The Old Fence in the Woods

The neighbouring farm, where I've been walking through the woods these past few weeks with Roxie our dog, is the one with the incredible old stone fencerows around the fields.  Some of these are really carefully constructed dry stone walls, with vertical sides as high as 5 feet.  At the edge of the woods is one of these old stone constructions, though it's only 2-3 feet high.

In the shade of the woods the boulders have grown a covering of moss, and it's easier to see at this time of year than after all the leaves come out.

I'm always amazed at the work the original farmers here must have done to build these without machinery.  That granite boulder on top doesn't harbour moss the way all the limestone boulders do.

It runs in quite a straight line all the way across the back field of the farm, although the trees have grown out beyond the fence now, squeezing the edge of the field a little.

It always seems remarkable to me to come across this obviously man-made straight stone wall in the otherwise natural environment of the woods.

But of course there's lots of other things to see as well.  One of my favourites are the ferns; a large patch of Ostrich Fern grows on the edge of a small woodland pond.

I'm not sure what these one are yet, though I suspect they will turn out to be Lady Fern.

And this is a tiny Sensitive Fern, just uncurling.

I made the mistake of sneaking close to the pond for a picture, and guess what the dog did!  She had to stay outside for the day until she completely dried and the dirt could be brushed off.  I went back the next day to try some pictures around the pond - without the dog!

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Exploring Waterfalls

I've visited several waterfalls this spring, but I'm falling behind on sharing my pictures.  This one is a small but very interesting falls that I checked out over two weeks ago, when the woods was still almost totally brown.  As far as I know it doesn't have a name.

I was walking through the Cuckoo Valley Overlook property owned by the Bruce Trail Conservancy, scouting out a possible side trail that would let hikers get a better view of the falls.  After quite a hike through the woods I finally got to the stream, tumbling down the ravine below the falls.

Looking upstream you could see where the waterfall is above.  But the current Bruce Trail on this property passes by above the falls, up there on the right in this picture, giving you just a glimpse of the falls as it drops over the brow of the rock.

Walking up the stream from below you get totally different pictures of both the falls and the stream below, as it drops over a series of small rocky ledges.  The sides of this ravine become very steep as you get closer, with no room to simply run a trail down to a viewpoint.

As you near the falls you get a great view of the geology.  The upper half of the rock, the part that overhangs a bit, is Manitoulin Dolostone, a flat but hard layer that provides the caprock for several waterfalls in the valley, including another I described last week.  Below that is the Queenston Shale, which erodes easily.  Both the blue-grey layers and the reddish rock below it are part of the Queenston Shale.

The falls itself seems to have a very low flow of water, which drops over the edge in 3 or 4 different spots.  I've never seen more water than this, but it's one of the best places in the valley that I've found to see the geological layers.

The falls is merely the highlight of a possible side trail forming a loop.  I marked my starting point on the main trail with some obvious flagging tape, and then flagged it all the way to the south so that the trail builder volunteers could follow the route and assess how feasible it was.

The side trail would go slowly downhill to cross the stream below the falls, and then steeply uphill to the south until it met the main trail again here.  I think it could be a very interesting loop trail.  On the existing main trail here there is a high viewpoint over the valley which would also add interest.  In distance the loop would be less than 3 kilometres, but it would be a quite challenging hike, at least for me.

 My job was just to check for a possible route, which had been suggested by the local Land Steward.  Others will make the decision on creating it, and then building it.  Who knows though, in a couple of years we may have a nice new loop trail to walk.  Already several other volunteers have been out to walk the route I flagged, and the initial reports are positive.

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The World has Turned Green!

In what seems like 3 days our world in the valley has turned green!  We've had 3 days of cooler rainy weather, on top of earlier days of warmth, and the buds on the shrubs and young trees have just exploded.  The woods, while it still looked largely brown three days ago, now looks a rich bright green.

We headed into the woods this morning, and this is what greeted us - bright green plants on the forest floor, bright green leaves emerging on all the saplings and smaller trees, and the beginning of green leaves in the canopy.

All the buds on younger saplings had unfolded, like these Sugar Maple leaves.  They look so delicate when they first emerge.

Here's a Basswood sapling with its shining green leaves all still somewhat curly after growing so fast over three days.

Have you ever thought about what the plant has to do to create a leaf like this out of a tiny bud less than a 1/4 inch long, in just a few days?  What blueprint is stored in that tree which gives rise to the precise pattern of all these leaves growing so quickly in early May?

The forest floor has been green for about a week now.  This is an 18" high forest of Blue Cohosh, which emerges looking purplish/blue, but turns to a normal green as soon as its leaves unfold.

And of course there are lots of Trillium in the woods where the dog and I walk, though not perhaps as many as at Old Baldy.

And the ferns, one of my favourite groups of woodland plants, are emerging fast too.

Put it all together and it simply makes a beautiful picture in the woods.

Eventually we turned around (not before Roxie had run through several mud puddles in her excitement), and headed back out the tractor trail.  The seasons continue to turn as they always do.

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Happy Mother's Day!

If you read my blog regularly, you'll know that there's nothing I like better than getting out for a walk in the woods or exploring other natural areas.  I've been doing a lot of it the past couple of weeks now that spring is here.  Well, I owe my love of nature and my inclination to go exploring to my mom, so this is a tribute to her.

Mom introduced us to the pleasure of going for a walk in the woods when we were very young (we were carried on our first walks), and I don't remember many details.  But she would have loved our walk at Old Baldy the other day, and all the wildflowers we saw.

She also introduced us to the Bruce Peninsula, and Flowerpot Island.  I still remember my first visit there with mom and my aunt; I was about 14 and it was a great adventure!  We arrived on an old fishing tug and had to transfer to the island in a rowboat; I was impressed that my mom and aunt would even do that!

During the same years she introduced me to the Federation of Ontario Naturalists (now Ontario Nature), and their nature reserves at Dorcas Bay and Petrel Point (this picture).  She took me for a nature weekend with a group of expert leaders in 1964 for the first time where I started learning about the mysteries of bird and plant identification.

Those nature reserves are known for their rare plants, including especially the orchids.  These are Calopogon or Grass Pink orchids at Petrel Point.  I've been back many times over the years, and taken students to see these unique habitats.

Both of these nature reserves have some 'fen' wetlands, with Pitcher Plants and Linear-leaved Sundew like these, both insectivorous plants unique to this sort of habitat.  Discovering insectivorous plants that gobbled bugs appealed to a young teenage boy!

A few years later, near Woodstock where we lived, we went to the Trillium Woods, protected as a Provincial Nature Reserve for its carpet of Trillium.  Sorry about the picture quality; these two are scans of a 50 year old slide!  This was the first time I got involved in conservation, when as part of a local campaign I wrote a letter to the government urging them to protect the woods (which they did).

The Trilliums there were noted for their protein deficiency which left their petals with variable green stripes down the centre, an interesting comparison to those at Old Baldy.

And she even introduced us to the valley, bringing us up to learn to ski at Talisman (back in the good old days), when we were 11 and 14 I think.  This is a picture from the top of Old Baldy in 1969 - another scan of a very old slide.

Mom's been gone for over a decade now, but I will always appreciate her own love of nature, and the the effort she put in to developing the same in us.   Compare these two pictures to see the change in the valley over 45+ years!

So Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there, and I urge you to do at least a little 'free range parenting', while remaining safety conscious, but get your own children out there to develop a love of nature that will last their entire lives.

Old Baldy Wildflowers

We saw lots of wildflowers at Old Baldy yesterday beyond the Trilliums. I was trying to get a few specific pictures to improve my collection, but I also tend to just photograph everything I see!

The Trilliums were certainly the highlight though, and there were so many of them.   This one attracted my eye for its pattern of shadows on the white bloom.

The violets were plentiful, and I tend to just label them by their colour, but there are actually proper names for each species.  This appeared to be the Northern White Violet.

There are several blue violets to be found, but this appeared to be the Long-spurred Violet, identified by that long spur sticking up behind the petals.

And this one is the Downy Yellow Violet.

One photo I was looking for was of Wild Ginger, since its flower lies on the ground under the leaves and is often hard to photograph.  This photo shows the pair of large heart-shaped leaves, and the reddish-brown blossom on the ground.  

And this is a close-up of the bloom.  And no manicuring was needed for the photo!  The plant was growing slightly away from the clump, and facing into the sun, with nothing blocking the view.  My best photo of this plant yet.

There were plenty of the tiny Spring Beauty still in bloom, varying from white to pink.

And I was pleased to find both Squirrel Corn and Dutchman's Breeches in bloom.  This is the flower of the Squirrel Corn. 

And this is a plant showing the frilly leaves.  Both species have very similar leaves, but the blooms are different.

And here is a comparable shot of Dutchman's Breeches, though these blooms are just beginning to fade.

Finally, I was delighted to find and photograph the Meadow Rue in bloom.  These leaves are fairly common in the woods (don't know why it's called 'meadow' rue), and at the moment it's in full bloom.  It's tiny green flowers are about the tiniest of the spring wildflowers, and seem very delicate and inconspicuous.  This plant provided some leaves and a cluster of blossoms hanging nicely in the sunlight where I could actually get a picture showing both.

Walk at Old Baldy

I won't be able to join our own local Photo Group when they walk Old Baldy to photograph wildflowers, so I went today with some great photographers from the Owen Sound Camera Club.  I was inspired by their patient dedication to getting great photos!

It seems very early to me, but the Trilliums have come out in bloom just in the last 2 days.  They were spectacular.  Old Baldy is one of the best trails nearby to see a carpet of trilliums.

It's been a very warm and dry two weeks, so I fear these blossoms won't last long for those who want to come and get their annual wildflower photos.

There were plenty of Red Trilliums and many other flowers too, so I took a LOT of photos!

We walked in on the Mac Kirk Side Trail, one of the best places to photograph wildflowers in the valley.  I usually aim for May 12th, but a few days either way puts you at the peak of the emerging spring season.  This view captures the atmosphere that I love in the woods in mid-May, the nicest time of the year.

 These buds of the beech saplings were opening very quickly.

Overhead it was as if we could watch the leaves start to emerge, and the trees turn green.  This is mostly a Sugar Maple forest, and is a popular Conservation Area.

The forest changes to birch as you near the edge of the Niagara Escarpment cliff, and that's where the carpet of Trillium is most extensive.

I successfully got some pictures of wildflowers I've never got good pictures of before, like this Dutchman's Breeches.

And there were also more common ones that I seem to photograph every year, like this Trout Lily or Dogtooth Violet.

   But there were lots of other plants emerging on the forest floor, like this Lady Fern.

And of course the leaves themselves, these on a Sugar Maple sapling, shining in the sun.  There'll be more photos from this wonderful walk over the next couple of days.

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