Today’s nature walk with Miles Hearn took place along the Don Valley. We met at the foot of Beechwood Drive, near the place known as Crother’s Woods. This area was named after the Crothers Caterpillar company which operated until 1979 on a site where a Loblaws now sits. They later moved up to Vaughan and are now called Toromont. My late father-in-law George Gregory worked for Crothers for many many years. He started in an entry-level position and worked his way up to VP.

This is a beautiful time of year to walk through this area, as there are so many wildflowers in bloom. I’m included pictures of several of them in this post. One of the first we noticed was Bindweed, the precursor to the flower we know as morning glory (not to be confused with the yummy Vietnamese green which also goes by that name).

Bird Vetch and Crown Vetch are not related, even though they share part of a name. We saw plenty of both this morning.

Those common whitish butterflies with the black or grey splotches are called Cabbage Butterflies.

Canada Thistles present a delightful contrast between soft and prickly.

I learned today that female Staghorn Sumachs are the ones with the flowers turning red. The flowers on the males stay whitish.

This robin just enjoyed a bath in the river.

Chicory is a reliable and very pretty wildflower, widespread in our area.

Creeping bellflower are pretty but can be invasive.

Catbirds were calling all morning….

Daisy fleabane…

Lots of goldfinch around. This one was showing off close-by.

This Rose-breased goldfinch sang and sang. We finally spotted it.

Motherwort….

Bird on a wire….

The Timothy was loaded with pollen….

And finally, the very pretty St. John’s Wort