Muddy Brook WMA, Hardwick, 7/23

[Wendy Howes]

Three of us met up for a spontaneous walk at Muddy Brook Wildlife Management Area in Hardwick today. We checked the roadsides (Patrill Hollow Road) and the fields on the south side. One had just been mowed so was unproductive, but the other places we checked were attracting butterflies and pollinators with buttonbush and what looked like a form of knapweed. Joe-pye-weed and goldenrod were not quite in bloom yet, and there was little, if any, milkweed.

We probably missed some because of distractions by birds, odonates, and conversation.

2 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

1 Summer Azure (later, on north side of WMA)

11 Great Spangled Fritillary

2-3 Pearl Crescent

2-4 Question Mark

2 Viceroy

1 Monarch

1 Silver-spotted Skipper

1 European Skipper

2-4 Northern Broken Dash

1 Little Glassywing, possibly more

2 Mulberry Wing

4-6 Dun Skipper

Wendy Howes 

Hardwick