Natural Areas of Chatham-Kent, Part 9 (Dealtown Crown Land Prairie)

This post describes a site that one cannot even see from the closest roadway. I have yet to see anyone visiting this place. It is known as Dealtown Crown Land Prairie.

Some readers will be quite familiar with the former Southwestern Regional Centre, located at Dealtown, which is part way between Blenheim and Wheatley. It is quite likely that some readers, such as my wife, even worked there. But it was closed a couple of decades ago, and sat empty. In this past year or so, demolition began. Several large mounds of brick and other building materials are all that was left as of 2017.

In recognition of this facility and the many residents who were there, as well as the staff who worked there, there is a small parking lot with a plaque located at the 'X' on the first photo. It is on the north side of Talbot Trail/Hwy 3, a few hundred metres east of the intersection of Talbot Trail and Four Rod Road.

If you are interested in exploring this prairie, park in this small lot and follow the gravel laneway (marked by the blue line) towards the trees. Once you get to the trees, stay on the path, that goes through the east side of the wooded area. On the north side of the woods, which is an old plantation of predominantly Silver Maple, you will get to the beginning of the prairie site, and the entire naturalized area is shown on the photo surrounded by the blue line.

A bit more background: up until the mid 1990s, the greater part of this site encompassed in blue was farmed. It was not tiled, and as a result of the predominantly clayey soil, it wasn't terribly productive. It was at this time that some of my colleagues in a stewardship group which was working through the Ministry of Natural Resources office in Chatham was getting into tallgrass prairie restoration, and needed a site in which to start a prairie nursery. Since this site was already crown land it was relatively easy to make the switch and begin a tallgrass prairie nursery. There were quite a few different types of tallgrass prairie grasses and wildflowers established. It hasn't been used as a nursery in recent years, so it has been left to grow wild. Some of the prairie species you will find here include:

Butterfly Milkweed

Big Bluestem

Dense Blazing-star (Threatened)

Gray-headed Coneflower

Foxglove Beard-tongue

Prairie Thistle

Mountain Mint

Prairie Dock

Tall Coreopsis

With such an array of wildflowers, and in bloom over a long season, it is a wonderful place to attract butterflies.

Black Swallowtail

Orange Sulphur

Painted Lady

 It is a great spot for the endangered Monarch to not only raise the next generation, but since it is a species that migrates southwest along the north shore of Lake Erie before crossing into the USA and continuing its journey towards Mexico, is a great spot for feeding and getting nourishment to continue on its travels.

Monarch

 There are lots of other insects in a prairie, and if you are sharp-eyed, you may come across this brightly coloured Red-banded Leafhopper resting on or under a leaf. But be forewarned: it is very small, seldom getting more than 5 mm in total length.

As the prairie has developed and has had an occasional prescribed burn, it has been attractive for grassland birds. Of particular interest are:

Bobolink

Eastern Meadowlark

 A highlight a few years ago was to discover a Henslow's Sparrow in the area. I don't think it actually nested, but was present for awhile. It is an endangered species, and in fact might not be breeding anywhere in the province now. This is one of my early attempts at digiscoping, so it isn't the greatest shot, but one of only a handful of photos of this endangered bird while it was here.

 A highlight in 2017 was the discovery of a group of Dickcissels. There was quite the irruption of this species in Ontario in 2017, and I have written an article about this significant irruption that will be published in an upcoming issue of Ontario Birds, the journal of the Ontario Field Ornithologists.

At Dealtown, there were at least 10 birds on one of my visits, including 7 males and 3 females, and one of the females was building a nest. I'm not sure how successful the birds were, but they were in the right habitat at the right time.

This site isn't a place where birders have gone. As mentioned, I am not aware of anyone else visiting this site in recent years, although when the Southwestern Regional Centre was operating, I know of a few folks who explored this naturalized area. At any rate, there are currently just a little more than 45 species of birds officially recorded here. With a little more effort at the right times of year, no doubt it would be doubled at least.

 As with any natural area there is much more to see than wildflowers, birds and butterflies. There are some endangered species here, as well as many more common species, so if you visit, enjoy what you can find! Fortunately even though the crown divested itself of the larger Southwestern Regional Centre site, we lobbied hard to retain the naturalized portion for the many attributes it had, and as a result it is here for the wildlife's survival and our enjoyment!