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Protecting, Restoring, and Sharing Nature in the Bluegrass
Protecting, Restoring, and Sharing Nature in the Bluegrass
Protecting, Restoring, and Sharing Nature in the Bluegrass
Protecting, Restoring, and Sharing Nature in the Bluegrass
Protecting, Restoring, and Sharing Nature in the Bluegrass

Floracliff Nature Sanctuary is a 346-acre nonprofit nature preserve located in the Kentucky River Palisades region. Our mission is to care for the sanctuary property, ensure its protection as a nature preserve and promote public education of the natural history of the Inner Bluegrass region.

Floracliff is only open for guided hikes and events. We offer a variety of programs, volunteer and research opportunities, and hands-on workshops to interested individuals and groups. Please see our Events page to register for an upcoming hike or program.

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Guided hikes available via scheduled programs or private tours by appointment; Please send messages to info@floracliff.org

Is this full bloom? It’s hard to be sure since J

Is this full bloom? It’s hard to be sure since Japanese chaff flower (Achyranthes japonica) lacks petals, but the distinctive bottlebrush bloom spikes are a quick way to identify this invasive plant found growing along our waterways.

Remind you of a dogwood? That’s not surprising given the smooth margined, oppositely arranged leaves with prominent arching veining. Unlike dogwood which has woody stems, chaff flower is an herbaceous perennial that dies back late autumn and returns each spring from a vigorous root system.

The seeds of chaff flower are armed with a pair of stiff bracts that make accidental transport of this invasive plant by fur, feathers, or clothing almost inevitable. Another great reason to stick to the trails when exploring our natural areas!

Small populations are more easily managed than large infestations. That’s why our Stewardship Volunteers have been scouting Elk Lick Creek this summer, pulling and bagging invasive chaff flower wherever it’s found and creating more space for our native plant communities to thrive.

1. chaff flower bloom spike
2. oppositely arranged, smooth margined leaves
3. plants are easily pulled from loose soils, but a soil knife helps to ensure the thick roots are removed in rocky or compacted soils
4. seeds develop along the bottom of the spike as the flower stalk elongates
5. volunteers worked near the Kentucky River early July
6. volunteers worked along Evans Branch late July
7. volunteers worked along Elk Lick Creek late August
8. cutleaf coneflower (Rudbeckia laciniata), a native plant growing along the Kentucky River floodplain

August wildlife highlights: frogs are transitionin

August wildlife highlights: frogs are transitioning from tadpoles and emerging from the ponds; the pollinator field is busy with insect pollinators and predators, interesting fungi are popping up in the forest, and our two jewelweeds are blooming along Elk Lick Creek ahead of fall wildflower season.

Pictured here:

1. Cope’s gray treefrog metamorph
2. Pond skimmer
3. Graceful grasshopper
4. North American wheel bug feeding on a bumblebee
5. Yellow garden spider
6. Red-banded hairstreak
7. Beefsteak polypore
8. Pale jewelweed
9. Common jewelweed

Photos by Beverly James (1, 4, 6, 7); Debbie Wakeman (2, 5); Dan Patrick (3); Terri Koontz (8); Josie Miller (9)

What happens at Floracliff when we are not around?

What happens at Floracliff when we are not around? Recently, a black bear visited the sanctuary and was captured by one of our trail cameras. This is our first record of a black bear at Floracliff, so we were pretty thrilled to see the photos from July 14th and 16th. Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists believe this is the same young male that was spotted multiple times in northern Jessamine and southern Fayette Counties during that time. From KDFWR: “Offspring remain with their mother for the entire year after birth and generally throughout the second denning season. After spring emergence, the mother will run off the yearling bears as she comes into estrus and prepares for the new breeding season.” Black bear populations to our east are doing well, so these young males often venture several miles westward during the summer months. They have been spotted in Central Kentucky more frequently in recent years.

More information on bears in Kentucky: fw.ky.gov/Wildlife/Pages/Black-Bears.aspx

Last week, our stewardship staff and volunteers in

Last week, our stewardship staff and volunteers inadvertently added three new butterfly records for Floracliff while managing invasive plants along Elk Lick Creek and monitoring a rare plant in an upland rock outcrop. The harvester is North America’s only carnivorous butterfly. As a caterpillar, it feeds on a few different genera of woolly aphids. Many woolly aphids alternate between two hostplants during their lifecycle, so the harvester also depends on those hostplants being present. As an adult, the harvester feeds on dung, carrion, aphid honeydew, and wet sand. You will likely not find this one with the flowers. It’s in the gossamer-wing family with hairstreaks and blues. The Hayhurst’s scallopwing is another small butterfly that could be easily overlooked. It’s one of our spread-wing skippers and uses Chenopodium as a hostplant. It can be distinguished from similar looking skippers by its scalloped wing edges. The swarthy skipper, also small, is a dull, brown grass skipper with highlighted veins on its hindwing. It uses little bluestem as a hostplant.

Even though last week was National Moth Week, it was also a great week for butterflies. This brings Floracliff’s butterfly diversity to 73 species!

1. harvester, photo by Beverly James
2. Hayhurst’s scallopwing, photo by Josie Miller
3. swarthy skipper, photo by Lisa Morris
4. Harvester, video by Beverly James

This week is the 12th annual National Moth Week. P

This week is the 12th annual National Moth Week. People around the world are documenting moth diversity by photographing the moths they see and submitting the photos to community science programs like iNaturalist. You don’t have to stay up late to see some of Kentucky’s moths. Here are a few diurnal, or day-flying, moths we see at Floracliff. So far, over 300 different moths have been documented at Floracliff through daytime and nighttime surveys. Learn more about how to participate at nationalmothweek.org

1. ithaca clearwing moth - caterpillar hostplants are plants in the Aster family (photo by David Lang)

2. hummingbird clearwing moth - hostplants include viburnums, honeysuckles, hawthorns, cherries, and plums (photo by Ward Ransdell)

3. boneset borer moth - hostplants include thoroughworts and bonesets (photo by Debbie Wakeman)

4. ironweed clearwing moth - a wasp mimic, hostplants include the roots of ironweed and joe-pye weed (photo by Josie Miller)

5. eight-spotted forester - hostplants include grapes and Virginia creeper (photo by Colby Grant)

6. spotted thyris - hostplants include Clematis spp. and Houstonia spp. (bluets) (photo by Beverly James)

7. yellow collared scape moth - caterpillars feed on grasses, lichens, and spike-rushes (photo by Dan Patrick)

8. snowberry clearwing - include snowberry, dogbane, and honeysuckle (photo by Beverly James)

Today is Kentucky Gives Day! We hope to raise $8

Once the forest canopy leafs out, most of our spri

Once the forest canopy leafs out, most of our spring ephemeral wildflowers have finished blooming, but there are a few other wildflowers and plants on the forest floor that show off in mid-spring. Here are some recent blooms (and one fantastic fern):

1. mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum)
2. Jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum)
3. maidenhair fern (Adiantum pedatum)
4. spring coralroot (Corallorhiza wisteriana)
5. white baneberry (Actaea pachypoda)
6. miterwort (Mitella diphylla)
7. violet wood sorrel (Oxalis violacea)
8. Virginia spiderwort (Tradescantia virginiana)

All photos by Beverly James, Preserve Director

The 2023 City Nature Challenge is coming up this w

We’ve added two more opportunities to visit Flor

Here are a few recent scenes from the sanctuary. W

It’s starting to look like spring around here. O

It’s starting to look like spring around here. Observed today:

1. White trout lily
2. Snow trillium
3. False rue anemone
4. Purple cress
5. Spring beauty
6. Sharp-lobed hepatica
7. Virginia saxifrage
8. Eastern comma (as well as mourning cloaks and azure butterflies)

A buck died of unknown causes in the forest a coup

A buck died of unknown causes in the forest a couple of months ago. So, we set up a trail camera near it. Pictured here:

Photos 1 and 6: coyote
2-3: Eastern bobcat
4: turkey vulture
5: black vultures
7: white-tailed deer

Thanks to contributions from volunteers, staff, pa

Thanks to contributions from volunteers, staff, partners, and visitors, dozens of new species records were added at Floracliff in 2022. Some of these records were the result of organized efforts to survey sedges, pollinators, birds, aquatic life, and more. Other records came from people noticing the wildlife around them, stopping to take a photo, and sharing it on iNaturalist. All of these efforts help us to learn more about the ecology of Floracliff and improve our stewardship of the land. Pictured here:

1. Perplexing bumblebee (Bombus perplexus): There are very few records of this bee in KY. It is more commonly found to our north and in higher elevations to the east. 📷: Ward Ransdell
2. Kentucky River crayfish (Faxonius juvenilis): 📷: Josie Miller
3. Eastern swiftwing (Volucella evecta): This fly is a bumblebee mimic, and it's the first and only iNaturalist record of this species in KY. 📷: Mary Carney
4. Flag-tailed spinyleg (Dromogomphus spoliatus): This is mostly a midwestern dragonfly with KY falling along the eastern edge of its range. 📷: Beverly James
5. Fibrous-root sedge (Carex communis): A few sedges were added in 2022 as a result of our spring program on sedges with OKNP botanists Devin Rodgers & Vanessa Voelker. 📷: Josie Miller
6. Golden-winged warbler (Vermivora chrysoptera): Observed during a bird walk at Floracliff, the golden-winged warbler is on the State of the Birds Watch List, meaning it is at risk of becoming endangered or threatened. 📷: David Lang
7. Eastern wormsnake (Carphophis amoenus): an elusive snake we had been hoping to find for many years. Found by Ward Ransdell; 📷: Joyce Fry)
8. Aldrichia ehrmanii: A type of bee fly, this is the first and only iNaturalist observation of this species in KY 📷: David Lang
9. Stonecat (Noturus flavus): the 30th fish species documented in Elk Lick Creek. Found by Dan Patrick, Sonia Tozzi, and Mike Compton; 📷: Dan Patrick)
10. Pine tree spur throat grasshopper (Melanoplus punctulatus) - This grasshopper is often overlooked due its camouflage and tendency to live in trees. 📷: Karen Michul

Recent wildlife sightings at the sanctuary: red-ta

Recent wildlife sightings at the sanctuary: red-tailed hawk, Virginia opossum, dark-eyed junco, and an Eastern bluebird taking a drink.

All photos by Floracliff volunteer, Ward Ransdell

Eastern screech owl utilizing a natural cavity in

Eastern screech owl utilizing a natural cavity in an American sycamore tree

📷: Ward Ransdell

Our volunteers say they support Floracliff for a n

Our volunteers say they support Floracliff for a number of reasons—because they love the land, they’re amazed by the biodiversity, and they appreciate experiencing nature alongside other nature-enthusiasts. Floracliff’s stewardship work, community science projects, and programs would not be what they are today without the contributions of our dedicated volunteers. This year, 59 volunteers shared over 3000 hours of their time with us! They removed invasive plants, treated ash trees to protect them from the Emerald Ash Borer, maintained demonstration gardens, cleared trails, repaired infrastructure, inventoried rare plants, documented wildlife, AND led and assisted with numerous programs so we could share the wonders of Floracliff with more people than ever! We are so grateful for their hard work. Here are a few highlights from this year.

When Dr. Mary Wharton established Floracliff as a

When Dr. Mary Wharton established Floracliff as a nature sanctuary 35 years ago, it was her wish that Floracliff be used “to foster understanding, appreciation and enjoyment of nature.” Today, her wishes guide our nature-based programs and they continually inspire new ideas for connecting people to nature through guided hikes, learning opportunities, community science, volunteerism, and more. In 2022, over 1,500 participants joined us in exploring and learning about nature, a new record! New programs included the Bluegrass Land and Nature Symposium and the Creating Art in Nature series. Special thanks to our program volunteers and guest hike leaders who allow us to engage more people year after year. Here are a few highlights from this year's programs.

Photo credits: Ward Ransdell, Dan Patrick, Josie Miller, Laura Mentor

A few spot have opened up in today’s free Golden

We’re seeing more fungi on the forest floor than

We’re seeing more fungi on the forest floor than we have in a long time. Here are a few observations from today:

1. Snow fungus - Tremella fuciformis, a jelly fungus
2. Common puffball - Lycoperdon perlatum
3. Gibellula sp., a parasitic fungus of arachnids
4. Tylopilus badiceps, a bolete
5. Russula sp.
6. Lactifluus sp.
7. Amanita sp.

Scenes from our last creek walk. Volunteer Natural

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