all winter. There are robins and starlings about but they are going to have to wait a while longer before there is bare earth along the berm.

Snowy December

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.