In this month’s first newsletter:
- Work begins at the dunes
- Join us
- Early spring bees at Dune 2
Work begins at the dunes
by Berit Erickson
Work started at the dunes on Sunday, April 27th. About 30 volunteers attended, so we split up into 2 groups — one group headed to Dune 1, while the other remained at Dune 2 to cut back plant stems in the Sanctuary of Butterflies and Pollinators.
In the fall we left all the plant stems and seed heads standing, hoping they would self-seed and produce new plants this spring. We’ll have to wait and see how well that worked. Another advantage of leaving plants alone in the fall is that they will provide food for birds during winter — both seeds and insects overwintering in seedheads.
We’re now cutting back the stems primarily for aesthetics. The Sanctuary is more of a naturalistic (but maintained) planting, rather than a natural area. We want the planting to appeal to visitors, and maybe even encourage them to add natives in their own yards. We intend to create more natural (and less maintained) plantings in other dune sites in the future.
Join us
by Berit Erickson
We will continue working at the dunes on Sundays until October. Would you like to join us?
You’re welcome to attend any Sunday work sessions you’re available. Arrive by 10am. Plan to stay for at least a couple of hours. If you’d like to work longer, the work session runs until 2pm.
You can also work on weekday mornings, but contact us first to make arrangements.
If the work session is cancelled due to rain, I’ll email volunteers and post a notice on the Friends of Pinhey Sand Dunes Facebook group.
Contact me at pinheyfriends@biodiversityconservancy.org for directions, details on parking, supplies to bring, and so on.
Early spring bees at Dune 2
by Berit Erickson
While there aren’t any plants blooming in the open, sunny areas of the dunes right now, there are native flowers in the surrounding Pinhey Forest and forest edges. Native trees and shrubs, as well as spring ephemerals on the forest floor, are important sources of pollen and nectar for early-emerging pollinators.
Below are links to two of my favourite Youtube webinar recordings about pollinator activity in forests.
During our first work session, while we were cutting back plants at Dune 2, we saw hundreds of ground-nesting bees.
Many native bee species are solitary. Each solitary female makes her own nests, lays her own eggs, and forages for food — unlike bumblebees and non-native honeybees that live in colonies, have one queen who lays eggs, and many other female workers who forage.
The solitary female bees at Dune 2 were busy digging out nests, and collecting food from nearby Red Maples and Pussy Willows in the forest. Also, some of the bees flying around the nests were males looking to mate.
The nests looked like anthills on the dune slopes facing the forest. The nests were close together, so these bees were semi-social; they like nesting near each other in neighbourhoods, properly called aggregations.
iNaturalist identified the bees in my photos as a cellophane bees. University of Ottawa bee researcher, Dr. Jessica Forrest, confirmed that “those are Colletes (cellophane bees), almost certainly C. inaequalis” in my photos.
A week later almost all the cellophane bee activity had ceased. Next spring, the daughters and sons of these bees will emerge to once again build nests at the dunes, and visit flowers in the forest.