Walker Nature Center
BRANCHING OUT
A LOOK INSIDE • Calendar 4 • Kids’ Corner 6 • Get Storm Ready 7 • Nature Camps 8
Nature Notes Reston’s Meadows: JUNE By Pam Findley
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Monarch, Eastern Tiger Swallowtail and other butterflies are seen. Wild Bleeding Heart, Butterfly Weed and Bee Balm are in bloom. Bullfrogs are calling. Elderberry and viburnum shrubs bloom. June 21—Summer Solstice – First day of summer!
JULY • • • • •
Wood Duck babies hatch. Black Cohosh, Cardinal Flower and Purple Coneflower bloom. Eastern Tent Caterpillar moths emerge from cocoons. Wild raspberries ripen. July 13-Full moon known as the Buck Moon-Supermoon.
AUGUST • • • • •
Great Spangled Fritillary butterflies are seen. Black-eyed Susans and Coral Bells are in bloom. Listen for katydids and annual cicadas in the evening. Blackberries are ripe. August 12-Full moon known as Green Corn Moon-Last Supermoon of 2022.
Fifty Ways to Restoration By Susan Sims
Birds chirp and sing. Flowers share their sweet scent, and the fields pop with color and texture as the summer sun warms the meadows of Reston. Summer signals the height of growth and rich diversity in the 50 meadows spread throughout the natural areas managed by Reston Association. Meadows are open field areas defined by a predominance of grasses and wildflowers. They provide many restorative benefits for wildlife and people. Reston’s meadows are found along trails or roadways. Often, they have a mowed edge to delineate their boundaries from a turf area. Without resource management, meadows would eventually be overtaken by trees, shrubs and shade-loving species due to natural succession.
However, two exceptions are the one-acre meadows at Purple Beech and Stones Throw Drives. A great place to explore this type of habitat is at the much larger meadow that grows along the transcontinental pipeline off Fox Mill Rd, near the soccer field. It is a designated Monarch Waystation that provides milkweed host plants for caterpillars and other nectar rich wildflowers to sustain adult butterflies during their migration.
Active meadow management promotes biodiversity and provides important habitat for pollinators. Most of Reston’s meadows are small “pocket” meadows that measure under one acre in size.
Much of the eastern United States meadowlands have been absorbed by woodlands through a process called successional growth as birds spread seeds, shrubs grow, and trees enter the meadow area.
Habitat Revival
Meadows can naturally occur where land meets water, along forest edges or where it is challenging for large trees to grow such as on land that is susceptible to wildfires.
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Summer | 23 | Volume Twenty-three