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Showing posts from May, 2024

25 May

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  Finally, after two weeks away, a visit to the HWF.  It's incredible how much the season has advanced.  The sword and bracken ferns have shot up incredibly, and suddenly the vanilla leaf is in bloom, and the foamflower, abundant last year in the forest, is beginning to show. The spring and summer fungi are appearing. Poplar oyster mushrooms  abound.   The woodpecker stump continues to shrink, and the coiffure of moss at its top continues to grow.   What we have heard called an "elder alder" shows shoots of growth near its base and a growth moss. An alder's life span is somewhere around eighty years.  As they age, they put forth shoots from the lower ends of their trunks, in what appears to be an effort to absorb additional sunlight to that absorbed at the tree's top.   The moss may be a form of cat-tail moss, unlike the longer strands apparent on cedar branches.  (Corrections from readers are always appreciated.)   T...

7 May

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  A very late posting, delayed by the Annual General Meeting of the BC Federation of Naturalists.  We led two guided walks in the Hamilton Wetlands and Forest, both well attended and apparently appreciated.  (Apart from one visitor, who, on hearing of the potential clearing of forest by Mosaic so-called Forest Management (forest devastation?), asked whether we would consider selective logging!   Somehow my reply came out a bit vehement.)   Nevertheless, the seasonal change in the forest and wetlands continue.  Sometimes I am concerned that the photos are repetitive.  I hope that repeated photos of changing foliage and fauna are no more tiresome for readers than are observations on repeated visits.  We never tire of our visits, which change with seasons, weather, shifts in light, and vegetation and critters. The morning's weather was changeable.  On our arrival, the forest was dappled with sunlight.   In addition to living ...

26-28 April

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  Three fine visits to the Hamilton Wetlands and Forest in three days.   On the 26th I was privileged to join a very knowledgeable, very pleasant biologist.  We enjoyed our explorations, and she spotted some species I'd not noticed before.   There are at least three yew trees in the forest, two of which were new to me. The 27th was the annual Hamilton Marsh open day--exhibitions by several groups supporting biodiversity, and tours led by members of Arrowsmith Naturalists.   The day threatened rain, but remained relatively dry until we had closed up tents and displays.  The school in Hilliers, nearby, had a tent near the Marsh, where the students displayed an assortment of aquatic critters that they'd netted and that they returned to the Marsh at the close of the day. The 26th and 27th were both fine days, but not conducive to photography.  At this season there is a lot to show, so I decided to take a solo walk with my camera on the follo...