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Hi Folks, Just a add a couple of recent sightings, at Belchers Marsh Park on Sunday, meadowhawks continue to be abundant and a few darners were patroling. A Mottled Darner and a Spotted Spreadwing were two new odes for my "life list" (as if I had one!).To identify both, I had to net them and compare thoracic stripes (in the case of the darner) or male terminal appendages with a hand lens (in the case of the spreadwing) to the illustrations in my Massachusetts field guide. Many environmentalists express great concern about the destruction of natural habitat and the contamination of ponds and wetland areas caused by the construction and maintenance of golf courses. Well, I have played golf (poorly) for nearly 50 years now and I did play at Granite Springs yesterday. It is a tough course (!) at least in part due to the number of ponds, wetlands, bogs and marshy areas which are present (and which act as a magnet for golf balls!). These have been left in a more or less natural state but they are often surrounded by groomed, mowed fairway. During our 5-hour round, I have never seen so many odonates in my life - every wet area had a few darners, meadowhawks were everywhere including mating in the :wheel" position on the greens and fairways and a few damsels were present as well. Now I was under the impression that odonates have been used as a sort of natural litmus as to the health of the aquatic environment, i.e., if there are lots of odes around then the water quality is good. If that were the case, then the Granite Springs ponds and wetlands are in fantastic shape, but how can that be. Many courses use loads of fertilizers, possibly herbicides, to keep up the appearance and uniformity of the fairways and greens. However, some courses have adopted a more environmentally-sensitive program introduced by the Audubon Society in which use of these materials is eliminated or drastically reduced. Perhaps, GS has adopted this program. I'll try to find out. Anyone have any comments or further observations on the impact of golf courses on the environment? Next time, I "play" Granite Springs, I may leave my clubs at home and just carry my binocs, net and field guide!! Cheers, Bob McDonald Halifax (25 handicap)
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