Nature Moncton Nature News: August 8 2023

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

August 8, 2023

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Edited by Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Proofreading courtesy of Louise Nichols at nicholsl@eastlink.ca

**The scheduled Nature Moncton Wednesday night walk coming up tomorrow night is repeated at the end of this edition and upfront on Wednesday morning.

**Several Nature Moncton members attended the recent New Brunswick Botany Club long weekend botany trip to Southwestern Nova Scotia to be immersed in the botanical world of Atlantic Coastal Plain Flora.

The group was introduced to many examples of the flora in that area that most had never seen before and possibly never will again. Hundreds of photos were taken, some of which will be shared over coming days on nature news.

Leader David Mazerolle knew exactly where to go to quickly get the gems. Gart Bishop and Alan Belliveau added lots of very interesting information which allowed us to appreciate what we were seeing.

Just one gem is added today -- American cancer root (formerly called Squawroot), which is an 8-inch plant, parasitic on the roots of oak. This plant has not been found in New Brunswick as yet, but hopefully, someone who sees these photos today will find some and get their names in the NB Botanical Hall of Fame!

The flora was fantastic, but as always, many other observations were made and again, those will be shared periodically as they become available.

**Brian Stone sends photos of two dragonflies he saw on the botany club outing to southwest Nova Scotia on Sunday, August 08. The two dragonflies that caught his most serious attention were a colourful Calico Pennant Dragonfly at the edge of a lake near Yarmouth and both a male and female Seaside Dragonlet Dragonfly (both new to Brian) and also close to Yarmouth. Brian was fascinated by the variety of rare and endangered plants he was shown on the trip, but the interesting dragonflies he came across added a bit of extra excitement to the outings.

**Many of the regular Nature Moncton Wednesday night walk participants will have fond memories of the August 2 walk at Highland Park. We are going to move just down the road a bit this week for a potential repeat of that great night. The write-up is below:

This Wednesday night's summer Nature Moncton walk (August 9) will be around the Salisbury Municipal Wastewater Lagoons and Wetland Ponds. We will first check the lagoons and see the ducks, gulls, and swallows that enjoy this area. From there, we will go down a couple of easily navigated, somewhat steep slopes to get down to the ponds but this area is mowed and can also be accessed with a more gradual slope if needed. The trails around the ponds are groomed. Once at the pond area we will cross a dyke with water on both sides and go on to more ponds on the right with the river on the left. A beautiful walk; bring bug spray. A 6:30 start will give us more daylight time, so we are back up the grades before dark.

The location is Salisbury Municipal Wastewater Treatment Facility, Government Road. Salisbury, NB E4J 1Z1.

Gov't Road is off the Salisbury Road/ Highway 106, within the Town Limits. Silver Meadows Trailer Park is on the right once you go down Government Road, and the Treatment Plant is on the left. Parking is available as you drive up to the gates.

David Miller and Lois Budd will be your evening guides.

Nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier

Nature Moncton