The Comox Valley is blessed with an extraordinary richness in regional biodiversity. To a large extent this is because of the foresight of local government leaders and planners to create and maintain regional parks which provide many species with a foundation for green corridors, in collaboration with local volunteer community groups.
Last year, Little River Nature Park, which is part of Comox Valley Nature’s restoration projects, was found to be attractive to an extraordinary diversity of dragonfly species on Vancouver Island. Comox Valley Nature is therefore organizing a free dragonfly field workshop, which is open to all members of the public of all ages, from 1:30 to 5:00pm at the Little River Nature Park, on Saturday, August 11.
This is an occasion to learn about nature and the value of our regionalparks, and to celebrate our regional government’s civic engagement in our environmental future.
Of the 41 species of dragonflies that can be found on Vancouver Island, 38 occur within the Comox Valley. This is an impressive diversity of dragonflies for such a small area. The reason for this is the great diversity of dragonfly habitats found locally and maintained by the park system. From high altitude meadows dotted with lakes and streams to sea level ponds, marshes and bogs, from forested lakes to fast flowing rivers and quieter streams, they all occur in the valley and support a diversity of dragonflies. Expert entomologist, Terry Thormin will be on hand to help you will learn about their life histories and find out how to identify the various species.
Photographer and naturalist extraordinaire, Terry Thormin recently retired to the Comox Valley after 23 years at the Royal Alberta Museum where he curated the entomology collection. Terry has been a naturalist all his life and first became interested in insects in his early teens. Anyone interested in an illustrated insight into the world of Terry should visit http://www.pbase.com/terrythormin
Interested participants in this workshop should bring their binoculars and cameras, as well as butterfly nets. For those who are uncertain of the Nature park location please meet 1 pm at the Old Church on Harmston St, 1:30 at Little River Nature Park – Parking is limited at the park so we encourage you to carpool at Harmston and limit our carbon footprint (Contact Terry Thormin 250-941-5130 or Loys Maingon 250-331-0143.)
