Category Archives: animal wildlife

Celebrating Oregon Hill Bees

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OHNA President Todd Woodson posted this today:

So proud of our great Open High students. Our neighborhood association partnered with Open, Richmond Parks and with a generous grant from Dominion Energy, we established a pollinator curriculum with a working hive area that the students maintain. The Mentor checked the hives today and said he’d never seen hives flourish like this with lots of honey already produced. This is the first initiative of its kind in the area. Would love to see it grow and flourish as well! We love our bees and our great students!!

Protect The Miner Bees

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No, these are not the new Oregon Hill bees, but a different type that can be found on Belle Island. Miner bees (the correct scientific name for this genus being ‘Andrena’) are one of the largest groups of solitary bees. It is believed to consist of over 1,300 known species of bees across the world.

In general, they seem to prefer to build nests in sandy soil, although some species are apparently less fussy, whilst others are more selective. The Ashy mining bee, Andrena cineraria is thought to prefer sloping sites, whereas the Grey-patched mining bee, Andrena nitida will nest in formal lawns but also sheep-grazed hillsides. They build little tunnels that look sort of like worm casts.

Neighbors are concerned about the increased activity due to Dominion River Rock and other outdoor events that could disturb the Belle Island miner bees, and asked that the City park keepers put some of these signs back up.

Wildlife Sounds In The Canal

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frogsincanal from Scott Burger on Vimeo.

This movie was taken about a month ago from the bridge over the Kanawha Canal on the Brown’s Island Way/Second Street Connector. The camera faced west towards the Lee Bridge but you can hear on the audio all of the wildlife noises. If you listen carefully, you can also hear a rock cover band playing a song at a private function at Tredegar.

Oregon Hill neighbors recently learned that New Market corporation has quietly submitted (with Venture Richmond’s support) an application to fill the canal just east of this site, adjacent to Tredegar Iron Works. More on this later and in the meantime you can read about past struggles between those who went to destroy and those who want to protect the canal (including the “Fences Of Contention“), but for right now listen to the nighttime nature sounds while you still can.

Bee Swarm Not From ‘Our Bees’

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Last week some neighbors discovered a “wild” swarm of bees in Oregon Hill. Local bee experts have confirmed that those bees were NOT part of the hive installed recently by Open High students in Linear Park behind the 600 block of S. Pine St. From their statement:

During the inspection yesterday we found the
—queen,
—newly laid eggs,
—larvae, and
—pupating new bees.
Our hive showed no swarm queen cells.
Our bees are happy and busy building new comb on our widens frames, storing up lots of nectar and pollen and doing what bees do.
Next week the students will install the second nucleus hive. Hosting and caring for two hives will double the odds we have bees next spring.

There will BEE more information soon as well as announcements for a couple of public bee workshops later in 2019. In the meantime, if there are questions, please contact Pine Street neighbor Stephenie Harrington. Her telephone number is 804-551-0603.

Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

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Exciting news today as bees arrived. Pine Street neighbor Stephenie Harrington had this to say,

Thanks to the dedicated teachers and volunteers who assisted with beekeeping instruction since last fall. Today we watched a wonderful group of confident students handle bees! #OpenHighSchool
We established one hive today and will receive the second hive in a few weeks.
I will be documenting activities and later this year we will offer some public workshops with Parks and Rec Dept so folks can learn more about this urban pollinator project and more things coming this fall.
Thanks to OHHIC (Oregon Hill Home Improvement Council), OHNA (Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association) and neighbors for your support.

More details and publicity soon…

Spring Brings Invasives- Rare Snake Like Amphibian Discovered Off North Bank Trail

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A small team of visiting biologists, working along the wetter portions of North Bank Trail have made a surprising find during a warmer part of this past weekend – a rare, snake-like amphibian known as the Brazilian penis snake or Atretochoana eiselti.

Matthew Hooper, from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, found the creature and had this to say:

It seemed to have been stirring while still coming out of hibernation. I was very shocked by its appearance. It is not clear how this sample came to be along the James River. Perhaps it was an exotic pet that was discarded. While it is doubtful that this salamander has mated, it is considered invasive, and the James River Park’s Invasive Plant Task Force has been tasked with following up on the matter. They have been quite busy ever since those perennial Thai pitcher plants were found on Belle Island.

James River Park Master Plan Meeting for 5th District This Thursday

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There is a meeting this Thursday to discuss a future master plan for the James River Park, sponsored by Friends of The James River and City Council representatives Parker Agelasto (Oregon Hill’s Council rep) and Kristen Larson. It’s being held at 6 pm at the Patrick Henry School of Science and Arts (3411 Semmes Avenue, across the river).

From the meeting notice:

We want to hear from you! Attend this community meeting to share your input on the future of the James River Park. Registration is not required.

The James River Park is a crown jewel of the region, providing a unique natural wilderness for park users. As the number of visitors to the park increases each year, a Master Plan is needed to preserve, protect, and properly maintain the park for years to come. The plan will influence the future of the park within the overall framework of the park’s conservation easement.

Your input is valuable. If you can’t attend a community meeting, please take the online survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JamesRiverParkMasterPlan

As Oregon Hill pretty much borders the James River Park and is a popular conduit to it, neighbors will hopefully have a lot of input that will be taken seriously.

As a bit of editorial, citizens should take a broad view of things, including protection of wildlife (and corridors for it), threats of light pollution (such as proposed signage at the high-rise at 2000 Riverside Drive across the river), and commercialization of this heavily-used park system. Nothing against the new superintendent of James River Park, Bryce Wilk, but it seems like more citizens should have been involved earlier in the hiring process. Having these master plan sessions after the hiring allows the suspicion that an agenda is already in place with a new Superintendent. That’s not necessarily the case, but…. What happened with Monroe Park should be a warning to all Richmonders.