Ontario Nature Blog

For breakfast this morning, I had the pleasure of attending a science briefing on neonicotinoid insecticides (neonics) presented by Dr. Jean-Marc Bonmatin, vice-chair of the international Task Force on Systemic Pesticides. Hosted by the David Suzuki Foundation at Queens Park, the breakfast event was sponsored by MPPs Marie-France Lalonde and Peter Tabuns, and attended by ...

Read More

Much of the discussion around neonicotinoids focuses on agriculture, but the horticulture industry also uses these chemicals. In a 2014 Friends of the Earth study of flowers for sale at garden centres in Canada, more than 50 percent of the tested plants contained traces of at least one neonicotinoid. Most shocking was that many of ...

Read More

In her article in the spring 2015 issue of ON Nature, Lorraine Johnson demonstrates how neighbours are creating pollinator habitat and restoring ecological connections in towns, suburbs and cities across the province. She provides the example of Palmerston Square Pollinator Patch – a small but diverse community garden that took root in west Toronto in […]

Read More

Half of the bumblebee species in eastern North America are in decline. This trend holds true in southern Ontario, where seven of the 14 bumblebee species found in surveys from 1971 – 1973 were found to be either absent or in decline when surveyed 30 years later. Some of these, like the rusty-patched, the gypsy ...

Read More

Photography has always been a passion of mine. At first, I was interested only in macro photography, but soon enough I began challenging myself to look at the big picture and shoot landscapes. Now I enjoy capturing all types of images.

Read More