A Cast of Small Characters

Painted Lady: Even in a small outdoor space, such as the confines of our condo yard area and deck, you can, with a bit of thought and planning, attract a remarkable variety of pollinators and other interesting garden insects.  We have Joe Pye Weed in a large container. This dramatic blossom brings out the butterflies, such as this painted lady.  Bumblebees love it as well and I sometimes find them sleeping on it early in the morning right where they spent the night.

Golden Digger Wasp: If I could have five acres of oregano, I would.  If you let it run to flower, you will be visited by a delightful mob of charming and colorful freeloaders.  Wasps, such as this Golden Digger, go around and around the blossom clusters endlessly.

Carpenter Bee: When it rains they get wet.  This carpenter bee spent a long, cold night on our citronella following a recent, heavy downpour.  Many people mistake the large and common carpenters for bumblebees, but they don’t mind in the least what you call them.  If you have flowers that they like, they will stop by every day.

Paper Wasp: This paper wasp is of a different species from the one most commonly found on the large, gray nests you see under house eaves, but they are very similar in every way.  They are not at all aggressive and are very beneficial to gardeners because they dine on nectar themselves and hunt for small caterpillars to feed their ever-growing brood.

Fiery Skipper: If butterflies don’t make you smile then maybe you shouldn’t be gardening after all.  Skippers are common in this area, and fortunately the Fiery, like living origami, is one of the most routine you are likely to encounter.  They can be practically tame once they get used to your presence in their luncheonette, so you can see them up close and watch them fold and unfold with relative ease.

Scoliid Wasp |  Hairstreak Butterfly | Thread-waisted Wasp & Sand Wasp: Mention apple mint to some people and they will scorn you.  It runs.  It grows tired.  But during July and August, it serves as the meeting, greeting and eating place of many pollinators, both in numbers and in varieties.  It is not unusual to see two or more species dining in peace - or sometimes not - on the same flower head.  It’s comical to see a tiny leafcutter bee attacking a larger species, much like a mockingbird harassing a crow.

Black Wasp: Many people are frightened of bees and wasps, but the truth is they are generally no more interested in you than your teenagers are.  All they care about is what there is to eat.  In this area, the most aggressive species are the ground-nesting hornets, and they are primarily woodland dwellers.  Dangerous-looking species such as this large Black wasp will sting only if seriously provoked, and will most often use its wings to flee any contact.  Obviously, if you have any known allergies, then you should definitely keep your distance.

Green-eyed Wasp: Another plant I’d like to have planted in five acres is this beautiful flowering garlic.  Some of my more uncommon visitors, like this exotic Green-eyed wasp visit it - and not much else - during the season.  They are very striking animals, and extremely fast.  They can appear to disappear like a magician’s trick.  Keep in mind that where you live, meaning the surrounding habitat, has everything to do with which species can visit you.  But if you build your little garden with the right plants, they will find you, and as I have mentioned before, the insects you see next summer will be the offspring of the ones you fed this summer.

Guest writer: Robert Brown, LRNow Stewardship and Access Committee

Armor your Shorelines & Prevent Erosion!

Shoreline erosion is the natural process of sediment displacement, but too much erosion can be damaging to almost all aspects of aquatic ecosystems, as well as to your property value. Erosion occurs when sediment such as rock or soil is displaced by both natural elements and anthropogenic activities - wind, water, boat wake and construction, etc

Figure 1: Muddy waters of the Lynnhaven River
http://www.chesapeakebay.net/blog/keyword/Rivers_and_Streams

Signs of erosion include bare soil areas lacking vegetation, muddy water, collapsing banks, and gradual shoreline retreat - all of which lead to decreased water quality and unhealthy ecosystems. See Figure 1 for erosion in the Lynnhaven River. 


There IS a solution to shoreline erosion!


"Living Shorelines"

Living shorelines are Virginia's preffered method of shoreline management (over bulkhead or riprap), and they are a creative and proven approach to protecting tidal shorelines from erosion. They do this by slowing down the erosion process and maintaining a sturdy shoreline. The technique usually consists of filling and grading the bank and planting native wetland plants and grasses, shrubs, and trees at various points along the tidal water line. Along with the benefits of reducing erosion and property loss, living shorelines also increase biodiversity, improve water quality, and provide an attractive, natural appearance. To learn more about living shoreline benefits visit The Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) "Shoreline Site." 

If you think your property could benefit from a living shoreline, email Trista or call (757)962-5398 to set up a free consultation appointment at your property. (Living shorelines or other shoreline treatments usually require a permit from VMRC, and will not be ready for construction until the following spring.)

Here is an example of a recent living shoreline project
on the Lynnhaven River

Before

After

Find more information regarding living shorelines and plans of action below!

• Do I have an erosion problem?
• Living shoreline research
• What plants are suitable for living shorelines?
• Living shoreline permit information
• Living shoreline design class

For questions, comments or concerns - visit Lynnhaven River NOW or call (757) 962-5398

Blog Composed by Thomas O'Hara - Lynnhaven River NOW Intern

Everybody Shows Up to the Party Hungry

Everybody Shows Up to the Party Hungry

This large leafcutter bee is a serious pollen magnet.  Most of it goes to feed her brood, but some, by chance, is transferred to the flowers it feeds on. Most pollen is not as large as that of these Indian Blankets.  If you have an area of full sun, these are terrific flowers to attract  pollinators.

In February when you were looking out the window at the snow and daydreaming about summer, June is the month you were probably imagining.  It is the “What is so rare as a day in” month.  By now most of your early annual flowers, bulbs and spring ephemerals, have bloomed and gone, but the big, sturdy summer blossoms are opening up and serving the vast insect public as meeting place, restaurant, cheap motel and nursery.

If you search around you’ll find orb weaver spiders, smaller than coriander seed, that by October will be the size of Concord grapes if your Carolina Wren doesn’t find them first.  You’ll find nymphs of all sorts, from leafhoppers to katydids. Some of these creatures bear no resemblance at all to the adult, but some do appear strikingly similar in form to their parents.  Caterpillars begin to munch your delicious herbs and tender leaves, and paper wasps begin to munch the caterpillars in order to feed their brood.  Nothing is safe out there. 

June brings in the “solitary” hunting wasps which have spent the last 10 months in burrows which their mothers dug for them the previous summer. Their life cycles are very similar to the mining bees I have described in a previous entry, with the notable exception of the type of provision they make for their offspring.

  The sand wasp is one of the earliest of the solitary hunting wasps to emerge, 

                                        normally around the beginning of June.  The females of this species have                                                    relatively long lives that last well into July.

These wasps emerge around the end of May and spend a few weeks eating nectar, finding mates, and maturing, after which the females settle down to the hard work of being a single mother. (For the males, this is a delirious, festive period, like spring break in Cancun, except they never make it back to class. In the insect world, this is by no means an uncommon fate for the boys of summer.) When fully matured, the females generally dig tunnels in the same area where they were born. This is normally a barren, sunny place also busy with other wasps of the same species nearby doing the exact same thing.  These animals are communal, but not social in the way paper wasps are.  Each adult is responsible for her own nest entirely.   

Not coincidentally, their arrival is timed to coincide with the maturing of the nectar-rich blossoms they require for energy, which they in turn help pollinate, and the maturing of the prey they hunt to provide for their future young.  Each type of hunting wasp recognizes only a narrow range of prey species, be it cricket, katydid or caterpillar.  You might think of these  wasps as the prom queens of pollination: beautiful, athletic, and, without knowing it, ruthless.  We will check back in on them in July when the dance is in full, mad swing.

Pollination is not something insects do on purpose. This little Eastern

bumblebee is ensuring the next generation of clover while at her task

of gathering nectar and pollen to feed herself and her growing young.

June is also the happy month that the little Eastern Bumblebees becomes your garden companions, almost like small yellow-and-black puppies. Unlike honeybees, which have armies of people and wheelbarrows full of  dollars working on their behalf, bumblebees of all types are in trouble to one degree or another due to habitat loss and chemical interference.  Most of their help comes from individuals, who garden with them in mind, together with scattered, small organizations who work on their behalf.  Bumblebees are generalists, but it’s easy to find out what flowers they prefer and all kinds of excellent information is available at the link below.  Don’t want to read any more?  Grow hyssop!  Grow salvia!  Grow sunflowers!  (Who knows, maybe the Tour de France will ride by.)   

The wonderfully named Fiery Skipper is just one of the butterflies you

can attract with just a simple, compact garden. Butterflies pick up

pollen on various parts of their anatomy and carry it on to the next 

flower they visit.

http://bumblebeeconservation.org/

Native Pollinators: Part 3 - The Merry Merry Month

Many people never think of paper wasps as pollinators, but many species are.  This is Polistes annularis, a relatively common woodland/suburban resident.  In addition to foraging for nectar, they also hunt small insects and caterpillars.

One way to think of May is that it is August in reverse.  Cinco de Mayo and cinco de Augusto are, in terms of the length of the day and the angle of the sun, equidistant from the summer solstice.  May is the final meteorological month of spring, no matter what the Julian calendar claims, and nature knows it.

Meet the Gray Bee Fly, one of May's little zooming gems.  Like many of the nectaring fly species, they are able to hover and change flight angles in seemingly impossible ways.

Those earliest bees, such as certain species of Andrena mentioned previously, have already built and provisioned their nesting tunnels and passed on.  Their progeny will now use the long warm weeks to nibble the pollen and honey cakes their mothers have prepared and left them. In this way they pass through their various larval stages and fatten themselves up for the long pupal stage and final metamorphosis. These latter transformations take place during the cold months. Every calorie required for this process is left them in those amazing honey cakes and these offspring will not see daylight for another ten months.  But Mom thought of everything.

"Variegated fritillary" is not just fun to say, it is also a real animal and a close cousin of the rock star Monarch butterfly.  The butterflies that show up in spring are the ones that spent the winter as a chrysalis.  These adults reproduce to give rise to an intermediate, summer generation.  Some butterfly species generate several "intermediates" prior to winter, though many are very long-lived as individuals.

This life-cycle story is similar for most of the solitary bees no matter when they emerge during the season, and no matter where they nest.   

From a distance, this syrphid fly resembles a honeybee.  As a defensive mechanism, many syrphid (flower) flies are amazing mimics of other species of bees and wasps, difficult to distinguish even up close.  Hard-working syrphids tend to be generalists in their nectaring habits, making them useful to many plants.

May ushers in the era of the big, long-lasting blossoms which require a good deal of light, heat and water to fuel their slow development. The myriad insects that inhabit and animate the summer also begin to emerge.  Right now is a good time to hunt around your garden for the larval forms of insects such as ladybugs.  These larva are beneficial in that they prey on the same aphids as their parents.  Bees and flies still predominate the pollination scene in May, but the paper wasps are busy crafting their durable, papyrus nurseries, and mature beetles, butterflies and moths can now begin to depend on the blossoms they require for nutrition and find the host plants they need for reproduction.  May is also an excellent time to tune up your native bee spotting and identification skills.  It’s not too hot and your garden has not yet been chewed, sawed, blighted and roasted.  It’s lovely out there.

A water source is an important constituent of any garden setting. Paper wasps need water to create their papyrus, but other insects require fresh water as well.

There are mining bees, bumble bees, sweat bees, leafcutter bees, large and small carpenter bees, cuckoo bees. mason bees, digger bees and all sorts of highly specialized bees that only nectar on specific plants.  It is neither as bewildering as it might seem and much easier than you might suspect.  If you have some native, flowering plants or a small assortment of flowering herbs such as dill, catnip, oregano, thyme or basil, you don’t need to go chasing the beautiful pollinators, let these plant bloom and they will come to you.  All you have to do then is pay a little bit of attention to when the insects show up, pull up a chair and enjoy the show.

Slow-flying butterflies are easy targets for predators such as birds, but their wings provide some defense by tearing easily without impairing the rest of the animal.  I have seen butterflies with heavy damage to both wings still managing to go about life. This is a Red-spotted Purple Swallowtail.

But really, when all is said and done, you don’t have to name them or classify them or count them or even notice them for that matter.  What matters is that you create a space where they can thrive and let them do their timeless work.  In the garden shop, look for plants that attract butterflies and bees.  And I am not a “native” absolutist by any means.  If the insects like it, it’s part of the solution. 

Not all natives, such as this stinging spurge nettle, belong in your garden, but left where they do belong they support pollinators of all sorts, such as this Palamedes Swallowtail.  The Palamedes is the most common woodland swallowtail seen throughout the spring and summer in First Landing State Park.

Guest writer: Robert Brown, LRNow Stewardship and Access Committee

Native Pollinators Part 2: The Pioneers of April

Huge grains of pine pollen cover everything for awhile in April.

The Lynnhaven watershed occupies a fortunate location where extremes of weather are rare and generally short, and flora and fauna of all varieties can count on the same conditions month in and month out, nearly every year. However, those species which emerge at the spring seasonal margin must be hardy in order to survive April’s weather fluctuations. The earliest-emerging native bees, for instance, have fur coats, reserves of stored energy and live in protective shelters. But generally speaking, by April, nature starts opening the grocery store and the wild rush of seasonal shopping gets under way.

Delicate shadbush (or Serviceberry) blossoms provide brief sustenance for pollinators such as hover flies.

Things move along quickly in April as the days lengthen and the earth warms. I kept a thumbnail list of what I saw as it appeared. So on April 1st I noticed the buds in the very tops of trees were beginning to color and quicken; on the 2nd a carpenter bee noisily inspected me; on the 3rd, a paper wasp prowled our garden; on the 5th a Prothonotary warbler, an Eastern bumblebee, and a very early, very tiny butterfly; on the 6th the first of the fleeting Shadbush blooms; on the 10th “our” Five-lined skink, a big female, came out to lounge and sun herself on the front porch; on the 15th the exotic Sweetleaf blossoms began to open and bumblebees showed up to notice; and on the 17th I saw the first dragonflies, dining on insects too small to see, as well as an early Swallowtail butterfly. 

Of course all this activity depends on the food web and that web has as its foundation the emerging stems, leaves and flowers of native plants. With rare exception, native pollinators are not attracted to non-native species. 

Though non-native, dandelions sustain a variety of insects during the chilly months, especially in suburban areas.  Here we see a pollen-laden Andrena mining-bee moving to another blossom.

By and large, April is the province of the furry bees, such as mason bees, mining bees and bumble and carpenter bees, but they have vast armies of help in the pollinating work they do. Jewel-like Syrphid flies, known collectively by names like “flower flies” and “hover flies,” begin their emergence. Paper wasps that survived the winter as adults try to find mates and begin to forage for nectar while beginning their work as master builders. There are also many types of beetles and bugs that contribute to the pollination. Almost all of these animals become active on any day the temperature reaches 50 degrees Fahrenheit, but all have strategies to cope with the variability of the April weather.

The beautiful blossoms of the Eastern Redbud attract bumblebees and other pollinators.

Some of these individuals, notably the mining bees, will spend only 6 to 8 weeks as free-roaming, working adults. Others, like the large and durable carpenter, have relatively long lives lasting for months. Collectively, these are the animals that show up when the weather is often bad, the work is difficult and life is dangerous. You have to be tough and resourceful to be an April insect.

Among the many dangers pollinators face is the presence of predators, such as this assassin bug seen here on a Common Sweetleaf bud.

Guest writer: Robert Brown, LRNow Stewardship and Access Committee

Catch that Spat!

This year's spat catcher program has supplied the Lynnhaven River with 1,876 new oysters to continue growing, filtering, and reproducing in the river! 

Every year, volunteers around the watershed hang small wire cages (10"x 10" x 6") from their docks. One cage is filled with oyster shells while the other cage is filled with crushed concrete. The cages remain hanging from the docks for about 6 months from June through January. Volunteers pull their cages out of the water every month or so, give them a few shakes to keep them from becoming too muddy, and then put them back in the water to continue growing.

From about mid-June through October or November, oysters reproduce in the river and spat (larvae) floating through the water during this time discover the cages and settle on this substrate.

In January, once oysters stop actively growing for the winter, volunteers pull their cages out of the water and bring them to us. We then sift through lots of marsh critters and mud to count the number of spat from each cage. The point of counting the spat is to help us better understand the distribution of spat throughout the river, based on the location of each volunteer's cage.

"Marsh critters"

During the very successful 2014 spat catching season we discovered all kinds of interesting creatures scattered among the cages, including feather blennies, oyster toadfish, striped killifish, a black-fingered mud crab, and much more. Thanks to all of the hard work put forth by our volunteers, we are thrilled to announce that the total number of oyster spat collected by all fifteen volunteers was 1,876 spat! 951 of those were found in the shell cages while the other 925 spat were in the cages with crushed concrete. After the spat was counted, they were then placed on a sanctuary reef near First Landing State Park. 

Using the data collected we have found an increase in the amount of oyster spat in the river. In 2013, the total number of spat collected by all 25 volunteers was 1,319, including 520 from the Elizabeth River. These numbers give us a good indication that spat settlement in the Lynnhaven River during the summer of 2014 was better than during the summer of the previous year, which is great news! This also means that our 2014 oyster restoration projects probably fared well with natural spat settlement!

This data also helped confirm that crushed concrete can perform very well as a substitute for shell in future oyster reef restoration projects. Crushed concrete is a great alternative to limited and expensive oyster shell. 

Number of Spat Collected in 2013 & 2014:

	2013	2014
# Spat Shell Cage	499	951
# Spat Concrete Cage	820	925
Total # Spat	1,319 (520 from Elizabeth River)	1,876

You can read more about the spat catcher program in the Virginian Pilot Beacon article written by Mary Reid Barrow here. 

We couldn't make this program happen without our volunteers! If you would like to become a volunteer for the Spat Catcher Program please contact our Restoration Project Coordinator, Meredith Malone.

Written by: Emily Bodsford
Edited by: Meredith Malone and Trista Imrich

Balloon Debris Isn't Litter? Wildlife Disagrees, and so Do We!

In Virginia, though a balloon would be considered litter if it were thrown from a car window, if up to 50 of them are purposely released, they are not considered litter. We began the discussion about balloons and the dangers they pose to the environment and wildlife last year when the issue of balloons as litter went before our local city legislature. Though this bill was passed at a local level, due to the Dillon Rule, it must now go to the state level for approval, and it needs continued support. Bill SB1107 has being introduced by Sen. Jeff McWaters and is currently awaiting a vote in the Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources Committee. Considering the danger that these balloons, their strings, and other accessories can pose to wildlife, Lynnhaven River NOW strongly supports the ban on balloon releases. Find out who your legislator is here, and let them know that you support banning intentional balloon releases.

http://balloonsblow.org/photo-gallery/guillemot

You can find more information about the bill here.

There is more information regarding each side of the issue available at these sites:

• Balloons Blow... Don't Let Them Go! 
• The Balloon Council 

http://balloonsblow.org/photo-gallery

Blog composed by Trista Imrich, Pearl Homes Coordinator, Lynnhaven RIver NOW

Resolve to be Pearly in 2015!

So much of the progress we have made in restoring our waterways is a result of the great work our residents are doing to change their practices and adopt more sustainable behaviors. These PEARL HOMES are all over Virginia Beach. PEARL HOMES are places where people care about our community and our environment and want to do what they can to live responsibly and help protect our resources

Since 2012, we have been working with homeowners to change their practices and adopt more sustainable behaviors. We have already reached just over 2,000 pearl homes in Virginia Beach, and are adding new folks all the time.

If you are already doing 15 of these practices, you qualify to become a Pearl Home!

Pledge to "Scoop the Poop" if you are a pet owner Installed a "Scoop the Poop" sticker on my black trash can  Reduced my lawn area and converted it to a planted bed  Chose native plants for my landscape and avoided invasive species  Did not feed ducks and geese  Planted a tree  Switched from bottled water to a reusable water bottle that I refill  Buy locally made products whenever possible  Consistently use reusable grocery bags  Helped with one of LRNow's River Cleanups during the past year  Installed Lynnhaven River storm drain markers in my neighborhood  Installed a rain barrel or cistern to reduce the runoff from my property  Installed a rain garden to reduce runoff, hold storm water and give it a chance to infiltrate  Grew oysters for our conservation reefs  Drove fewer miles, consciously eliminating unnecessary trips, used public transportation or a bicycle  Chose a more fuel efficient vehicle Consistently recycle or reuse  Reduced my fertilizer use to be more water friendly Pumped out the holding tank on my boat  Display a River Keeper sticker on my boat  Switched to marine approved cleaning products for my boat  Became a member of Lynnhaven River NOW and helped support our work  Serve on one of LRNow's Committees  Installed a Buffer Garden between my lawn and the waterway or between my lawn and the street  Installed a programmable thermostat or purchased energy efficient appliances  Installed low-flow faucets and/or toilets  Did an energy efficiency renovation on my home (new windows, increased insulation, new heating and air conditioning system, etc)  Dispose of hazardous waste properly (batteries, paint, etc)  Heard an LRNow presentation at my Civic League, Garden Club, Rotary or other civic organization (email trista@lrnow.org to set this up!)  Participated in a LRNow workshop or program  Communicated with one of my elected officials about an environmental issue  Composted leaves, grass clippings and kitchen waste  Raised the mower blades to 3 inches or higher to keep the lawn a little longer and healthier  Turned off the sprinklers and irrigated less frequently, only when really needed  Got a soil test before applying any fertilizer  Kept the gutter area in front of my home clear of dirt, leaves and debris to prevent these from going into the storm water drain  Redirected my downspout into a planted bed away from paved surfaces  Installed pervious pavers in place of concrete or blacktop  Created a backyard habitat for wildlife  Switched to an electric mower or a push mower  Keep a grease can in my kitchen and reduced or eliminated my use of the garbage disposal  Line dry my laundry whenever possible  Recruited a new Pearl Home  Installed a living shoreline  Grow some of my own fruits and vegetables  Turn off lights and appliances when not in use

You can apply here online, or fill out an application at our office (3663 Marlin Bay Dr, Brock Environmental Center) or at one of our events.