Journal for July 31, 2025

I’m still pulling Wild Parsnip, but finally – this week – I’m nearly done.

I’ve still got a few spots like this to finish. These were places where blackbirds had built nests, so I had to wait until their babies had fledged. The seeds are starting to ripen, so I cut them off and carry them back to our compost pile where I can monitor them and be sure they don’t spread.

The rest of the wetland looks good….no parsnip.

This is Bluebird Meadow. The orange flowers are Michigan Lilies. The white flowers that look like tall Queen Anne’s Lace are actually a native wetland plant – Water Hemlock. It’s taller and more delicate than Queen Anne’s Lace, and very poisonous.

Area below the old farmhouse that we planted with wetland plants a few years ago.

Giant St. John’s Wort grows into tall thickets near the creek.

I was worried that all of our beavers had gone, but they must have all gotten together to work on this one huge dam with a big lake behind it.

Another view of Bluebird Meadow – on a day with smoke in the air from Canadian wildfires.

Tiger and Giant Swallowtails on a sand bar along the creek. This was the first Giant Swallowtail I’d seen this year – July 23.

Joe Pye Weed and cattails in the wet end of East Center Valley

We did our annual Butterfly Count on July 12. It was a beautiful day – not as hot as it usually is for our count day. Here’s the link to our list. We saw one new butterfly – a Dion Skipper. New for me, and a new record for Buffalo County.

Dion Skipper nectaring on Heal-all.

We saw several Delaware Skippers.

And lots of Common Wood Nymphs, including this mated pair.

The upper prairies are looking good too…

Indian Grass Point with Monarda and Prairie Coreopsis

Buffalo Ridge with Culver’s Root, Mountain Mint, Oxeye, Monarda and Yellow Coneflower

Sheep Hill Bluff Prairie – it’s 4th summer

Spotted Horsemint – a less common Monarda species that grows in dry, sandy soil

Hill’s Thistle – a state threatened species

A tiny crab spider in the Hill’s Thistle flower

Another crab spider on a Yellow Coneflower

Young buck in Pat’s Prairie

We don’t usually see many Cabbage White butterflies, but for a few days we had about a dozen fluttering together on the driveway.

Northern Pearly-eye – a butterfly that likes shade and woodland edges

This are Goldenrod Leaf Beetle larvae. They eat the leaves of Canada and Giant Goldenrod.

In the early summer we saw lots of the larvae, now we’re seeing lots of adults – hopefully laying eggs in preparation for next year. They don’t seem to have much of an effect on the populations of Canada and Giant Goldenrod, but in years with a lot of beetles – like this year – all the plants have nibbled tops, and many don’t bloom.

Widow Skimmer – dragonfly

I’ve been going out with my ‘good’ camera some afternoons – when it isn’t too hot. It has a macro lens so I can take photos of very small things. It’s fun finding plants and bugs that are beautiful and interesting, but so small that I don’t normally pay much attention to them.

This is a very common weedy native – American Lopseed.

A syrphid fly – its common name is Eastern Calligrapher

Eastern Calligrapher – I suspect this is the view that gave it its name

Mated Robberflies – Mike Reese identified these as being in the Laphria canis complex of species – several similar species that can’t be told apart unless they’re dissected.

Cuckoo bumblebee on Hoary Vervain

These are Green Lacewing eggs – each one hanging from a silk thread. These were on a Wild Grape leaf.

An adult Green Lacewing that was attracted to my lights

Misty sunrise

Globe Mallow – a plant of special concern in Wisconsin. I’ve planted seeds and bare root plants, but this is growing in a place where I don’t remember planting any. It may have been growing here naturally – it grows along the edges of a creek a few miles from here.