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Learn About The Ontario Badger – With Guest Speaker Josh Sayers

Happy New Year from the Ingersoll District Nature Club!

Join us on Tuesday, January 13, 2015 for “The Ontario Badger” with guest speaker Josh Sayers of Ontario Badgers at the Ingersoll Public Library Meeting Room at 7:00 p.m.

Josh Sayers will share his research on Ontario Badgers. Southern Ontario is home to a small population of American Badgers (Taxidea taxus subspecies “jacksoni”). These rare, native carnivores are members of the weasel family and are among the most elusive animals in the province! They are mostly active by night, tend to avoid people, and wander over large areas. In fact a single badger’s territory can easily be several thousand acres! They are opportunistic carnivores, and feed on a variety of small animals, such as groundhogs (also known as woodchucks or gophers), rabbits, mice, chipmunks, frogs, turtle eggs, and insects. They hunt along the weedy and grassy edges of fields, forests, and meadows, and spend most of their days underground.

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Oxford County Pollination Awareness Week

The Ingersoll District Nature Club is very proud to announce the success of Oxford County Pollination Awareness Week, which took place on November 25-27, held to raise awareness of the importance of pollinators to our community and the danger that neonicotinoids present to our environment.

Thanks to a generous donation from the Ingersoll Community Fund, the Club organized this event as an educational and community engagement opportunity, bringing in noted pollination experts George Scott of the Niagara Beeway and Patty Moss of the Niagara Park Butterfly Conservatory to lead educational sessions for local students and town halls for the community as a whole.

The Education Sessions, which included a PowerPoint presentation, Question & Answer period and gave students hands-on experience in creating wildflower seed balls and planting pollination gardens, took place at:

  • Laurie Hawkins Public School in Ingersoll and Glendale High School in Tillsonburg on November 25
  • Algonquin Public School, Springbank Public School and College Avenue Secondary School in Woodstock on November 26
  • Roch Carrier French Immersion Public School in Woodstock on November 27

The Town Halls, which included a multi-media presentation and Question & Answer period, took place at:

  • the Woodstock Unifor Hall on November 25 (7 pm)
  • the Ingersoll Unifor Hall on November 26 (7 pm)

We would like to thank members of the local media for their coverage of the events, including:

The Woodstock Sentinel-Review: http://www.woodstocksentinelreview.com/2014/11/26/researcher-explains-dangers-of-neonicotinoids-to-bees

Heart FM: http://www.1047.ca/news/local-news/pollination-awareness-week/

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