Hot night

The weather was hot tonight for the stewardship but 6 people showed up nevertheless. Cheryl suggested we only work for an hour and nobody argued with that. In addition to the pollination study (stay tuned for a post on that coming soon) and the watering, we went on a hunt for more DSV killing (we'll never get rid of that stuff but we sure keep trying).


A steward (who asked to remain anonymous) on the lookout for DSV


There is still quite a bit and it's getting harder to reach.


Still, I managed to get rid of some of it.


Another black crowned night heron (or maybe it's the same one
as a few weeks ago). It's still too far, I need Marnie's camera from
Beechwood Wetland.

At the beginning of the evening, we saw a juvenile night heron,
He was standing very close to the edge of the pond but he flew away
before I had a chance to take a picture. I haven't seen them coming
that close yet. We think that they are probably nesting nearby.

The New Enemy

Ok, I thought the worst invasive was Dog-strangling Vine but now, I know another one even worse. In addition, this one can also hurt you. If you brush against it, it burns like hell. In fact, one of its nickname is Devil's Claw. What is it? Any guesses? Why, stinging nettle of course. The Riverdale site has its fair share of this dangerous and even poisonous invasive.


Julia from the stewardship team works hard
on the stinging nettle.

Meanwhile, I was removing one my old favourites:
Canada Thistle

Now you see it...


Now you don't!

The best part of the evening was when we saw a night heron.

Black-crowned Night Heron

Duck sighting

This week we continued to attack the DSV slope. We're almost finished now so we should be able to focus on something else. At the beginning of the evening, I took some pictures of a couple of black ducks (or at least I was told that's what they are). If anybody knows different, please let me know.


Iris Versicolor

We also went to check on the planting we did last week. On the west side of the pond, there is a little island where some people planted irises and sedges. All the plants are doing quite well.




Sedges

More planting

Newly planted Boneset at the sanctuary pond

This week, we did some more planting but this time, we planted along the sanctuary pond. We tried to plant them as close to the edge of the pond as possible. Here's a list of the plants:

Blue Flag (Iris versicolor)

Knotsheath sedge (Carex retrorsa)

Bebb's Sedge (Carex bebbi)

Joe-Pye weed (Eupatorium fistulosum)

Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum)

Swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata)

Swamp Aster (Aster puniceus)

The soil is very muddy and there are also a lot of roots which makes it harder to get through. Aynsley and Cheryl were there and including myself, there were about 10 of us so we managed to get most of the planting done.

The aerator was on while we were there and seemed to be working although only in one area of the pond where the water was swirling. The rest of the pond was kind of green and scummy.


The bubbling is caused by the aerator

The ponds

The ponds at Riverdale can be quite picturesque and at this time of the year, the water is still pretty clear.

Unfortunately, it's also easier to see the stuff that people have dumped in them. We should fish out this suitcase and open it. Who knows? Maybe there's a lot of money in it.

This looks like a hat. Must have been a windy day.

Cute rabbit

I noticed that Marnie, one of my fellow stewards at Beechwood, posted a picture of a cute rabbit. I decided to steal her idea and post pictures of my own. I haven't seen any rabbits at Riverdale yet but this one wasn't very far.

A slope buried in DSV

DSV or Dog Strangling Vine also known as swallowwort is everywhere in the Don Valley and Riverdale Farm is no exception. We spent most of last week's session removing some of it from one of the slopes. For the time being, we were just pulling it and trying to remove as much of the roots as possible in the process. This method of removal will have to be repeated over several years before we can get rid of it but we're just doing what we can for now. I found an information fact sheet from the city on the subject which is very helpful to better understand the problem of invasive species.