Comox Valley Nature

Greetings all,

Participants on the trip led by Karin to Gabriola on June 11^th reported back on how enjoyable a day they had visiting Berry Point, Gabriola Sands & the Malaspina Galleries at the northwest end of the island,  then Drumbeg Park and the petroglyph site on the Southeast end.  Sharon kindly sent the photos attached.

They saw a range of Garry oak ecosystem plants that included the Brodiaea coronaria – harvest brodiaea in full bloom and Sedum spathulifolium  -broadleafed stonecrop,  as well as seashore plants such as Glaux maritima – sea milk-wort, a plant which Helen had hoped to point out on the beach at Little River.  In a seep at the Malaspina Galleries there was a huge, stunning green, patch of Sagina maxima –  coastal pearlwort.

We should certainly plan on a trip to Gabriola again next spring, perhaps in May rather than June.

For the next Botanical outing we will join forces with SWI ( me under another hat) for the first Nature Walk of the Season in the Subalpine up at Paradise Meadows  on Saturday June 23^rd at 1.00 pm.  The Meadows have been completely clear for over a week now, and on various visits there since the end of May we have seen the appearance of the Caltha leptosepala, Lysichiton americanum, Kalmia microphylla, Trollius laxus to name a few. I managed to photograph the elusive Coptis asplenifolium – fern-leafed goldthread in bloom on May 24th.    By last week it was just beginning to form seeds.  Last week, too, the first shootingstars were out (Dodecatheon jeffreyii). Some of the vaccinium species are in bloom, some already over. After this weeks heat there should be lots to see.

There will be further Nature Walks in the Meadows and beyond over the summer –do join us up on the mountain.  If there is another location which any of you would like to visit, just let me know.

Alison

Sorry for the delay in reporting on the Groups’s activities in May.  It was a busy month.

Since photos are worth more than a thousand of my words, most of this will be in image form.

On Friday May 4th we are at Kin Beach, for a walk with visiting expert Botanist Terry Taylor and the installation of the splendid sign at the Park, put together by Helen and Terry Thormin.

On Monday May 7th a small group went out to the Comox Lake Bluffs Ecological Reserve with warden Mandy. We spent a lot of time puzzling over tiny white flowers – the pretty Minuartia tenella ( slender sandwort), and especially all the white specimens of Microsteris gracilis  (pink twink).

On Tuesday May 8th Terry Taylor returned to the Valley, and with Randal put together a list of Bryophytes for the Comox Lake Bluffs Ecological Reserve.

On May 14th nine of us were guided by Warden Genevieve Singleton around the Mt Tzuhalem Ecological Reserve, to see the Garry oak meadows in bloom.  We also visited the area of the Cowichan Nature Conservancy to catch a glimpse of the Western Bluebirds (plus California quail), and finally the Somenos Creek Conservation area, where Triteleia Howellii (Howell’s triteleia ) was in bloom, and a huge bank of Balsamorhiza deltoides (deltoid balsamroot).

On May 25th the group visited the Little River Nature Park with Helen to see the Allium acuminatum (Hooker’s onion and and the Little River Beach where Abronia latifolia (yellow sand verbena) is in bloom just in front of the houses along the beach.  Helen also noted that of interest was the  Triglochin maritima  (seaside arrow- grass)

UPCOMING EVENTS

A reminder re June 11th trip to Gabriola – please contact Karin Franzen by phone :

June 16th  1-4 pm : Cretaceous Paleobotany: Food for Dinosaurs, Food for Thought;  at the Courtenay Museum

Randal passed on this message : “Ruth Stockey (my Ph. D. supervisor) and her gang are coming up on their annual sojourn to the island. They are giving 4 paleobotany talks on : fossil monkey puzzle trees from the Nanaimo Area, fossil dogwoods from all around the Comox Valley, fossil mosses of northern Vancouver Island and fossil conifers from Alaska. Dan Bowen has organized this and has made this little digital poster to promote (see attachement)”.
Members of the Botany are very welcome.

Alison