The Wrack

Encountering thousands of itty bitty jumping bugs on a lunch jaunt.

Doing a butterfly sit instead of a bird walk.

Last week, a group of sixteen devoted volunteers set to work to rescue the eggs and caterpillars of the Monarch Butterfly. Within the next week or two, many of the fields at the Wells Reserve at Laudholm will be mowed. Annual mowing of select fields is necessary to prevent important field habitat from growing up into forests, and to combat the spread of invasive species. The mowing is done in late summer, after field nesting birds like the Bobolink have finished rearing their young.

I was out on the salt marsh this morning — the sun-baked, no-shade Little River marsh — to learn a bit about Jenn Dijkstra's research and couldn't help but notice a number of winged creatures. The mosquitoes weren't too bad (they were worse in the woods on the walk down), but as soon as I reached the research transect an early green-headed horse fly sortied to my left shin. The menacing tabanid maneuvered around my counter-strikes, making several quick attacks before succumbing to an overwhelming force. I usually think of greenheads as a July annoyance, so I was unpleasantly surprised to have to battle this one.

With the crafts festival right around the corner, the time to mow fields for parking is approaching. Unfortunately, some of the parking fields are full of milkweed and monarchs. Fortunately, this is a good time to cut the fields to encourage strong regeneration next year.

In the past couple of weeks, it's been hard not to notice the bright yellow plastic cards that have appeared in clumps of vegetation. Yesterday, I caught up with the guy who has been hanging and collecting them, field research entomologist Phil Stack. He filled me in; they are traps for catching fruit flies.

Volunteer naturalist Eileen Willard spotted this Goldsmith Beetle (Cotalpa lanigera) outside the Visitor Center on May 31 and telephoned insect enthusiast Brandon Woo to tell him about it. Brandon came and photographed the uncommon insect.

We were at the site last Sunday and enjoyed the trails... Both my husband and I are hikers and have proper gear however my husband was bitten all over exposed areas... by groups of small flies (or type of mosquito) I am not sure. They did not bite me but did land on my head gear and blouse. Can you tell me what type of inconvenient bugs these are? Southern Maine has no shortage of…

One icehouse chrysalis has become translucent and a near-adult monarch is now visible through the case. Thanks, Laura L, for the irresistible photographic update.…

The Reserve's milkweed feeds multitudes of monarch larvae. The adult butterflies seem to be especially abundant this summer and signs that they're reproducing are commonplace. The clapboard siding of the icehouse has proven popular with monarch caterpillars. Here, a newly formed chrysalis conceal…