I went to Beechwood yesterday to see how things are progressing. As you can see, there's still a bit of ice on the pond, but the snow is gone. A lot of the smaller trees have been nipped off or stripped of bark by creatures needing something to eat during that hard winter. The sumacs we sweated over last fall are sad little stubs, but the poplars we planted "next door" seem to have survived well and are just thinking about budding.

Damage to a berry cane inflicted by a ... rabbit? Deer? Very tall mouse?

Exploded cattail. Maybe something will line its nest with that fluff?

It's always interesting to see what's living in the equipment box. This time I found a whack of grey spiders right where there was an interesting cocoon last fall:

Coincidence?

Mostly things are still brown and dull, but there's some lurid colour to be found in the ditches!

The river is running a little high but nothing serious. Still, please keep an eye on your children:

Spring at last! It's really astonishing how quickly things start growing when the weather warms up a little and the snow disappears. Some of the usual plants and flowers are showing up at Beechwood already:

The creatures are out and about too, and if you get there early in the morning and stand quietly for a while you can often catch a glimpse of them:

(Don't get too close to that last one.)






April Fool!

We've been getting a healthy dose of winter this year. I took a walk to Beechwood the other day to see how it looks under all the snow.

The path is a little harder to negotiate, but the skiers have been enjoying the conditions.

Tracking critters is a lot easier right now.

Look, no sign of garlic mustard anywhere!

But oops, we missed some Queen's Anne's Lace.

Bird report: for most of my walk I was surprised at the lack of bird activity. Finally, when I was nearly back to the road again, a redtailed hawk flew away. Immediately the chickadees started chirping all around me and this downy woodpecker worked over a tree a few feet away. I also saw a mockingbird and a kingfisher that was diving repeatedly for something in the river.

What a difference a week makes. After days of rain and mild temperatures all our pretty snow is gone and everything is brown and grey.

Sea urchin? No, just some grass poking up through a puddle.

Those oaks sure are stubborn about hanging onto their leaves.

Anyone lose their specs?

Oops, pretend I posted this yesterday. Here's the list of birds I saw in the Beechwood area during 2007:

• black-crowned night heron



• double-crested cormorant



• cardinal



• seagull



• Canada goose (and a Canada/domestic goose hybrid)



• mallard duck



• red-winged blackbird



• goldfinch



• black-throated blue warbler



• robin



• black-capped chickadee



• belted kingfisher



• downy woodpecker



• hairy woodpecker



• song sparrow



• house sparrow



• red-tailed hawk



• mourning dove



• blue jay



• American redstart



• common yellowthroat warbler



• tree swallow



• mockingbird



• catbird



• brown-headed cowbird



• great egret



• cedar waxwing



• bittern (seen by Don Watcher)

Happy New Year and welcome to any faithful readers who are checking in after my long hiatus. I'm back with a wintry report from Beechwood Wetland.

We had a heavy, wet snowfall yesterday that turned everything white. Do not adjust your set: the world really was as monochromatic as these pictures. When the snow stopped I seized my camera and hurried down to the valley.

Things are pretty quiet around the ol' wetland:

Here's the pond:

As I fully expected, I ran into Don Watcher and Cup Plant:

Don Valley stewards: we never sleep.

See the mockingbird?

Let's get a bit closer:

Ah, there it is! I also saw a kingfisher, a gull or two, and the usual clusters of mallards. That reminds me, I haven't yet published my bird list from 2007. Tune in tomorrow!

"Six days after Deborah Dale gave a city-sponsored seminar on growing natural gardens filled with native species, the garden that is her front lawn in Scarborough was razed – clipped to the stem by the city after neighbours complained the plants were weeds. "

http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/250460

Last week we busied ourselves cutting flower heads off the phragmites. (The flowers are called panicles. According to that article, the pesky reeds also have ligules, glumes and culms. Wikipedians are so hardcore.)

It's an interesting experience to make your way into the phragmites patch, as the stalks are about twelve feet tall (even taller in metric) and you can't see much else. It feels like some kind of tropical forest. Bamboo?

Look down:

Look up:

Look straight ahead:

Turns out, a phragmites flower is a gorgeous thing, all subtle colours and flowing tresses. (Phragmites was the Greek god of really nice hair.)

Here's a little bunch of them:

If they weren't full of viable seeds they'd be a lovely thing for a flower arrangement. The reeds were also chock-full of snails and katydids.

Elderberries ripening:

A beetle checks out the great height of the goldenrod:

I've been out of town and haven't attended a Beechwood stewardship evening for weeks. I offer instead these lovely photos of beach wood.

I played hooky from stewardship last night. With an extreme heat alert and the humidex approaching (or reaching?) 40, this delicate flower recognizes her limits and stays inside. Hats off to anyone who showed up. No, wait, keep your hats on if you're in the sun!

Last week we found a gypsy moth in our equipment box. No surprise, as this is where I found a lot of gypsy moth caterpillars several weeks ago. This is a male:

Dude is a bit menacing up close:

Some of our plantings from earlier in the season, coming along nicely:

Joe Pye weed brings a welcome change of colour amidst all the green and yellow:

Meadowsweet:

We got a lot of rain in less than 24 hours, so when the sun came out yesterday afternoon I couldn't resist going down to take a look at the river. It was running fast and high, carrying branches, tires, and other debris:

The Log Ness Monster:

I hope nobody was riding this:



This whole tree was no match for the current:



With the return of fair weather, some of the locals went about their business ...

... while others just rested up after the excitement:

The pond level at Beechwood rose markedly. These plants had been out of the water the day before:

While I was at the river I ran into Don Watcher, also documenting the effects of the rainfall. Check out the great before-and-after videos at his site.