From: Colleen To: PFHO
I wanted to give some feedback regarding the new pollinator garden that has been established at the Doctors McLean District Park in Woodbridge. I’ve been a semi-regular user of this park for over 35 years. I used to bring my kids to its playground many years ago. More recently, in the past ten years or so, I’ve been coming to the park to make butterfly observations for the Ontario butterfly census, as well as doing some birding. My butterfly efforts were never particularly successful there; I always found it a bit frustrating that there seemed to be so few in the park (although understandable, given the almost complete lack of plants that would attract them). Then came the Pollinator Garden. I’ve visited it three times in the past few weeks, for just a few minutes each time, and I’m amazed by how many pollinators this small garden is attracting. At a location where I used to be lucky to see one or two butterfly species on a visit, in three visits I’ve seen ten different species, including a
Question Mark, Wild Indigo Duskywings, Red Admirals, Black Swallowtails, European Common Blues, and several skippers (small butterflies) such as Silver-spotted, Dun, Northern Broken- Dash, Hobomok and Peck’s. Butterflies aren’t the only pollinators, of course. There are plenty of the “usual” honeybees, bumblebees and wasps, but I’ve also seen a number of the more “exotic” wasps, like Great Golden Digger and Brown-legged Grass-carrying wasps. Other insects have included mimic bees, Pure Green Sweat Bees, dragonflies and Snowberry Clearwing and Peachtree Borer moths. On Friday I was happy to see a female Ruby-throated Hummingbird helping herself to some nectar. I’ve attached a few photos that I’ve taken in the last couple of weeks. Thanks to the City for encouraging these pollinator gardens (and also the “no-mow” naturalization zones). From my personal experience with this one small garden, I can tell you that they are making a difference!
Creating connections: building bridges in our community
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