Bog, Beach, Bluff Explorations Were a Blast!

Last week we went out on three explorations in a row, to see various sides of Bowen: the forest, the estuary, and the open bluffs. We normally go every Friday afternoon, but decided to do an intensive series during Spring Break, so that within a very short time we could experience both the diversity and interconnections of our local landscape. So we started off with Fairy Fen.

Fairy Fen

Standing at the edge of the fen, trying not to trample the plants.

Just outside the fen, the springy ground gives way suddenly to very deep little holes.

Formerly called Mystery Fen, this developing bog was once a lake, but over millenia has been filling in with sphagnum moss, its great depth (over 21 feet) providing ample substrate for a great number of interesting plants, including Labrador Tea, which we plenty of. This plant-growth in turn helps stabilize the surface of the lake, creating a fen, the surface of which is springy, due to the great amount of water, held in the sphagnum, beneath. On the outermost edges of what was once the lake, trees have grown, creating an open-floored forest of mostly hemlock, which gives way to infrequent mud-holes and open water-holes, which the younger members of our group happily pushed sticks into, to measure the depth of. A variety of interesting fungi were found, as well as ground pine (club moss), the remnants of a long-ago landslide, and some interesting bedrock formations.

Measuring mud holes. This one was about 50cm deep.

Lovely purplish fungus.

Hmm... interesting!

Some of the kids had to wait for the adults as we slowly picked our way down the hillside.

Hemlock forest growing outside the fen, with mud-holes clearly evident!

Hiking around the fen.

Will exploring under rocks with some of the kids.

Mothers' Beach

On the second day of the series, we went to Mothers' Beach and the Lagoon, which is a rich estuary. An estuary is a confluence of a fresh-water river and the salty ocean, which supports all sorts of microbial, small visible and larger life, around the resulting marshes and mud-flats. We were joined by naturalist Will Husby, who in his enthusiasm helped us to find, identify, and observe some of the many life-forms, including various types of ducks, geese, swans and seabirds, scuds (aka sand-fleas), an orange sea- worm, shore-crabs, sea snails and hermit crabs, evidence of beaver-logging, and of course the many budding and sprouting plants that announce the spring!

Will explains the nature of estuaries.

Watching bird interactions.

Shore crabs!

Mt. Collins Bluffs

Shoes off!

With great thanks to Jean Jamieson and Marion and Jim Moore, who welcomed us to visit their properties, we joyfully hiked up through the forest, past a barely-blooming wild flowering currant, and out onto the arbutus-spotted bluffs of Mt. Collins. Further up, we saw the eastern side of Bowen Island, the cove, and Mothers' Beach from above, and sat between the pine trees, having a snack. Some of the kids were so enthusiastic about the warm weather and soft moss that they took off their shoes and socks to experience it more thoroughly! We walked around a bit, up top, discovering some lovely elegant mushrooms, reindeer lichen, and mysteriously ravaged-looking salal, which looked as though they'd been hit by a plague of locusts. We could not explain this! And eventually, of course, we hiked back down, discovering gorgeous trees, rock-formations, and an interesting deer-skeleton, along the way.

What a beautiful day! Whytecliff park on the left, Deep Bay and Sandy Beach in the middle, and the sailboats in the cove on the right. And between that at the foreground? The beautiful hillside we just hiked up!

Carefully exploring in and under a pine.

Arbutus on the edge.

Coming down from the mountain.

We have seen our lovely landscape!

We will go again, someday.

But for now we're coming down.

Filled with joy!