RESTORE COOTES

Pollinators Great & Small: Making the Community a Pollinator Haven: Dr. Peter Kevan & Dr. Vernon Thomas, Saturday Aug 29, 11am The Urquhart Butterfly Garden is excited to announce a free workshop held in the Garden, “Pollinators Great & Small: Making the Community a Pollinator Haven” led by pollinator and pollination biology experts Dr. Peter Kevan and Dr. Vernon Thomas. The workshop will take place on Saturday August 29 at 11am. Peter Kevan and Vernon Thomas, accomplished professors from the University of Guelph, will share valuable information about the essential work of pollinators. They will discuss the numerous types of pollinators, their contribution to agriculture, the threats they face, and more. Learn why it is important for the whole community to be committed to pollinator projects, and find out what an individual can do, without even owning a window box! The garden is bustling with pollinators, flyin...

RBG working with Hydro One on turning Cootes parking lot into turtle nesting area Hamilton Spectator  By Craig Campbell Working with land owner Hydro One, the Royal Botanical Gardens has created a management plan that will turn an informal Cootes Paradise parking lot into a meadow and turtle nesting area. There is no plan to reopen public access through Hydro One's Olympic Drive property to the Desjardins Canal and an unofficial trail. "The authorized water access for Cootes Paradise is Princess Point," said Tys Theysmeyer, RBG director of lands. He said access through the private property became "totally abused" with, among other issues, illegal dumping, overnight tractor trailer parking and vehicles destroying grass areas. Hydro One and the Royal Botanical Gardens have agreed on a plan to manage the location. "Much of the gravel will be removed and the area turned into a meadow," he said. "Some of the gravel will be used to build...

Urquhart Butterfly Garden,                                  Centennial Park, Dundas Ontario Dragonflies and Their Kin: Masters of Air and Water: Brenda Van Ryswyk Saturday, Aug 15, 11:00am The Urquhart Butterfly Garden is hosting a free workshop by Dragonfly and Damselfly expert Brenda Van Ryswyk. “ Dragonflies & Their Kin: Masters of Air & Water ” will take place on Saturday August 15 at 11am. Dragonflies and Damselflies are exciting to watch, with their extraordinary displays of speed and agility in the air. However, don't be deceived by their beauty, because they are also very powerful hunters and gobble up scores of smaller insects as they zip through the air.   Brenda Van Ryswyk is known for her ability to spot and identify dragonflies. She is also an excellent teacher and holds workshops across Ontario.  The workshop is suitable for young and old, and e...

It's not like they have a chance, being short, slow and focused on laying their eggs in sandy soil. Not when there's a 4 lane, 80 km/h divided highway cutting through the place where they live. At 80 or 90km/h will you have time to notice the turtle, then take evasive action? Will the person in the car behind you have time?  We need to do more to protect turtles and other at risk species from getting totally wiped out in our corner of the world. More on this subject to come.

Playing Mother Nature with the Blanding’s turtle Hamilton Spectator By Mark McNeil  They don't move too fast, but they go pretty far. And that's a big part of the reason why Blanding's turtles are in such peril in Cootes Paradise and other wetland areas of Royal Botanical Gardens property. Females like to ramble long distances before laying eggs and that can get them run over by automobiles, scooped by kids looking for a pet, or facing other dangers. Consequently, numbers of the reptile listed as threatened by the province have severely declined to a point that RBG biologists estimate there are only four or five in all of Cootes Paradise and maybe another 20 in the Grindstone Creek (Hendrie Valley) area. Faced with the real prospect of losing the species from the area altogether, RBG workers have decided to play Mother Nature using radio telemetry and incubation. This spring, they outfitted three reproductive Blanding's turtle females with radio transmi...

Urquhart Butterfly Garden, Centennial Park, Dundas Ontario. Urquhart Butterfly Garden Photo Contest 2015 Are you able to spot the  stunning  Milbert's Tortoiseshell Butterfly? Chickadee in bush at Butterfly Garden, Dundas Ontario Or see a common bird like the Chickadee in an entirely new light?  Can you detect the smallest spider or insect hiding in the petals of a flower? If so test your photographic skills at the Urquhart Butterfly Garden during our annual Photo Contest. Photographers ages 10 and up are eligible for both cash and certificate awards in the following four adult and youth categories: Butterflies and Moths; Insects, Spiders & Bugs; Birds and other Wildlife; Plants & Flowers. The Photo Contest runs from Saturday July 11th until Sunday August 30th. The Urquhart Butterfly Garden is located in Centennial Park at the corner of Cootes Drive and Street. Parking is available on King Street East. The Photo Contest is funded by generous don...

Sarah hiked to Maplewood in Dundas Valley along the Monarch Trail to view the rehabilitated site now that the buildings are removed  Resource Management Centre (bell, above) and inscription (below), only artifacts that remain at site in Dundas Valley Maplewood is gone, and nature is returning.  Restore Cootes is pleased with the outcome, but we wanted to see for ourselves. A visit to the site now that the demolition is complete was in order. We took a hike from Dundas University Plaza along the lovely Monarch Trail to the former site of Maplewood, deep in the heart of Dundas Valley.  The photos above are worth 1000 words, clearly the structures are removed, and a small open meadow is currently evident. Not sure if there is a native planting going on, or planned. I will look into the details for a future post.  The Hamilton Spectator reported that "The driveway leading to the hall from Artaban Road will be converted into a pathway the...