On May 15th five of us (Janie van Essen, Brian McCulloch, John Hepburn , Susan Ethelston and Patrick Capper)  continued our removal of garlic mustard on the GART, West of Lucknow Line filling five large garbage bags.  While pulling up some garlic mustard at the edge of our property I saw 15 small red beetles on some garlic mustard, which I found out were native spotted pink ladybeetles.

I have been asked to remind people that it is illegal to capture and move turtles, even removing turtle eggs for safety requires a special permit.

On May 13th the Maitland Trail plant sale was a success and this year included some native plants. The David Suzuki foundation recommends the following plants for pollinators: (i.e.bees, butterflies, hummingbirds  and flies),  Bee Balm, Canada Goldenrod, Cardinal Flower, Golden Alexander, Heart- lead Aster, Heath Aster, Hoary Vervain, New England Aster, Sneezeweed, Spotted Joe Pye Weed, Swamp Milkweed, Virginia Creeper, Wild Bergamot, Wild Blue Iris, Wild Columbine.  Birds Canada recommends White Pine, Eastern Red Cedar, Sugar Maple, Bitternut Hickory, Blue Beech, Roundleaf Serviceberry,  Bunchberry, Brown eyed Susan, Spotted Joe Pye Weed and Tall Ironweed.  I have underlined the ones that are most commonly seen on our trails. The only one in bloom so far this year is Wild Columbine.

Five years ago I saw some wild plums on the Taylor trail, and brought one home so that Thyra Knudsen, my partner who has green thumbs, could propagate it.  Now it is a beautiful little tree full of white blossoms that turn a nice shade of pink as they age.  We will have to wait to see if it produces any plums.  We planted  it because our domestic  plum did not have any fruit since there was not another plum tree nearby.  Now we have plums that the birds, chipmunks and squirrels enjoy and who sometimes leave a few for us!

Notes.

Spring turkey hunt is from April 25th to May 31st.  This year the Bayfield Woodland trail will remain open.

Thursday May 25th at 6.30 pm Join Roger Goddard for a birding hike at the rock on North Harbour road. For more information and to confirm your attendance, please contact Roger Goddard at 519 612-

1236 or rggsmg@hurontel.on.ca. This is a Level 1, slow pace, 1.5 – 2 hours.

Saturday May 27th 1.30 pm-4.30pm Bike ride on the G2G Auburn to Blyth approx. 20 km (with option of a longer ride) with Don Andrews. For more information and to register for this event, please contact Donald Andrew at 519 530-9019 call or text.

Sunday May 28th 10.30 am to 1.30 pm Hike for Hospice on the Taylor and Mavis trails at Varna

Saturday June 3rd 9 a.m. Mindfulness walk in the Maitland Woods with Janie van Essen

Saturday June 10th 10 am BRVTA is hosting the first annual Pride Hike. Meet at Clan Gregor Gazebo for a 90 minute hike including the Bayfield Woodland trail

Saturday June 10th 9 am for 1 ½ hours  Hike at 7277 Hwy 8 a private property just West of Dublin. For more information and to preregister contact Anne Melady at jamelady@hotmail.com.

Tuesday Trompers meet at 9 a.m. on Tuesday to hike for about an hour. If you wish to be on this email list, send an email to mta@maitlandtrail.ca

Uneven Hikers hike for 1 ½ to 2 hours on Wednesdays or Thursdays, contact Patrick Capper.

Both groups meet at 9 a.m. and are open to non-members provided they sign the MTA On-line waiver.

If you have questions or something of interest for Trail Talk email me Patrick Capper at pcapper99@gmail.com