Beautiful images of the monarchs and egrets - I write as a nature lover from rural and beautiful Northumberland UK. Did you know that your name Charlton originates from this region Northumberland? The Charltons were among the notorious Northumberland reiver families and there are still numerous Charltons in the region today. Looking forward to more of your posts.
Thank you for commenting. I love Northumberland, UK. Funny that I ended up in Northumberland County, Ontario. When my wife and I visited England in 2010, stepping into Northumberland felt like coming home. We visited the upper Tynedale Valley and stayed near Billingham and Hesleyside Hall on the last night of our tour. I am aware of the Reiver connection and was sad to see the reservoir had flooded my ancestors lands. We passed into Scotland briefly to visit Hermitage Castle, which was one of the highlights of our trip. Turns out both my wife, born in Cardiff, Wales and myself, born in Montreal, Canada have deep, deep roots there. I keep a large image of the interior of Hermitage by my desk so I feel like I am there whenever I look up. I am the great grandson of W. B. Charlton (also my father's name), a union leader in the Durham Coalfield and slightly senior to Peter Lee and John Wilson whom he knew as friends. You must be related to Tom and Diana. Wonderful people. I have subscribed to your newsletter so hope to learn more.
Wonderful to hear you have been to Reiver country and are indeed descended from Northumbrians. We know those spots, and Hermitage castle is so powerful and usually deserted! Some Charltons from Yorkshire were great grandparents to one of us too. We haven’t posted yet but will do soon - Tom will make encouraging noises I’m sure. Enjoying all your photographs.
Thank you re, my photos. I'm afraid my great grandparents had many children but only two girls and one boy survived childhood, so my Charlton branch is a small one. Neither of the girls had children, but the boy had two grandchildren, again boys and they had three children each, so there are more Charltons here in Canada, but none that I know of in Britain. I look forward to hearing your stories. I love the old story of the spur on the plate.
Looks like a great place! Very nice narrative and images. Love the monarchs and the land trust concept is working well here in Michigan, to your west. Great work!
Thanks for your comment Doug. It always made me giggle when I heard the word Kalamazoo when I was young. I look forward to getting to know a little bit more about your neck of the woods through your words and pictures.
It's a beautifully unique neck of the woods here in the heart of our Great Lakes, happy to be able to share a little bit of it here. Same to you about your region in Ontario, I look forward to learning more.
Thanks for the report and photos, John. A good sign that monarchs are present. It sounds like a perfect day. Did you happen to see any beavers? Just wondering because you mentioned the dam.
Like the nature reserve, we have been seeing a lot of monarchs on our property this year. Our meadow is abundant with milkweed and my holding off on mowing until later in the season the past two years seems to be having a positive effect on variety of plant species. My only concern is the rise of purple loosestrife this year. I may try to remove these manually while I still can. Perhaps after I get some photos, as they are such beautiful plants to look at.
We didn't see any beavers on our tour. It was hard to even make out where the damn was this time of year. Doug told us how the marsh did not exist only a few years back, but then the farmer on the north side of the property changed his plowing technique which caused significant soil erosion. The unintended consequence was that the creek beganto silt up and the lowland south of the farmer's field began to fill with water. I can't remember who Doug said did it, perhaps Ducks Unlimited, but some conservation group added a man made damn to reinforce the effects of the silted up creek. A few years later beavers moved in and created a damn that superseded the conservation efforts. The beavers later built a second damn in a different area of the property. Nature has a way of reclaiming land like this faster than man-made efforts. Now that it is protected, the natural ecosystem that is developing will be constantly monitored and allowed to flourish.
Great post John - your pictures with the context of the Lone Pine Marsh Land Trust and the background information really hit the mark! Nice photo close ups of the monarch and dragonfly along with the great distance shots - I particularly liked the one showcasing the egret taking a break and fluffing out its wings - it’s a beautiful photo!
Thanks Andy. I'm finding that Substack posts have me thinking in terms of collections rather than one offs. This in turn is influencing what and how I take photos. I would like to spend some time reviewing older phots, but so far I haven't found the time and of course there is always the next field trip. Thanks for your feedback and recognizing that one egret image in particular. Even with an equivalent 900mm lens, I found myself cropping the egret photos quite a bit. Seems you can never have enough lens when it comes to bird photography.
Beautiful images of the monarchs and egrets - I write as a nature lover from rural and beautiful Northumberland UK. Did you know that your name Charlton originates from this region Northumberland? The Charltons were among the notorious Northumberland reiver families and there are still numerous Charltons in the region today. Looking forward to more of your posts.
Thank you for commenting. I love Northumberland, UK. Funny that I ended up in Northumberland County, Ontario. When my wife and I visited England in 2010, stepping into Northumberland felt like coming home. We visited the upper Tynedale Valley and stayed near Billingham and Hesleyside Hall on the last night of our tour. I am aware of the Reiver connection and was sad to see the reservoir had flooded my ancestors lands. We passed into Scotland briefly to visit Hermitage Castle, which was one of the highlights of our trip. Turns out both my wife, born in Cardiff, Wales and myself, born in Montreal, Canada have deep, deep roots there. I keep a large image of the interior of Hermitage by my desk so I feel like I am there whenever I look up. I am the great grandson of W. B. Charlton (also my father's name), a union leader in the Durham Coalfield and slightly senior to Peter Lee and John Wilson whom he knew as friends. You must be related to Tom and Diana. Wonderful people. I have subscribed to your newsletter so hope to learn more.
Wonderful to hear you have been to Reiver country and are indeed descended from Northumbrians. We know those spots, and Hermitage castle is so powerful and usually deserted! Some Charltons from Yorkshire were great grandparents to one of us too. We haven’t posted yet but will do soon - Tom will make encouraging noises I’m sure. Enjoying all your photographs.
Thank you re, my photos. I'm afraid my great grandparents had many children but only two girls and one boy survived childhood, so my Charlton branch is a small one. Neither of the girls had children, but the boy had two grandchildren, again boys and they had three children each, so there are more Charltons here in Canada, but none that I know of in Britain. I look forward to hearing your stories. I love the old story of the spur on the plate.
Looks like a great place! Very nice narrative and images. Love the monarchs and the land trust concept is working well here in Michigan, to your west. Great work!
Thanks for your comment Doug. It always made me giggle when I heard the word Kalamazoo when I was young. I look forward to getting to know a little bit more about your neck of the woods through your words and pictures.
It's a beautifully unique neck of the woods here in the heart of our Great Lakes, happy to be able to share a little bit of it here. Same to you about your region in Ontario, I look forward to learning more.
Thanks for the report and photos, John. A good sign that monarchs are present. It sounds like a perfect day. Did you happen to see any beavers? Just wondering because you mentioned the dam.
Like the nature reserve, we have been seeing a lot of monarchs on our property this year. Our meadow is abundant with milkweed and my holding off on mowing until later in the season the past two years seems to be having a positive effect on variety of plant species. My only concern is the rise of purple loosestrife this year. I may try to remove these manually while I still can. Perhaps after I get some photos, as they are such beautiful plants to look at.
We didn't see any beavers on our tour. It was hard to even make out where the damn was this time of year. Doug told us how the marsh did not exist only a few years back, but then the farmer on the north side of the property changed his plowing technique which caused significant soil erosion. The unintended consequence was that the creek beganto silt up and the lowland south of the farmer's field began to fill with water. I can't remember who Doug said did it, perhaps Ducks Unlimited, but some conservation group added a man made damn to reinforce the effects of the silted up creek. A few years later beavers moved in and created a damn that superseded the conservation efforts. The beavers later built a second damn in a different area of the property. Nature has a way of reclaiming land like this faster than man-made efforts. Now that it is protected, the natural ecosystem that is developing will be constantly monitored and allowed to flourish.
Great post John - your pictures with the context of the Lone Pine Marsh Land Trust and the background information really hit the mark! Nice photo close ups of the monarch and dragonfly along with the great distance shots - I particularly liked the one showcasing the egret taking a break and fluffing out its wings - it’s a beautiful photo!
Thanks Andy. I'm finding that Substack posts have me thinking in terms of collections rather than one offs. This in turn is influencing what and how I take photos. I would like to spend some time reviewing older phots, but so far I haven't found the time and of course there is always the next field trip. Thanks for your feedback and recognizing that one egret image in particular. Even with an equivalent 900mm lens, I found myself cropping the egret photos quite a bit. Seems you can never have enough lens when it comes to bird photography.