Generalizations about the weather are fraught with peril at this time of year. It's supposed to be raining, but at 8:30 am the sun is out and it's 15C. Still, a storm is predicted, and these wet and warm days are perfect for plants. So, if it rains, let Mother Nature do the work and sit back with a good book, tend seedlings and keep the binoculars handy for the return of interesting migrants. I note that the website Journey North had a Baltimore Oriole arriving in Toronto yesterday! And for the Midland-Penetanguishene Field Naturalists, out in the Copeland Forest today, it's spring warbler season - many of these small, distinctively marked migratory songbirds are passing through on their way to their boreal forest breeding grounds.
Two days ago, the weather gods smiled on our band of forest gardeners. We had sun and a temperature of 12C for the Garlic Mustard pull at Tiny Marsh. If there's one job we can't leave to Mother Nature, it's weeding, of any unwanted plant, which should be done early before flowering and seed-setting. Here's a primer on the problem with invasive Garlic Mustard, and a link to the upcoming pull days at Tiny Marsh. Volunteers welcome! Interesting people show up; yesterday, it was Clare Ross, a Tiny Township artist photographer who has a deep knowledge and love of nature, as can be seen from her website.
There’s an intensity to the colour, a sharpness to the detail and an unexpected quality to her work that adds up to a quite unique expression of the natural world. Take the bird’s nest with a single blue ribbon woven into it – linking us to a small hardworking creature that created not just a home for nestlings but a work of art with an extra highlight. It’s so good to have Clare’s eye to guide us to these memorable images.
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