6, 12 July


 Summer has definitely arrived in the Hamilton Forest and Wetlands.   The distinctively warm light on the vegetation signals the change.





The path luxuriates in summer growth.




Huckleberries are ripening, and are more abundant than I've seen in past years.



The very durable foamflower continues to bloom.


Although described as common, ghost pipe hasn't been evident in the Forest for the past three years.  This year there is an abundant patch of it near the path.






Pojar and MacKinnon* file ghostpipes under their heading, "Oddballs," and indeed they are.  As the photos show, the plant has no chlorophyll, gaining its nourishment from mycelium beneath the ground.  It typically appears in a spell of warm weather after a rain--not so in this case--it's been warm and dry.  They seem to be abundant this year; reports and photos are appearing throughout the region.

This big trillium is fruiting, its flowering completed.   Two other, smaller, younger, trilliums are visible in the photo above and below it. 


Pojar and Mackinnon write of pathfinder plants:  "Wander through a patch of 'pathfinder' in the woods and you can always find your way back, since the silvery undersides of turned over by your footsteps will show you the way home."  

Their flowering is similarly curious--a small central bloom, surrounded by green, tubular bracts.


The blow-down about the nurse stump that has appeared in many earlier blogs persists, its branches continuing to shift.  The huckleberry growth is developing.


The water level in the Marsh is sinking,  as it does in the summer months.



Unfortunately, it appears that this is an extremely dry season, even for this area, which is in a rain shelter.  We can but hope...

Meanwhile, avian life continues its visits.  A flock of cedar waxwings perched on a distant alder.


Alas, the bullfrog population is growing.  This young frog will, unless it meets with predation, grow into a huge and destructive creature, devouring other marsh inhabitants.  For now, however, it's still kind of cute, in a froggy sort of way.


...and that is the news from the Forest and Wetlands as we watch summer moving in.  

-----------
*Pojar, J. & MacKinnon, A (eds).  Plants of Coastal British Columbia.  Lone Pine Publishers.


Location: Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada

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