Japanese Beetles are a lovely mixture of copper colour, green, black and white.
In Japan it is kept in check by natural predators but in North American it is a pest of over 300 plant species.
Just about every grape vine I saw today had extensive leaf damage from them.
Snails were also in the area:
I enjoyed seeing bees disappear completely into large Himalayan Balsam flowers.
Birkdale Ravine in Scarborough follows Highland Creek from Brimley Rd. to Ellesmere Ave.
Even in winter, if there is open water, there are Mallards in Highland Creek.
Some botany:
NATURE POETRY
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date. William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
Miles Hearn
In the UK Himalayan Balsam is informally called “Bee Bum”, the reason for which is perfectly illustrated here
Thanks Miles!
I sure miss seeing a lot of this in person–but this is certainly the next best thing! I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen a Mallard with its wings fully displayed and extended like this (not slowly enough to actually see them, as one can in these pictures, anyway). Thanks, Miles!