Wildlife tracks and signs
by Christine Hanrahan Identifying tracks is a good way to discover who is living in a particular woodland, field, or along a water body. Tracks in mud, sand, and snow also tell stories. You can see where animals, and sometimes birds, have interacted, perhaps to the misfortune of one of them. If you follow them, you may be able to detect what they were doing, where they were looking for food, whether they were meandering along investigating here or [...]
A wild banquet for birds and mammals
by Christine Hanrahan American Goldfinch eating prickly lettuce seeds A well stocked wild banquet for wildlife can be found in woods and meadows, roadsides and shorelines, gardens and parklands, in fact, wherever plants grow. Of course, there is more to the diet of many birds and animals than plant-based foods, but that is what we’ll be looking at here, as the variety is fascinating and, in winter, many birds seek out seeds and fruit from the plants below. [...]
FWG has amazing volunteers (but, of course, we already knew that!)
FWG volunteers are amazing people who are dedicated to creating wildlife habitat and beauty not because they feel like they ought to , but as they genuinely enjoy mucking about! Isabelle always says how much she loves the BYG! At this year's volunteer potluck, Isabelle was recognised with our Annual Volunteer Award. Isabelle is the Habitat Manager for the Backyard Garden. This season was especially difficult as many regular Friday volunteers could not attend and the drought caused even the hardiest [...]
Discovering plant galls formed by insects
by Christine Hanrahan Gall: “An abnormal growth of plant tissue produced by a stimulus external to the plant itself.” - S.W. Frost in Insect Life Galls are common formations on plants, usually caused by insects (but sometimes by a fungus or some other non-insect life form). Galls can form on roots, stems and twigs, leaves, flowerheads and buds. They can be smooth, rough, hairy, spongy, hard, soft, spiked. They can be round, oval, spindle-shaped, and even look like flowers. They [...]
Through the lens: a year in the Old Field
by Christine Hanrahan The rototilled section of the old field in later summer, showing the variety of species that appeared, including amaranth, evening primrose, and panic grass, contrasting with the goldenrod and wild raspberry behind. A dense stand of white sweet clover grew up along the old path through the centre of the field, where DSV had been regularly removed over a period of 6 years. Lamium appearing before anything else begins to grow. After [...]
Christine’s walks: insects in late October
by Christine Hanrahan The end of summer signals also the end of insect life – or does it? While summer is the peak season for insect activity, warmish days in late October can be surprisingly good for finding a variety of bugs, bees, beetles, flies and other creatures, including spiders. Over a period of two days I spent a few hours seeing what I might find at two locations, one being the Fletcher Wildlife Garden (20 October), the second (22 [...]
Christine’s walks: mid-October at the garden
by Christine Hanrahan Many new photos have been added to the October photo blog at PBase, recently. The first lot were taken last Tuesday on a cold and grey day, and the rest today, when my mission was to see how many insects I could find at this time of year. The colours are still vivid and while many trees have lost their leaves, many more are still ablaze with colour. The tamaracks are a bright yellow, soon to drop [...]
Growing native plants from seed : cold stratification
A damp vermiculite-filled baggie awaiting seed. In late October, although we're still waiting for some seeds to mature before we can collect them, others are ready for their winter treatment. So what is cold stratification? Essentially, it’s a temperature and moisture treatment used to break a seed’s dormancy and encourage germination. In nature, seeds fall to the ground, where they are covered by leaves and other pieces of decomposing vegetation. Snow falls, covering the seeds with a blanket and insulating them [...]
Christine’s walks: FWG on a rainy day
by Christine Hanrahan The September photo blog is now up, jump-started by a couple of gorgeous shots from Al (check out his photo of the locust borer… it generated five comments almost the moment I posted it!) Today, I headed off to the FWG in the rain, but it began coming down heavily and my camera was in danger of being flooded out, so I didn’t stay long. However, I did take a number of shots and they are also [...]