In this first week of June 2025, Peter Ward would like to draw Members attention to: 1. Tree Swallows. Having been around their nest boxes since April, the swallows are in high gear this week, and will be here up to late June/early July. The adult swallows have recently hatched families, which may number up to 6 young, and are busy catching thousands of insects per day. Both parents feed the young. They have less than 3 weeks to develop,…
Three hikers walked from Cranleigh Dr and Bluebell Dr in West Vancouver (near Marine Dr, to avoid $25 pay parking), and walked up Nelson Creek in the general direction of the old helipad, steep in places. This hike was posted on Nature Vancouver Events Calendar with very short notice, after a report from a friend that the Manzanitas were in flower – they were glorious. There are also thousands of Arbutus in this area, but not yet in flower. We…
With the start of Fall 2024 the New Brighton Biodiversity Enhancement project moves into a new phase – the challenge of the long haul. We’ve done the big Scotch Broom and Himalayan Blackberry removals, planted about 1800 native perennial flowers and shrubs. Now we enter the really difficult job of just ‘keeping at it’ which will determine if the project succeeds or fails. This means pulling thousands of small Scotch Broom shoots, continuing to dig blackberry roots and clip back…
Saturday, April 13, 2024 was a perfect day to explore the seaweeds in the sandy and rocky intertidal area off the Empress of Japan Figurehead in Stanley Park. The unpredictable rainy weather dissipated providing us with a bright day for our intertidal exploration. The spring tides are in their extreme ranges now, meaning that the lower low spring tide level (LLW) at 16:11 PDT had an elevation of a mere 0.7 m. The meet-up time at the Spray Park was…
Introduction The Nature Vancouver 2024 Annual Photo Show, a beacon for the community’s shared love for nature and photography, concluded with remarkable success. The event, held April 25th at the Hewett Centre Hall, Unitarian Church, was a testament to the enduring spirit of the organization’s members and their commitment to capturing the essence of the natural world. Participation Overview Total Photographs Received: 154Total Members Contributed: 38Total Votes Cast: 172Total Voting Members: 29 Event Highlights The event was graced by the…
6 members and a guest joined leaders Anne Leathem and Teresa GagnĂ©. We moseyed about 2 km in 3 hours on the South East side of Rice Lake, with everyone calling out their finds every few steps. Despite being late in the season there was a surprisingly large variety of fungi. One participant wrote: What I most appreciated was coming away with a process of thinking about mushroom identification (particularly your well-illustrated explanation of different systems of spore dispersal), about…
Five Nature Vancouver members camped and hiked for 5 days in the Whistler area.We camped at Whistler Olympic Park Campground in Callaghan valley just below the ski jump. It was a pleasant quiet campground, smallish sites with grass for tents, grouse walking through, a building for dishwashing and bear-proof food storage, and a second building (with shop) for hot showers. Not many trees, so the stars were fantastic! Monday August 14:Brandywine Falls to Bungee Bridge – 6.4km, 90m ascent, 1h44mAudain…
NV Trip to Juan de Fuca Marine Park – June 2 to 6, 2023 Report by Denis Laplante We had no rain, and the worst patch of mud was only 2cm deep. Many of the trails required scrambling and good balance; some sections were like a walk in the park. For tides we used Fisheries & Oceans https://tides.gc.ca/en/stations stations Point No Point and Port Renfrew (also Java App jtides.jar). Beware daylight saving time – tide tables at trailheads were in…
Gloria Makarenko, temporary host of CBC Radio show The Early Edition, spoke with Teresa GagnĂ©, member of Nature Vancouver’s Botany Committee, early on Friday March 24 2023. You can view the Video version on CBC TV Our Vancouver (April 1 edition) – starts at 33m18s. There is also the original 7 minute audio-only recording Below are photos of flowers and plants discussed: CBC studio; section of tree weighted down by English Ivy; Osoberry ; Salmonberry; Trillium (and some Ivy); Red…
Report by Nina Shoroplova, Photos by Nina Shoroplova and Teresa Gagne Friday, February 10, 2023, was a sunny, dry day, perfect for “Identifying Trees in Winter at Kitsilano Park and Kitsilano Beach Park.” Eighteen Nature Vancouver members joined leaders Nina Shoroplova and Teresa GagnĂ© mid-morning in the southwest corner of Kitsilano Park and for the next two hours identified both evergreen and deciduous, native and introduced, ornamental and invasive species of trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants. Whereas evergreen trees offered…