Nature Moncton Nature News: Oct 2 2019

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, October 2, 2019 (Saturday)

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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Transcript by: Catherine Johnson johnson2@xplornet.com

Info Line # 506-384-6397 (384-NEWS)

**I suspect many of you saw the small, white, puffs moving around outdoors that looked like snowflakes on Tuesday. It's that time when the WOOLLY ALDER APHIDS develops wings and are flying about to locate on their alternate host for the winter. They are small and in the distance all you see is the fluff body and not the transparent wings of the adult fly.

Brian Stone brought some into his photo studio to provide a very enlarged view of what we are really seeing.

Woolly alder aphids require both Alder and Maple trees to complete their lifecycle.

Brian also noted a very large Grey Squirrel foraging on Maple samara in his backyard on Tuesday. He also noted diggings on his lawn area assumed it to be skunks but neighbours are reporting and that they saw up to eight RACCOONS in the act assuming they are after the fat fall grubs. We always thought it was predominantly June Beetle larvae they were after but a newer beetle is on the scene, the EUROPEAN CHAFER BEETLE grub seems to be causing damage to landscapes areas and attracting grub connoisseurs. The European Chafer grub can really do a number in landscaped areas as they feed on the roots of lawn grasses to create dead looking areas, then the grub foragers arrive to dig them up to do a double whammy.

Bob Blake keeps daily weather stats at his Second North River home recording morning lows, daily highs, and monthly precipitation. The table below is what Bob has prepared to compare September 2018 with September 2019.

It will not give the complete picture as Bob was away 6 days in 2018 and 12 days in 2019 but precipitation will be accurate

Weather stats for September 2019 and 2019

2018		2019
morning temperatures	daily highs and rainfall	morning temperatures	daily highs and rainfall
+16-4 days +15-2 +14-2 +12-3 +11-1 +10-4 +9-1 +8-1 +6-1 +3-1 +2-2 +1-2 -1-1	+28-2 days +27-1 +26-2 +24-1 +22-2 +20-3 +19-1 +18-3 +17-1 +16-3 +15-2 +14-3 138 mms. rain	+16-1 day +15-1 +14-2 +13-3 +12-3 +11-1 +10-1 +9-2 +8-2 +7-1 +3-1	+24-2 +23-1 +22-4 +21-1 +20-1 +19-1 +18-2 +17-1 +15-1 +14-1 +11-1 276 mms. rain