Hamilton Wetlands and Forest

  The Forest and Wetlands are dry, but ripening.   Cat-tail moss, once lush, is now fading.  Typically, mosses are re-invigorated by moisture, but the rainy season is still at least a month away, and likely further. The fungus that grew on this alder snag has dried. Despite the drought, new growth, such as this mushroom, is appearing. These strange little clusters of dark moss have just emerged.  I'm hoping for help in identifying them. Plants which bloomed recently are now producing seeds and fruit. The pathfinder is showing its odd flowers and seed pods. The abundant foamflower has dried, and is now producing its distinctive seedpods.   Nipplewort is showing  its seedheads--fluff, with an oblong seed. Salal berries are ripening. Trillium produce sticky seeds from an egg-shaped pod.   Attracted to the sticky seeds,  ants aid in their dispersion.   The "mystery seedlings" that we'd hoped to identify by watching their maturation have perished in the dry weather. It'

  A morning visit to the Forest and Wetlands during the peak of summer.   The past week saw record-breaking heat throughout the Province, and weather warnings for the east coast of Vancouver Island (that would be right here). The Forest certainly is showing the effects of drought and heat. I'd ventured a guess that our mystery saplings might have been osoberry, and had thought to monitor their maturation.  Alas, they appear to have perished from the heat and drought. Even the pathfinder is drying out. The foamflower, which had been abundant this season, is now thinning out and fading. The huckleberry seedlings are holding their own, nurtured by moss and stumps. Presumably the moss helps retain moisture. The woodpecker stump has finally succumbed, after the better part of a year of gradual pecking.   We entertain visions of what was probably a pileated woodpecker landing on the stump, pecking, and --"SQUAWK!" the stump falling over as he worked at it.  After all this time

  As has been the case in the past weeks, the Forest was initially dark and damp.  In the past week, a mat of speedwell had spread itself at the entrance. Although Pojar & Mackinnon offer a variety of explanations for the plant's name, anything that spreads as quickly as this can certainly be named "speedwell."  Unfortunately, on reading it up, I've learned that it is indeed yet another invasive making its way into the otherwise pristine woodlands.  No doubt we have a project ahead of us next weekend.  Although it is rather pretty, anything that can proliferate as fast as this must be removed.   The cloud cover that had greeted us began to break up, highlighting patches of forest. Close inspection of this photo shows huckleberries beginning to take on colour.   Again, the effects of light were striking. An excursion into the side path showed a patch of deer fern, uncommon in this forest. Last year, I was interested to note that it appeared as though cat-tail moss