📝 📸 Dale Smith

Sunday Footpath Committee Walk – August 10th

An early start and a route that followed along the lake to Lighthall Road made for a pleasant Sunday walk. This immature Ring-billed Gull had an even better idea: to bob along on the waves!

Perhaps the highlight was seeing more than a dozen eastern giant swallowtail butterflies busily feeding on purple loosestrife. While considered an invasive weed, purple loosestrife has the right colour and long-lasting, tubular flowers to attract these beautiful insects. A few monarchs were also enjoying the nectar-rich flowers.

Several native plant species, such as the Allegheny monkeyflower (Mimulus ringens) and boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum), were also observed attracting pollinators. The square-stemmed monkeyflower can be found in various habitats, including areas with full sun or shade and both dry and moist conditions. Boneset, like native asters and goldenrods, is an essential native flower because it blooms at the end of summer and into the fall when many other flowers have gone to seed. Their flowers are an indispensable food source for monarch butterflies migrating back to Mexico!

 

After watching Greg nearly being swallowed by a still-wet area at the base of Lighthall Road, we strolled back to our vehicles, passing many narrow-leaved meadowsweet shrubs (Spirea alba). Meadowsweet is the food plant for many species of moth caterpillars.

 

We appreciate the South Shore's biodiversity, but are disappointed by the persistent litter. A walk along the shoreline is always a banner day for trash pickup, as some is blown in from across the lake, but much is also left behind by thoughtless visitors. Pack out what you pack in!

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