** Rainy wet weather certainly cuts down on nature reports. This is the
quietest day in many months.
** We don’t seem to have heard a lot from the Darner group of dragonflies.
Aldo Dorio got a co-operative photo of a SHADOW DARNER seemingly doing fine with
one wing missing. This species does like patrolling in the shadows and will fly
well after dusk on summer evenings, in groups.
**Marguerite Windsor shared 4 BLACK SWALLOWTAIL CATERPILLARS with me a week
ago that have all gone into the chrysalis stage and I am expecting the adults to
emerge at any time, to be released to complete their mission, however obviously
some eggs of a lady beetle came along with the donated dill, as a recently
hatched larva was spotted on Wednesday. It looks large in the photo but is
very small and will develop into an adult lady beetle,
** Several years ago I attended a presentation by Damian Hardie from
Sackville who mentioned a tree called HEARTNUT that was a very fast-growing
tree, being a cross, as I recall, between Butternut and Japanese Walnut. It was
resistant to Butternut Canker. I planted one in our Moncton yard and I have
never seen a tree grow so fast. It was planted as a root stock several years ago
and is now a beautiful big tree of approximately 20 feet high and this year is
producing many nut clusters, one with 8 fruit. Most clusters have 2 to 4. Some
branches have already had to be cut as it not only grows up but out as well.
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
HEARTNUT FRUIT CLUSTER.JULY 22, 2015.NELSON POIRIER
LADY BEETLE LARVA ON DILL.JULY 22, 2015.NELSON POIRIER
SHADOW DARNER DRAGONFLY.JULY 21, 2015.ALDO DORIO
