8 May

 8 May

A fine morning for a visit to the Hamilton Wetlands and Forest.


The warmer weather of the past week has brought on the growth of vegetation dramatically. 

Last week the bracken fern was just starting its growth with elegant scrolls.  This week it was mature and abundant.


False lily of the valley has spread on the forest floor, in this frame "photobombed" by a salmonberry blossom.


The resilience of huckleberry vines can be startling.  They often root themselves on logged off stumps, with beautiful effects.


The leaves of skunk cabbage, which have been emerging over past weeks are now almost fully grown.


The forest has a beautiful assortment of plantlife.


Count the species...* 

An energetic caterpillar explored the growth.  


The on-line Bug Guide warns us:  "Like several kinds of wooly-bear-type caterpillars, these have venomous, stinging hairs, which can cause a burning sensation and/or a rash in sensitive people - look, but don't touch!"  We left it untouched.

The baldhip rose is one of two roses native to British Columbia.


At this stage in the season, perhaps the clearest identifier is the dense, thin, prickles that cover the stem.

The song of pacific wren sounded often as we walked the path.  This one appeared, but wrens are--flighty, you might say, and the photo is a bit vague.  


It appeared that the wren was taking an insect back to its nest.  We had a brief discussion of whether wrens were "ground nesters" or tree or cavity nesters.  The little bird made up our minds for us, by disappearing into this cavity.


Close inspection shows a lining of moss or grass in the cavity.  Wrens seem to like their comfort.  


The red-breasted sapsucker continues to tend her nestlings.


The nest boxes still await their occupants.  One day we shall see wood ducks and wood ducklings in the boxes.  

The marsh is now splendidly green.



The alders at the far end of the marsh, which showed reddish when we began visiting in March, are now leafing out.


The bog bean is in full bloom.


As we return along the path, we see that the seasonal changes are intensifying and glorious.   What will the warmer days show us?



-------

*sword fern, trillium, trailing blackberry, false lily of the valley (it's possible I've missed something--please let me know.)


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

15 October

Image
  Sunday in the Wetlands and Forest.  A day of multitudinous  mushrooms and (to alliterate again) what my Dad used to call a "marsh hawk."  These days, more correctly, if not alliterative, a female northern harrier.   The forest has an abundance of mushrooms this year.  I'll pick some this coming Friday for the annual Arrowsmith Naturalists' Mushroom and Nature Festival, and try to include photos to show where my harvest was growing.  Hopefully, after the Festival, I'll be more able to identify what I'm photographing.   For now, a sampling: They grow in a variety of settings: This bracket fungus emerges from a dead, mossy alder. A stand of beautiful mushrooms emerging among oregon grape and trailing blackberry. A cluster of saprophytic* mushrooms emerging from a dead stump. Possibly staghorn jelly fungus? The spectacular and lethal fly amanita, or fly agaric, growing in kinnikinnik. * saprophytes: organisms that feed on a variety of...
Read more

17 March

Image
  Gradually, spring is making its way into the Forest and Wetlands.  The frogs were in full voice this morning, celebrating the change of the season.       https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kEgrY6-12eF-hQS9O2krJc-B62u7uAg-/view?usp=sharing     It was, finally, a sunny morning, and the forest is becoming increasingly lush.  Skunk cabbage shoots are just appearing. A variety of mosses are emerging, some of which we hadn't seen before.  We'll hope for identification. We've only seen the moss below in one spot.  It seems uncommon for this area;  it will be worth monitoring its development as well as submitting it to iNaturalist. There were a couple of patches of birds-nest fungus among the mosses. I've observed the branches of this conifer before, thinking it was a western hemlock, but looking for the parent tree or cones to confirm my identification. Today I realised that it is actually an entire young tree, with the central trunk ...
Read more

26 February

Image
  Spring is definitely approaching in the Wetlands and Forest, despite icy temperatures today.  There had been wild weather yesterday, and patches of hail remained. As we entered the forest, the light was a brilliant contrast to the darkness of the previous weeks. It struck and transfigured this huckleberry vine. My walking partner spotted and identified a rarity--hair ice emerging from downed alders.  Its occurence is linked with a specific fungus, lepidopsis effusa , which emits a chemical that enables strands of ice to emerge from downed wood at temperatures just below 0 C.  Here, its emergence is limited to fallen alder which has shed its bark.   This mossy stump is becoming a nursery for two little huckleberry  vines.   There were unmistakeable sounds of spring.  A pacific wren, still secretive, trilled its song, the first we've heard after the winter's chip notes.  Approaching the Marsh, we were greeted by an exuberant chorus ...
Read more