Bruce Week-end

On Friday, June 20th 16 LWI members and friends gathered at 1:30pm at the marina in Lion's Head for what has become an annual week-end of flora and fauna discovery. Some elected to camp at Lion's Head in varying accommodations, some Bed & Breakfasted and some effete, elitist toffs stayed at the swank Lion's Head Beach Motel. 'Chacun a son gout' as someone said.

The first outing on Friday afternoon was to a new housing development in the area, called Lakewood. It is located west of Highway 6 not far from Lion's Head and is a development which tries to be as environmentally friendly as is possible in such cases. We spent a couple of hours walking through some trails that are within the tract and noticed several interesting plants including Rattlesnake Plantain and Striped Coral Root. Also a water snake sunning itself on a piece of wood by the edge of a little lake within the development and which was completely unperturbed by all the people examining it and taking pictures.

After that we repaired to a field full of beautiful wildflowers of many colours. The field is adjacent to the bakery which has achieved some local fame as it has been broken into the past couple of years by a hungry bear. In spite of installing some pretty stalwart doors the bear managed to get in again this year. The field contained Indian Paintbrush, Buttercups and Violets as well as some Showy Lady Slippers, not yet opened.

That evening the group met at the Lions Head Hotel for dinner. Sitting at an adjacent table were the Taskers, charter members of LWI and at one time heavily involved in LWI affairs. It was a pleasure to meet them and to exchange some brief pleasantries. After dinner several of the group left to gather around the campfire to enjoy the company while the swells from the motel retired to their respective luxurious, top floor pent house suites.

Saturday morning dawned cool and cloudy. Don had informed us the previous day that the planned visit to Flowerpot Island was unlikely as there was a bear occupying the island and tours were off. However he had good news this morning that the bear had been trapped and removed and we were free to head for the boat to Flowerpot. In spite of some intermittent rain spirits were high as we departed Tobermory, and in fact the weather slowly improved throughout the day, and the spotty rain had pretty well gone by the time we set foot on the island. As part of the trip to the island we visited some shipwrecks in the Big Tub. In spite of them lying in shallow waters there is still something ghostly about them.

What followed was an extremely pleasant day with the group meandering along at a slow pace enjoying all of the varied fauna. With the two Dorothys (Tiedje and Edwards) there for guidance we examined dozens of plants in a nice leisurely fashion. One of the problems in our modern world is that there is always a need to 'get things done', and this day was a marvelous exception in that we could take our time with no concern for a deadline other than the boat, which was hours away from departure. The distance covered was no more than about 5km. but we had some six hours to do it.

The first hike was from the boat landing to the Marl Beds which lie on the south-west part of the island. Along the way we encountered Gold Thread, Rattlesnake Fern, Yellow Lilies, Clintonia Borealis (Corn Lily), Gay Wings, Twin Flower, Doll's Eye, and March Marigold before finding the Marl Beds. These are small bodies of water left over from the retreat of the lake and along one side had what was obviously once part of the lake shore, a rocky beach. Marl itself is a term applied to a large variety of sediments with varying composition. These are largely calcium carbonate. Marl is used for the manufacture of portland cement, for liming, making bricks and in electrical insulating material.

After returning to the main path the trail became much steeper and rougher as we crossed the higher part of the island which is part of the Niagara Escarpment, and which juts out of the water at this point.

Continuing on we came to the light station on the north east side of Flowerpot where we ate lunch. By now the day was warm and sunny and everyone enjoyed sitting, eating and chatting. The lake spread out to the east in front of us and a more enjoyable venue would be hard to find.

After lunch almost everyone hiked over to the lighthouse which lay just a little way off along a good trail and enjoyed the view and interpretive signs located there. From there we started back around the east end of the island back toward the spot where the boats land. It is along here that the two flowerpots are located. Both were created when the lake eroded the steep, limestone shore through openings allowing the water to get behind and leaving the spectacular 'flowerpots', which I am sure everyone has seen, either in person or photographs.

We arrived back at the dock in plenty of time for departure. Several garter snakes were spotted and an interpretive sign indicated that they are able to thrive on Flowerpot as they have few natural enemies. The sign also suggested that Massassauga Rattlers are not present although a young chap at the dock, who worked for the tour boat company, said one had been spotted recently. Also seen was plenty of evidence of the bear, as it had left it's calling card in many spots. It was obviously getting enough food. We then embarked for Tobermory with the captain able to float in and out of the harbour. He had speculated we might have to ride out to deeper water on the Zodiac if we were too heavy, but we were O.K.

The next morning Pat & I had to leave but Dorothy provided the following account of Sunday's outing.

We drove down the Peninsula to the north side of Hope Bay, to Cathedral Woods, a nice forest. First we saw Don's 6 box Blue Bird trail. There were 2 Blue Birds nesting with 3 eggs in one nest and 4 eggs in the other. I was pleased to see a Mountain Ash (probably Showy) in full bloom because I had seen, from the boat, quite a few trees on Flowerpot which I thought must be Mountain Ash. Diane heard a Wood Thrush and a Least Fly Catcher. The trail passed through masses of native Virginia Waterleaf and of introduced Herb Robert all in full bloom.

Janet spotted a Porcupine about 50 ft away laboriously climbing a tree. It was very dark brown, almost black, with a frosting of silvery quills. We watched it for quite a while. I was surprised to see English Cowslips bordering the trail and somewhat invading the forest. They had finished blooming and must have been pretty. Diane heard an Ovenbird and a Black-throated Green Warbler.

We saw Marginal Shield Fern (probably), a grass in full bloom (maybe Fowl Manna Grass), Trilliums past their best, White Bear Sedge (probably), Red (probably) Elderberry, Northern Holly Fern (definitely). On a shady rock face we found Hart's Tongue fern. At a spectacular 200 ft high overlook of Hope Bay our more athletic and daring members laid flat out and peered over the edge to see Purple Cliff Brake.

Lunch time we drove across to Oliphant and ate in a very pleasant little place before hiking the board walk across the Fen. There we saw lots of the rare Indian Plantain and, with binoculars, we saw a beautiful little group of Showy Ladies Slippers at their very best. There were scads of Pitcher Plants as well as Shrubby Cinquefoil, Arrow Grass (not a grass at all) and Marsh Fern.

All thanked Don and Anne and headed home except for three enthusiasts who saw a Red Start and had a spectacular view of an Osprey on its nest.

Dorothy Tiedje & Gord Catterson