The Corona Fan Next Door

I went out after work today to resume working small trash collections in the windrows on the north side.
After filling one bag, I took a second bag and walked the fence line to see what was going on.
There was nothing but a few tossed CDs until I got near the end and found a couple of six packs worth of Corona beer bottles that had been tossed over the fence into the preserve, presumably by the people in the trailer on the other side of the fence.
There was some other debris, more than I had room for in the bag.
I spoke to a kid who lived there and asking him to tell anyone who was throwing  the bottles not to do it.
He, of course, acted as though he didn't know what I was talking about.
I'll be back soon with more bags..

Removing Trash, Meeting New Neighbors

I've been working on some small piles of household trash that the recent rains have exposed in some of  the windrows along the northern fire lane.

It's mostly the usual mix of household garbage, most of it old. There has been a few new entries from some neighbors launching their detritus over the fence.

I did meet a new neighbor named Juan who said he has purchased the double lot in the middle of the block and is not only  cleaning up his property, but wants to clean up the debris between the fences. He also wanted to know if he could come inside the preserve fence to do some tree work to prevent damage to his new homes, which I told him would be perfectly OK.

There's a  poinciana tree that has seen better days, which is his main target.

It's good to have at  least one good neighbor.

Beetles, Roaches and Crickets, Oh, My!

I went out this evening to check on the status of the resident invertebrate population in early spring.
I brought my light, but not my chair, a concession to becoming an older person.
In an hour I saw a Sand Cockroach, a Mole Cricket and the Auburndale Scrub Beetle and a few assorted smaller beasties.
I just wanted to make sure everyone was home still.

Easter In The Scrub

Spring as arrived and as Easter approaches, the flowers are the right color--pink.
The Scrub Lupine and Roseling are blooming, adding some color to the landscape.
It's probably time for the biennial beetle survey.

   

Lake Blue Makes Nature Fest

I was pleased today to be invited to give a tour of Lake Blue as part of next fall's Polk County Nature Fest.
I'll have to do some planning to make this worthwhile.
This place is still relatively unknown to most people even though it's an island of preservation in a sea of development.
It's still mapped for industrial park on the county growth map. Go figure. State didn't want to change it when I asked a few years ago.
Anyway, some of the rare plants will be blooming still in early October, which should be cool for photogs. The lupines will not be among them, unfortunately.
The big educational opportunity will be to talk about the management challenges here, between vandalism and smoke management.
It should be fun.
Hope someone shows up.

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Recleaning The Fire Lane

I went out over the weekend two check on things.
I found a few new lupine sprouts.
I spent most of the time in the fire lane.
The FWC folks finally came in for the promised fire lane mowing work.
That exposed a fair amount of trash from my dear neighbors.
I hauled out about three bags.
I'l go back and get the rest when I have more time or more daylight.

A Good New Year For Lupine

Sprout Is In Upper Left


There are encouraging signs in the original planted Scrub Lupine patch.
Today I counted about 20 small lupines sprouting in the bare white sand.
There has been no significant recruitment up until now and having some is vital to the establishment of a sustainable population here to fulfill the goals of the recovery plan.
The other unknown is how many of these tiny sprouts will make it to maturity.
I guess we'll know in 2014 or 2015.
I say this because the initial planting in December 2008 involved somewhat larger plants. They bloomed for the first time in the spring of 2010.
I checked the newer planting area to the south cursorily. I found one sprout, but the Natal grass is so rife in parts of that planting area, it's difficult to tell. I didn't realize that planting area had not been weeded earlier or I would have tackled the problem.
The problem is aggravated by the fact that there's plenty of seed source for the Natal grass nearby because of the additional openings. It's too late to worry about that now. The damage has been done.