Great Spangled Fritillary Butterfly Speyeria cybele, by Ron Rowan

On July 19^th at 11am at the Urquhart Butterfly Garden, Dundas, Matt Mills will be discussing Butterfly Gardening for Everyone: from Backyards to Balconies.

Matt has been interested in butterflies and their habits for almost 20 years, and has a great deal of knowledge about gardening for butterflies. He specializes in the use of native pl;ants to attract pollinators but will also discuss valuable cultivated varieties.

“No space is too small for butterfly gardening – provided it gets some afternoon sun” said Matt. “Not everyone has the space to grow a garden of native plants and shrubs, but there are many compact annuals which are highly attractive to butterflies and can be grown in containers and window boxes.” He continued, “However, it is important to be very selective because some flowers smell and look terrific but do not provide the nectar which pollinators require”.

Get the scoop on butterfly gardening from an expert on Saturday July 19^th, 11 am, at the Urquhart Butterfly Garden, Dundas.

Butterflies need all the help we can give them.

This summer, we invite you to participate in the Urquhart Butterfly Garden (UBG) Photo Contest. Take your camera for a walk in the garden and share your best photos with us. We especially invite youth to participate. Courtesy of Burlington Camera, we have two cameras available for loan to groups or individuals who need them, just contact us at urquhartbutterfly@gmail.com to arrange for a time.

Entry categories:
1 – Butterflies and moths
2 – Insects, Spiders, and Bugs,
3 – Birds and Other Wildlife
4 – Plants and Flowers

Entrants:
Youth 10 – 17
Adult 18+
Please read on for contest details and how to enter.

Awards:
First Prize in Butterfly Category $100 cash
Other First Prizes Gift Certificates to value of $100
Second Prizes Gift Certificates to value of $50

Awards courtesy of:
First Ontario Credit Union; the Hamilton Conservation Authority; Royal Botanical Gardens; Canadian Tire Dundas & others.

Award Ceremony and Exhibit:
The Award Ceremony will take place at 2 p.m. on Saturday September 20, 2014 at the Air Force Club on King Street East in Dundas. There will be an exhibition of the photographs for three days prior to the ceremony and 3 days afterwards.

Judges:
Sandy Bell Conservation Authority; Julie Bridger, Dundas Valley School of Art; Cathie Coward, Hamilton Spectator, Hamilton.

Judging criteria will include:
originality; composition; artistic merit & technical skill

Rules:
– Photos must be taken from the paths of the Urquhart Butterfly Garden between July 5, 2014 & August 30, 2014
– Photos are to be submitted without any digital editing beyond cropping, adjustments to exposure, sharpness, and minor colour correction.
– Entries must be received no later than August 30, 2014
– 2 photos per category (maximum 8)
– The Urquhart Butterfly garden reserve the right to use the photographs, with credit, on our web site, in an exhibition, and finalists may be published in the local newspapers. Images remain the copyright of the photographer

To enter:
In body of email include the following information: Name; Address; Telephone number; Age (if 17 or under); Date and time of day each photo was taken; plus please make a concerted effort to identify the species which is the subject of each photograph.

Entries must be received by email as digital files at urquhartbutterfly@gmail.com no later than midnight August 30.

Photos should be:
a) jpeg format
b) maximum horizontal size 1800 pixels and minimum horizontal size 1200 Pixels
c) maximum vertical size 1200 pixels and minimum vertical size 800 pixels
d) minimum resolution set at 200 ppi
f) maximum of 5mb in size

Good Luck!

Surprised Eastern Chipmunk, by Michelle Sharp

Building on the success of last year’s Summer Education Series, this year, the Urquhart Butterfly Garden will be hosting two exciting programs: A photography contest and a series of nature interpretation walks. The interpretive program will begin in July, while the photography contest will begin on June 15th. We will be releasing more details as the season advances, but for now here’s a taste of what’s to come:

The interpretive walks will be led by Matt Mills, a skilled naturalist and public educator based in Dundas, and other naturalists who will focus on particular themes, such as Dragonflies or Spiders. The UBG is quite compact but very diverse, making it an ideal site for discovery without requiring much walking.

The photography contest seeks to build on and highlight the community of photographers who have already made the UBG a popular destination for their craft. There will be two divisions, adults and youth under 18, each with three categories: butterflies, other insects (spiders, centipedes, and such included), and birds. A first and second prize will be awarded in each category, and photos will be displayed in September.

Keep checking back here for more details on these programs! You can also get updates on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Urquhart-Butterfly-Garden/677434358948946

Baltimore Checkerspot, by Michelle Sharp

As the soil thaws after a long, harsh winter, a new season is beginning in the Urquhart Butterfly Garden. We are excited to build on the success of last year’s Summer Education Series and to welcome even more people to the garden this year to meet the plants and creatures that call it home.

One of those creatures, the Baltimore Checkerspot, is being celebrated on the front cover of The Wood Duck, the journal of the Hamilton Naturalists Club. This rare little butterfly was spotted in the garden for the first time last year. The photograph of the Baltimore Checkerspot on this post was taken by Michelle Sharp, whose work is also featured in the Wood Duck.

This issue of the Wood Duck also includes the results of the 2013 butterfly study, detailing the which butterflies were seen when and where in the city last year. Look for Michelle’s amazing picture of an American Snout taken in the UBG this past October! The full issue of the Wood Duck is available for download at the HNC website: http://hamiltonnature.org/publications/wood-duck/

We’ll be posting updates here about sightings and programing in the garden, so keep checking back. Or find us on Facebook!