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**Nature Moncton activities committee has had a double bill of activities lined up on invasive species this week, with all the details below; the Zoom presentation took place on Thursday night.
Nature Moncton & New Brunswick Invasive Species Council Present:
Japanese Knotweed Information Webinar happened last night, Thursday, August 6 | 7:00 PM, and hopefully we can get a recorded link out for those who may have had to miss it to be ready for the Sunday event below:
Japanese Knotweed Stewardship Event
Sunday, August 9 | 10:00 AM
Put your new knowledge into practice by joining Nature Moncton and the New Brunswick Invasive Species Council for a hands-on Japanese knotweed removal event along the Riverfront Trail in Moncton.
Working together, we'll use manual cut-and-dig techniques to reduce a localized infestation and improve conditions for native vegetation. Before work begins, NBISC staff will provide a safety briefing and demonstrate the removal methods to ensure everyone feels comfortable and confident.
No previous experience is required—all tools and training will be provided. Participants are encouraged to wear sturdy closed-toe footwear, long pants, weather-appropriate clothing, and to bring a reusable water bottle. Work gloves are recommended if you have them, although extras will be available.
We will meet in the parking lot outside La Bikery at 10 AM and walk together to the site. Those showing up after 10 can meet us at the site, along the trail behind Premier Suites (46.08811970024027, -64.77192163121025)
We hope you'll join us for one or both events as we work together to protect and restore Moncton's natural areas.
**Yolande LeBlanc in
Memramcook reports she has a huge patch of milkweed and sees a monarch
butterfly almost every day, yet she cannot find any caterpillars. There are a
lot of insects in the patch, including bees, wasps, earwigs, and a lot more.
Yolande wonders if that may have something to do with the lack of caterpillars,
as they may be getting eaten.
Her butterfly bush is
humming with bees.
**Shannon Inman was out
for some early morning photos by the Harvey Dam to locate a pair of semi-palmated
plovers, a least sandpiper, and a turquoise striped hoverfly.
**On Tuesday, Brian Stone
was in Hampton, N.B., visiting family for a few days, and he managed to find
some time to sneak away and grab a few photos of the nature in the area. His
first photo subjects found were a small group of three turkeys crossing the
road (not sure why) in Upham, followed by a chalk-fronted corporal dragonfly
and a couple of slaty skimmer dragonflies along with a few variable
dancer damselflies, a faded northern azure butterfly, a long dash
skipper, some large and small bullfrogs and their tadpoles,
and a hefty two-striped grasshopper, all at small but scenic
Tracy Lake on route 111 (the road to St. Martins).
**This Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2026 August 8 – August 15
You can see a few meteors per hour on any night in a clear, dark sky, but the
number increases greatly when Earth passes through a trail of pebbles and dust
left by a comet that makes frequent orbits around the Sun. The pebbles left by
comet Swift-Tuttle in its 133-year orbit are quite large at a few centimetres,
and they enter our atmosphere at a high relative velocity of 60 km/s (Earth
travels at 30 km/s). Therefore, they can be very bright. The Perseids will seem
to be coming from a point between the constellations Perseus and Cassiopeia,
which are highest in the sky in early morning. You will see fewer in the evening
but they tend to be long and bright.
Meteors, also called shooting stars or falling stars, are the streaks of light
created when pebbles enter the atmosphere at an altitude of about 100
kilometres, and those particles from comets disintegrate before they reach an
altitude of 50 kilometres. Many meteors are faint and easily made invisible by
moonlight and light pollution. This week the Perseid shower fortunately
coincides with the new Moon. Get comfortable in a chair, have extra clothes or
blankets if you plan to stay long as it can get very chilly, and select a patch
of sky that is free of clouds and direct light. It is better to keep Perseus to
your side rather than look in that direction because the meteors will look more
spectacular, covering a longer distance. If the forecast is for clouds, the
shower is often half as active the nights before and after.
This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 6:09 and sunset will occur at 8:38, giving
14 hours, 29 minutes of daylight (6:17 and 8:41 in Saint John). Next Saturday
the Sun will rise at 6:18 and set at 8:27, giving 14 hours, 9 minutes of
daylight (6:25 and 8:31 in Saint John). There will be a partial eclipse of
the Sun on Wednesday, starting just before 2 pm and lasting about two hours.
The crescent Moon is near Mars Sunday morning, less than half a binocular
field above Mercury on Tuesday, and it is new on Wednesday. Venus reaches
greatest elongation from the Sun next Saturday but most of that is horizontal
distance due to the declining angle of the evening ecliptic. Saturn
rises in the late evening, showing off the southern side of its rings for
morning observers. Next Saturday Jupiter has a close conjunction with Mercury,
rising 65 minutes before sunrise. The Perseid meteor shower peaks over
Wednesday/Thursday with no moonlight to hide the fainter shooting stars.
There will be public observing of Wednesday’s partial solar eclipse from
1:30-4:00 pm at the Irving Nature Park in Saint John and Wilmot Park in
Fredericton. Public observing continues in the Irving Nature Park that evening
from 9-11 pm. The RASC NB star party takes place at Mount Carleton Provincial
Park on August 14 and 15.
Questions? Contact Curt Nason at nasonc@nbnet.nb.ca.
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
