Multicoloured Asian Ladybird, Harmonia Axyridis

Day 206: Harmonia axyridis has more common names than it has spot patterns, notably "Hallowe'en ladybug," "harlequin lady beetle," "multicoloured Asian ladybird" and assorted variations on those and other themes. It can appear in an entirely red or orange form, or it can have as many as 22 spots on its shell. The identifying feature which sorts it out in the field is its size. It is quite possibly the largest ladybug you'll see in the Pacific Northwest. A typical specimen (i.e., one which shows numerous distinctive markings) will have a white pronotum marked with black, as is the case here.

Introduced to the US to help control aphids and scale insects, these ladybirds frequently appear in large numbers during the spring and fall. Despite their abundance, they are not considered an invasive species, although anyone who's ever picked 38 of them off their shower walls before having a wash as I once did might disagree with that assessment.

The Business End

Day 204: The term isn't used much in today's vocabulary, but fifty years ago, you might have heard a shovel described as an "idiot stick," which is to say it has a blade on one end and an idiot on the other. In some regions, it applied to other manual tools as well, the principle being exactly the same regardless of what the "business end" might look like. I tend to think of weed-wrenches in much the same light. You have to be a few crackers short of a barrel to volunteer for a weed-wrenching work party, and I guess I qualify as prime crumb material. I spent the morning pulling Scotch broom with a weed wrench as part of a Nisqually Land Trust restoration project at Powell Creek near Yelm. The idea is simple: you set the jaws so that the stem of the offending weed is between them, then step on the tip of the tool and pull back on the lever which closes the jaws on the stalk. Once the stalk is pinched (sometimes not as easy as it sounds), you lean on the lever using the ground as your fulcrum, and if Archimedes is smiling, the earth moves as the roots are withdrawn. That's the theory, anyway. In practice, it's never that simple. The jaws slip, the stalk breaks, leaving the roots in the ground, thereby ensuring that you'll have a job again next spring. That said, we removed a lot of the nasty stuff, but it may be days before I can stand upright again.

Yelm Shoreline Planting

Day 16: After roughly eight months of being on the injured list with a hip issue, I finally felt sufficiently recovered to join one of the Nisqually Land Trust's work parties. Oh, it felt good to be back on the end of a shovel again! We couldn't have asked for better soil in which to plant: friable, rockless, eminently easy to dig once you got through the sod of canary grass. Therein lies the problem. Canary grass is an invasive which takes hold in open areas and quickly proliferates. The best way to eliminate it is to shade it out. Admittedly, this solution takes years, but it is the most effective for the long term.

Forty-three volunteers (about half of them Cub Scouts) put 150 Douglas firs and shore pines in the ground in three hours. A few of us (the diehard core membership) stayed behind to install protective sleeves around each seedling. The white plastic tubes will prevent rodent damage, one of the major reasons for die-off among newly planted trees. They will be removed two or three years from now after the trees are fully established.

Weed Killer Weekly

Day 12: You can't blame us for getting a little goofy after the job was done. After all, it doesn't happen very often that you leave home for a work party under a forecast of "heavy rain and strong, gusty winds" only to arrive at the job site under blue skies and warm temperatures. Oh, the storm came in as predicted, but by the time it arrived, I was sitting here processing the photos from the event.

This little corner of Nisqually Land Trust property is now ready to be planted with native species. The little Scotch broom which remains will soon be shaded out by snowberry, twinberry, native willows and a variety of other trees and shrubs scheduled to go in the ground in November. Our efforts today met with the approval of a Chickadee overseer whose cheerful commentary was as welcome as the sunshine. He seemed to know we were working hard to restore his habitat.

Happy Birthday, National Park Service!

Day 328: August 25 marks the 98th birthday of the National Park Service, and we'd like you to come to the party! On the 25th (tomorrow), entrance fees will be waived at all 401 National Parks across the country, so come out and enjoy the day. Take a hike, catch a campfire talk, bring your kids and encourage them to earn a Junior Ranger badge! There are activities for all ages in a Park near you. Happy birthday to us!

Party Fare

 Day 325: Just a word of advice: if you get a party invitation from me, you'd better read the fine print. My favourite kind of party is a WORK PARTY, and I have a big one coming up. The Nisqually Land Trust has made a generous loan of ten weed wrenches for the event, and the Park's Volunteer Program has invested in extra bow saws in the knowledge that I'll be calling for them again. We've borrowed lopping shears from Maintenance, and I have a crew of twenty adults and ten youngsters coming in on Sunday to remove the small alders encroaching on the campground road. Lemme tell ya, the Crow knows how to party!