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By Jeremy Hatt

I am excited to announce that ECFNC now has a Butterfly Committee! The Butterfly Committee is devoted to tracking, conserving, and educating on butterflies in Essex County.

As a brand new Committee, there is still a lot of work to be done but we have completed a few primary tasks to get things up and running!

• Created an eButterfly account for the Club to input noteworthy and historical records into the database (the Club has a similar eBird account for the same purpose).
• Created an eButterfly Project titled “Butterflies of Essex County” to gather all eButterfly data across our region. The Butterflies of Essex County Project can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/yfurkfk5.
• Created an iNaturalist Project titled “Butterflies of Essex County” to gather all butterfly sightings across our region. This is an excellent resource to browse sightings and photos of the butterflies in our area. The Butterflies of Essex County iNaturalist Project can be found here: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/butterflies-of-essex-county.

Longer-term goals:

• Publishing an annual report of notable sightings in Essex County.
• Partnering with Point Pelee National Park to help bring back an annual Point Pelee butterfly count starting in 2026.
• Holding butterfly outings in Essex County or a “Big Butterfly Weekend” to gather more data county-wide.
• Teaching members and the public about eButterfly to increase the amount of data available on butterflies in Essex County.
• Educating members and the public on native gardening to attract butterflies including planting host plants for specific species and what flowers are beneficial for nectaring.

If you are interested in getting involved w/ the Committee or have any questions/suggestions regarding the Committee, please contact me at .

Here are a few online resources to learn more about butterflies in our area:

Butterflies of Ontario: https://www.ontariobutterflies.ca/home
Ontario Butterfly Atlas: https://www.ontarioinsects.org/atlas/

By Aileen Petrozzi and photos by Ellen van Wageningen

Thank you, Brenda Taggart, Karen MacDougall and Peter Kathmann, and Megan Irwin and Roland Chaudat for hosting our first Garden Tour.  All 3 gardens were different and each of them beautiful. All gardeners stated it was work in progress. 

We started in the front yard of Brenda’s garden. Walking to the back of the property we were greeted by a canopy of beautiful trees including paw paw, hop, spicebush, redbud, and black cherry to name just a few. Some were hosts to many butterflies. There were many native plants in open spaces with ponds and a trellis that added a fairy garden feel to the area. This garden has been 25 years in the making and was just beautiful.  Brenda loves Hydrangeas and Hostas so they were intertwined in her garden.  Don’t have to stick with native or non native- put what you love in your garden.  You can definitely see the love in this garden.

Then down the road a bit was Karen and Peter’s garden.  As we walked to the back we were told about the struggles that they had with the property. We rounded the corner and there it was—the lake view to die for.  Walking towards the back there were many interesting stops including big, beautiful trees but the view drew you to the bluff.  You could take the 103 stairs straight down to Lake Erie or mix the stairs up with a path that meandered back and forth down the bluff, enjoying the plants, insects, and butterflies.  The garden on the bluff was mostly native.  Mid way down there was a spot to sit with a breeze from the lake where some of us sat and enjoyed a rest. At the bottom of the stairs there was a small beach and a little Bunkie or shed.  Karen and Peter said they come down to the beach to watch the beautiful sunsets or have dinner.   We brought our lunch and sat on the ground and benches soaking up the view and enjoying conversations.  Karen had her bird feeders out and we enjoyed the songs of many birds- cardinals, orioles, house wren and nuthatch. This garden is 10 years in the making, and they used as much recycled product as possible.  Very impressive garden and the work to restore the piece of property has taken a lot of hard work and hours.

In Harrow, was our next garden: Megan and Roland’s.  We were greeted by them both and welcomed with lemonade.  It was much appreciated with the day being very hot and sticky.  Their garden consists of 97% native plants, most of them labeled. We took the path in front with plants towering above.  This garden also had a canopy of trees: Elm, Hackberry, Hop, Hickory, Sycamore and red Cedars which were dug up from the side of road.  This garden was 3 years old, and it sure packed a lot into a small piece of property.

As you can see, 3 different properties- 25 yr old, 10yr old and a 3yr old.  All beautiful and very different.  

Great stewards of your property. We thank you again.  

By Jeremy Hatt

In honor of her insurmountable contributions to the ECFNC, the Club had a tree planted at Holiday Beach Conservation Area in tribute to Betty Learmouth. This beautiful, thriving Tulip Tree stands in the open lawn of Holiday Beach near the natural playground. On June 12, the Club held a tree unveiling for friends and family of Betty’s to see the tree and fondly remember one of our most impactful members.

Warm tributes to Betty were given by several members including Larry Onysko, Ian Naisbitt, and Paul Pratt who shared about Betty’s dedication to nature and conservation, volunteering, activism, and community science, as well as her humble demeanor and sense of humour. Betty had too many accomplishments to list, but was highly instrumental in the success of organizations like ECFNC, Little River Enhancement Group, Holiday Beach Migration Observatory, Friends of Ojibway Prairie, and Canada South Land Trust. It is highly recommend that ECFNC members look back into past issues of The Egret (available on the website) to read the many detailed articles written by Betty as well as the number of projects she was involved with. Betty’s obituary can be found at the following link: https://tinyurl.com/5e8j4wea.

After holding the memorial for Betty, members took a peaceful nature walk around the Hawk Tower where Betty spent many falls counting migrating hawks. As the sun set on a warm summer evening, members shared in Betty’s fondness of nature and community science, contributing lists and photos to eBird and iNaturalist. Highlights from the walk included singing male Prothonotary Warblers on territory, a calling Red-headed Woodpecker, a Summer Azure that allowed close pictures, and several Longnose Gar in Trout Pond.

Members left the evening feeling inspired by the tireless efforts of Betty toward the Club and a commitment to continuing her legacy.