Back to my old site

This week, we visited Riverdale Farm Ponds which was my own site from 2006 to 2009.  I had only been back here very occasionally in the past few years. The vegetation has grown tremendously since then but I can see that the work we did back then on garlic mustard has paid off. It's still around but much less so than before. I find it quite amazing since there hasn't been a regular stewardship team here for at least two years.

 However, there is a lot of stinging nettle especially on the paths where visitors walk along on the site.  We removed a lot of it last night.

The picture is a bit out of focus but it shows the extent of the stinging nettle on the site.  Plus there was quite a bit of garlic mustard right in the middle of it, but I had to clear the nettle before getting to it.

Some of the new stewards doing a great job at clearing the path.

Last week, the Don got flooded overnight after a torrential rainfall and the water level in the ponds is significantly higher. It could also be that there is a drainage problem and that the drain is plugged up.  Nevertheless, areas that are usually pretty dry are now covered in water.

One of the observation decks is completely covered in water.

I also noticed the blue-flag irises that we planted a few years ago and they are doing really well. This planting was one of my favorite activities.

The team of stewards after removing a lot of the invasives.

Four weeks already

A couple of weeks ago, we started doing water monitoring of the pond.  We tested dissolved oxygen, phosphate and PH levels. We'll try to keep on doing it every two weeks on average throughout the summer.

The water level is fine now but usually by mid-July, the pond is pretty much dried up.

New stewards working on Garlic Mustard. They alternate between Riverdale Park East and the Humber Bay Butterfly Habitat (HBBH) site every couple of weeks. It's a nice way to get involved with the stewardship program.

Like everywhere else in the Don, Garlic Mustard is thriving in Riverdale Park.  Luckily, we didn't have much on the site itself this year, this patch is in the woods outside of the site.  

 On our visit last week, we saw a Northern Oriole. It's a bit far on this picture but we can see it's bright yellow colour.

The stewards have been doing a great job on the bedstraw and we pretty much got rid of most of it.

A bit of history

The sign at RPE Wetland. It explains what took place here and it should probably be updated but at least we know it started in 2002.  Before that, it was just mown grass like the rest of the park.

This was the first planting that took place then with the Task Force to Bring Back the Don.  Unfortunately, the task force is no longer in function but this wetland is one of its legacies.

This is pretty much the same area as it looks like now. I found this website which gives a good account of the history including when the new wetland was inaugurated.

One of the newest invasives we've had to deal with the last couple of years is galium aparine, commonly known as bedstraw because in bygone days they were dried and used as straw for stuffing mattresses. They are covered with small hairs that hook and cling like velcro. Unfortunately, it can be extremely invasive, take over a whole area and it's like walking on a carpet. When we first encountered this last year, we were literally tripping over it everywhere and it was hard to walk around the site to do our work. We ended up rolling it away as you would roll a carpet.

 These pictures are from last year, so this year we decided to tackle it early to prevent it to spread like this.

There is not a lot of garlic mustard on the site itself but the area outside the fence has a lot of it so we worked on removing those in order to prevent it from coming into the site.

Meanwhile, another group was removing stinging nettle on the area we call the island on the site. 

We discovered a bird's nest with 4 eggs in it among the stinging nettle, so we tried to hide it again with leaves and branches to protect it from predators like a raccoon we saw nearby.

Next week, we're supposed to start water monitoring. I'm hoping the water level will be sufficient in the pond as it dries up very quickly.

Back for a new season

Well, it's May 2013 and I'm starting a new season of Stewardship at Riverdale Park East.  Lots of new faces this year and quite a few returning stewards from past years. We started promptly on May 1st this year and the site is still pretty bare.

Riverdale Park East Wetland looking East

Quite a good turnout

 There are a few patches of garlic mustard but not much compared to previous years, so I'm hoping it won't be a big issue this season.

Just a few patches here and there. Last year was pretty bad as you can see here. The picture was taken on May 8, just a week later than this year and the site was literally covered.

However, the stinging nettle is thriving again and I haven't noticed any change from previous years, even though we've been tackling it diligently every year.

Some of the shrubs are in bloom, another advantage of starting so early. I usually don't see the first early flowering.

One of the new stewards almost stepped on this little guy.

For the first time ever, there are ducks in the pond. I have to explain that it's such a small body of water that usually gets dried up by the middle of summer, so I never expect to see any wildlife in it.

 Another cute pic from a previous year. This guy was hanging out on our green box.

It's hot but we're out there!

This week was a good turnout despite the hot weather with 6 people helping out.  We pretty much finished removing the Canada Thistle but it wasn't easy, the patch of thistle was completely surrounded by thorny rose bushes.  It was hard to turn around and there wasn't a lot of space to work in.

We also discovered quite a few native trees that had been planted in recent years but they were pretty much buried among the Thistle, the Tansy and the rose bushes.  We quickly removed all of these to give more room to the trees and added a lot of mulch around the trees to help them with moisture.

Christine and Ty did a great job on the mulching.

Someone found this cute toad while working.

After I had finished with the Canada Thistle, I proceeded to work on the Tansy.  It's still fairly easy to pull it but I was also using a shovel to help digging it out. The branches are quite tall and it's easier to try to get a whole bunch at once.  It's a nice looking plant with a pretty color but I hate the smell of it so I really don't mind removing it.  I remember removing a lot of it when I used to be at Beechwood Wetland.

We also worked on Queen Anne's Lace or Wild Carrot.  Although it attracts insects, it's been listed as a noxious weed and is considered a serious pests in pastures.

The tansy and the thistle

Last week, we started tackling Canada Thistle and I thought we had quite a good handle on it.  I had been told that last year's stewardship team had worked extensively on this invasive.  Well as luck would have it I found a huge patch of it in another part of the site. We call it Canada Thistle here although it's not of Canadian origin, and it's also largely spread in other parts of the world and it's standard English name is "creeping thistle". It is considered a serious invasive species.

We also have quite a bit of Tansy that we started to dig out and pull.  It can spread quickly and is actually toxic.  In former centuries, people actually used to eat it or use as an herb flavouring for puddings and omelets.  I can't imagine using it in food as the smell is very pungent and one can get sick of the smell, let alone eating it.

Canada Thistle and Tansy

One method of removing it is to cut it at the stem.  However, we mostly tried to pull it.  Some of the plants though are too big and impossible to pull so we simply cut them at the base.

Our pile of compost is growing.

The northern part of the site.  There is wooded area at the back and it's a good spot to work especially in the hot weather of the last few weeks. 

The pond actually looks like one now with a good water level.

Swamp Milkweed

Back after 2 weeks

I'm back after missing stewardship for a couple of weeks.  There's been quite a bit of rain so the wetland actually looks like one. 

One of the plants now flowering along the edge of the pond is Swamp Milkweed.  It's a herbaceous plant native to North America.  Like most other milkweed, it has sap containing toxic chemicals that repels insects and herbivorous animals. It is found growing wild near the edges of ponds and is one of the plants that attract the Monarch Butterfly.

Swamp Milkweed

Once again this week, we headed to Chester Spring Marsh to continue removing invasives.  The site was also very wet and there were a lot of mosquitoes.  I found a huge patch of stinging nettle and I spent the best part of an hour removing it.

The grey area shows the level of water that covered the site after the Sunday night storm.  The area is very muddy.