Pennyrile Forest Naturalist and Recreation Blog

Buttonbush is blooming along the sides of Pennyrile Lake and the butterflies are loving it. The photograph was taken yesterday on the dam by staff member Lowell Mendyk. The butterfly at the top of the photo is a Tiger Swallowtail. Tiger Swallowtails can be found throughout the Eastern United States and much of Canada. They lay their eggs in Black Cherry and tulip trees in the Southern portion of its range. The other butterfly at the bottom of the photo is a Silver-spotted Skipper, which can be found in almost every state in the United States. The Silver-spotted Skipper prefers to live in forest edges and as a larva feeds on black locust and other woody legumes.

Buttonbush blooms in July and August. It is a shrub that only grows to be up to 20 feet tall. Buttonbush prefers to live in moist soils along streams or lakes. The flower of the plant is described as a globe-shaped cluster. The fruit of the plant looks similar to a button. Native Americans historically chewed the inner bark of the plant to stop toothaches. They also used teas and tonics from the plant to help with many other ailments. In more recent years it has been found that buttonbush is poisonous to grazing animals. It is not recommend that anything that is known to be poisonous to animals be consumed by humans. For more information on buttonbush click here.

Pennyrile Lake is a 56-acre man-made lake. Boats with gasoline engines are not allowed on the lake. You may bring your own small fishing boat, kayak, or canoe, but we do not have a boat ramp, so you’ll have to carry it to the lake. We also have pedal boats, row boats, and canoes that can be rented by the hour or by the day at our boat dock, which is open April-October.

The sport fish that can be caught in the lake are: Bluegill, Red-ear Sunfish, Crappie, Large-mouth Bass, and Channel Catfish. The bluegill population is healthy. Bluegill can be caught from the boardwalk area between the beach and boat dock, or by renting a boat and fishing towards the shore. If you’re fishing for Red-ear the best area of the lake to try is the far end of the lake, farthest from the lodge in shallow water. The Large-mouth bass population is overpopulated with fish 12” and under. There is a slot limit on largemouth bass which only allows one to take six fish under 12” or over 15”. The hope is that the fish in the size class of 12-15” will grow larger if they are not taken from the lake. In the spring Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife biologists sampling the lake, caught several crappie on the fallen trees that reach out into the lake near the lakeside cottages. The fisheries biologists also recommend fishing near beaver lodges on the edges of the lake. They always are able to catch a good deal fish near these structures.


Bluegill caught by Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife while sampling the lake.

The Great Blue Heron is the largest long-legged wadding bird found in this area. We routinely see a Great Blue Heron in the back part of Pennyrile Lake, where the water level is lower and Yellow Pond Lilies are the dominant vegetation. During the Fall Photography Weekend 2010 participants had many opportunities to photograph various behaviors of a Great Blue Heron.

Great Blue Herons can often be seen staring at the water. This is a method the heron uses while hunting. Once the heron locates a prey item like a fish, or frog it will thrust its head into the water to catch its prey. Photo taken by Brett Davis.





This heron was lucky to catch a largemouth bass. The photograph is the best in show photo from fall photography weekend 2010 by Ray Quijano

More information about the Great Blue Heron can be found at www.enature.com .