Wireweed At Peak Here

One of the least ubiquitous rare plants at the preserve is Polygonella basiramia, aka Wireweed.

 It is blooming now in the few spots where it is found, though in one spot this year it is quite abundant. Today I counted more than 300 plants.
Scrub Blazing Star (nee Sand Torch), Liatris ohlingerae is still blooming, too, along with several more common species.

Fall is wonderful in this place if you enjoy color.

Soldier In The Scrub; Sunset

I was checking the trail for interesting wildlife the other evening when I encountered a Soldier, a relatively uncommon species of butterfly, resting on the branch of a Bumelia bush.
That brings the butterfly species list here to 52, which is impressive in such a small space.
It was late afternoon and dusk was coming as I was leaving.
This place offers a great view of the westering sky.

Weeding The Lupines Again

It is that time of year again.
The Natal grass was starting to build up in the second lupine planting area.
Last year I wasn't aware there was a problem and didn't get to it until later in the season and it took several visits to complete.
 Today I got the bulk of it cleared out in about four hours.
The weeding revealed how few surviving plants there are.
I also saw one Scrub Blazing Star in the patch. I can't remember whether there any last year.

Getting Rid Of Truck Problem

This week the County Commission approved a measure to ban truck parking on First Avenue.

That might  eliminate some of the problems that have been occurring.

There was the recent problem with our gate, but these vehicles have also damaged the pavement.

One Path Clear, More To Go

I finally finished work yesterday on removing the mass of Natal grass from the central trail through the preserve.

I now have a relatively easy task of clearing  branches away from this and other paths, which will involve loppers and shouldn't take more than a single visit.

The fire lane still lies unmowed despite pledges to get the work done. It remains an eyesore, an exotic weed sink and a fire hazard.  Also, when it's mowed it's easier to find the trash the neighbors have tossed over the fence.

Meanwhile, my next major project is to work on the trail on the south tract in preparation for Nature Fest and to make it easier for me to get around the property.

They Only Come Out At Night

This large millipede species (Narceus gordanus, if you want to be formal) is quite common here.
I find them curled up under leaf litter when I'm doing various kinds of management work.
I've seen their tracks in the sand, but rarely seen them on the move.
At dusk today I spotted one in the open after I had been photographing some moths nearby.[

Moths & Milkweed

I made an interesting discovery this week.
While I was wrapping up some exotics control around dusk, I saw a  couple of Harlequin Moths on Curtiss' Milkweed.

I had seen these moths in the preserve before,, but I had never seen moths of this species nectaring before.

Typically, sphinxes and flower moths do this, but from what I've read, most other moths do not. In fact, many moths do not feed much in their adult stage.