Trip Report by Kelly Sekhon; Photos by John Martin

Nine members of Nature Vancouver and a guest, participated in this trip to North Saanich on 15 April 2023. Forecast was for rain but it held off until after we were back on our return ferry to Tsawwassen. We had very pleasant day walking around the park with White Fawn Lilies, and Shooting Stars at their peak of flowering season. Other flowers in bloom were Blue-eyed Mary, Small Monkey Flower, Red-flowering Currant, Sea Bush and Smooth Fringecup, Trilliums and a single Fairy Slipper Orchid. There was an abundance of Blue and Death Camas, and Nodding Onions plants that will be blooming in another couple of weeks. We ended the walk with refreshments at the picturesque Stonehouse Pub.

A complete list of plants of Horth Hill park prepared by John Coope in 2007 is available from the link: Plants of Horth Hill Park. John Martin compiled a new list that includes mosses, lichens and fungi that available from this link: Plants of Horth Hill Park 2023.

Birds seen or heard included Turkey Vultures, Chipping Sparrow, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Pileated Woodpecker, Anna’s Hummingbird and Song Sparrow. There were a couple of Buffleheads in Tsheum Harbour and about two-thousand Bonaparte’s Gull in Active Pass. Complete list of birds compiled by Leona Axbey is on eBird: https://ebird.org/checklist/S134014553

There were many species of lichens everywhere. Bettina MatzKuhn collected a leaf of Lobaria pulmonaria and drew the following image of the front and back, while on the ferry back home.

From Top Left to Right: Arbutus Flowers, Fairy-slipper Orchid, Fawn Lilies, Red-flowering Currant, Menzies Tree Moss, Miner’s Lettuce, Stonecrop, Turkey Tails, Osoberry, Shooting Stars, Horsetails, and Trillium. © John Martin