The Blues Have It

Ceraunus Blue butterflies have always been fairly common here.
After the habitat in the north tract was opened with mechanical clearing and prescribed fire, they became  abundant. for a time, but declined following a couple of severe winters.
They're back.
Today I counted 141.
It will be interesting to see if that number grows by fall.

Keeping the path clear

I've been working steadily when I have time to remove Natal grass from the north-south path through the heart of the scrub area.

This corridor is a main route for getting around and is also at the center of the main population of Scrub blazing star.

Meanwhile, I also made a temporary fix to the fence that was cut adjacent to the TECO property.

Busting the monoliths

I have known for several years that there were concrete pieces in the pile where the railroad ties had been dumped on the north fire lane by the tracks.

Recently I decided to explore what to do about removing them.

It was obvious that these concrete monoliths were much too heavy to move singlehandedly.
So, what to do?

I'm thinking this calls for a sledge hammer and perhaps some other tools to bust these pieces into smaller, but usable pieces.

It occurs to me the smaller pieces might be ideal for boundaries for a driveway.

It took some time, but several hours and one sledge hammer handle later, the work is done.
Now I have to haul out the debris.

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Spring in the Scrub

I went out today looking for color and was not disappointed.

The most obvious was the pawpaws, which have been out for a few weeks, but dayflower, alicia, roseling and scrub lupine are adding to the show.

I'm sure other habitats offer similar delights.

Get outdoors.

Blooms and butterflies

Spring may be arriving a bit early at the preserve.
Today I saw the first Scrub Lupine flowers of the year and saw the promise of future blooms in the buds of other plants, including the young volunteer plant

Al.so, I saw a bloom today on Britton's beargrass,which seems a bit early.

Meanwhile, I was curious whether it was an early spring for butterflies, too. Most of the sightings today were Little Yellows and Common Buckeyes,but I did find a couple of Northern Cloudywings.

Fence vandalism continues

I stopped by yesterday afternoon to do a quck check on things.

The lumber brought in for the "fort" had been removed.

Some of the fence repairs I had made last week had been undone. The top barbed wire strand had been cut and the hog wire wsa bent over to allow access. I'm out of barbed wire, but still have some of the other fence available.I may use it.

Some kids stopped by to say the guy across the street was responsible, but I haven't seen anyone personally.

Fence cuts and firewood

Things have gotten strange again.

I talked to a kid who wanted some wood for a back yard fire. so I said OK. That was yesterday, But today when I checked back I discovered there had been some wholesale wood removal next to the northern fire lane and there was fence damage from people climbing the fence at another location across a vacant lot where some other problems had occurred.

This may require some law enforcement intervention is this continues.

On the plus side, the wood gathering did reveal some trash piles. I removed three bags of trash and some other debris.

Also, yesterday I found some 4x4s that some of the neighborhood kids had brought in to make a fort. I told one of the other kids that this was not allowed,

I'll need to keep an eye on things.