WEEK 23, October 4

Barry, Geoff, Hedrik, Christine

We tackled two areas today, the field south of the pond where we worked the past couple of weeks, and a new area, a section of the Ash Woodlot right at the end of Green Heron Road. In the area near the pond, Geoff recut a patch just east of the trail running south from the bridge to Green Heron Road, while Hedrik and Barry tidied up in the southeast corner of the field itself. Eight bags of DSV were left at the roadside for AAFC pick-up. Our natural history moment came in the form of a praying mantis, probably Mantis religiosa, quite a rare sight:

 

 When we reached the new area around break-time, a debate broke out as to the merits of cutting plants that are still green and growing versus plants that are yellowing and preparing to release their seeds. One side argued that more damage would be done to the green plants if they were cut over the yellowing plants, which had already sent nutrition down into the roots for next year's growth. The other side noted that a key objective was removal of seeds from the seed bank. Christine happened along at this point to do some work in the Old Field, the northern section of which is scheduled to be cut by AAFC in a couple of days. Ever wise, she noted that both sides had valid points. Fortunately, the area being contemplated had both kinds of growth, so off the scythers went to do their damage, whatever it might come to. Christine had come in on her own earlier in the week, so with her work then and the work today, another 14 bags of DSV were soon piled up. Grand total for the day, 22 bags. We'll continue with this area next Tuesday.

Before and...

after - two views from the Ash Woodlot.