A Walk in Sun Valley: July 2020

Sun Valley, located in the Crothers Woods area of the Lower Don Valley, was used as a landfill for many years until its closure in 1965. Beneath the ground, waste 20 -25 meters deep exists throughout the site’s 8.4 hectares. Although the early stages of Sun Valley’s naturalization resemble a meadow habitat, the ultimate goal is to restore the area to a forest ecosystem.

Underground stream emptying into the Don River

Some botany:

Black Raspberry (Rubus occidentalis)
Black Raspberry (Rubus occidentalis)
Poison Ivy (Toxicodendron rydbergii)
Poison Ivy (Toxicodendron rydbergii)
Woodland Sunflower (Helianthus divaricatus)
Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare)
Hawthorn (Crataegus)
Yarrow (Achillea millefolia)
Curled Dock (Rumex crispus)
Curled Dock (Rumex crispus)
Canada Thistle (Cirsium arvense)
Spotted Knapweed (Centaurea stoebe)
White Campion (Silene latifolia)
Chicory (Cichorium intybus)
Wild Rose (Rosa)
White Birch (Betula papyfifera)
Fragrant Sumac (Rhus aromatica)
Daisy Fleabane (Erigeron annuus)
Goutweed (Aegopodium podagraria)
Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca)
Yellow Avens (Geum aleppicum)
Birdfoot Trefoil (Lotus corniculatis)
Teasel (Dipsacus fullonum)
Red-osier (Cornus sericea)
Honeysuckle (Lonicera)
Riverbank Grape (Vitis riparia)
Bird Vetch (Vicia cracca)
Common Milkweed (Aesculus syriaca)
Bull Thistle (Cirsium vulgare)
Purple-flowering Raspberry (Rubus odoratus)
Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis)
Switch Grass (Panicum virgatum)
St. John’s-wort (Hypericum perforatum)
Hawthorn Rust
Ninebark ((Physocarpus opulifolius)

Some flyers:

Cabbage White Butterfly
Cabbage White Butterfly
Cabbage White Butterfly on Viper’s-bugloss
Red Soldier Beetle  
Red Soldier Beetle with Long-legged fly
 Ichneumon Wasp
Honey Bee
Common Whitetail Skimmer
Common Whitetail Skimmer
Ebony Jewelwing

NATURE POETRY

On the warm and perfumed dark
glows the firefly’s tender spark.      – Horatio Nelson Powers (1826–90)

Miles Hearn

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