Bog Visit and a Hairstreak Holds On

 Today was one of the finer weather days we have had under clear skies and decent temps.  I had the urge to go to the Sifton Bog in London!  It was known by a number of names in the distant past, and more recently the Byron Bog as it was within the village of Byron.

The bog is one of the most southerly acidic bogs in Canada, very unique for our area.  It was a basically a depression left after the last ice age that never drained.

It harbours some rare plants including carnivoris-type plants typcially found in bogs farther north.  Trees include Black Spruce and Tamarack.  As well, some decent insects are found there including the Spatterdock Darner and Bog Copper.

My main goal today was to see the Bog Copper and other insects.  Although I have seen them before, it was time for a refresher!

Right away, I found a Bog Copper. An attractive insect indeed.

There were not many odonates, but perhaps I was a bit early in the day.  Some sedge sprites were just off the viewing platform, but very difficult to try and photograph.

One spreadwing appeared to be an Emerald.

Dragonflies included Twelve-spotted Skimmers, Blue Dashers and Dot-tailed Whitefaces.

I saw no sign of the rare Spatterdock Darner, like in my previous visit a few years ago.

Some plants included the attractive Tuberous Grasspink.

On the pond was the Watershield.

On the way home, I stopped by Wardsville Woods since it was basically not far off the route home.  Hardly any odonates!  Very disappointing.  I did see a couple of smallish clubtails flying around, but they were out of reach and never landed.  I suspect they were Riverine Clubtails!

Yesterday I stopped by Reid Conservation Lands early in the morning not expecting to see much.  Indeed there was not much, but I did see my first hairstreaks of season.  The very first one was a Northern Oak!

Thankfully it stayed long enough to get a decent photograph.  The left side has big chunk out of a key area on the wing, so I only took photos of its right profile!

The species has declined significantly over the years, but hopefully it holds on at Reid.  I only saw one in 2024, and none in 2023.  It was a relief to see this yesterday.

A couple of Banded Hairstreaks were seen as well, but too active to photograph!