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Category: Botany

MOUNT SEYMOUR PROVINCIAL PARK: GOLDIE AND FLOWER LAKES NATURE WALK / BIOBLITZ JULY 4, 2026

MOUNT SEYMOUR PROVINCIAL PARK: GOLDIE AND FLOWER LAKES NATURE WALK / BIOBLITZ JULY 4, 2026

Trip report by Bev Ramey Our nature walk around Goldie and Flower Lakes was a rich experience with beautiful, close-up observations of plants, mosses, lichens, birds and generally the nature of this wetland habitat within old growth forest. Also wonderful was the sharing of knowledge amongst the participants. Our walk was slated for three hours, but we took four hours as there were many observation stops along the three km of trails. We’d even had plans to stop for sketching,…

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WALKING AND TREE-IDENTIFICATION IN NORTH VANCOUVER DISTRICT – MAY 23, 2026

WALKING AND TREE-IDENTIFICATION IN NORTH VANCOUVER DISTRICT – MAY 23, 2026

Trip report by Nina Shoroplova If you drive along Dollarton Highway to Dollarton, a neighbourhood in North Vancouver District, and take Dollar Road to its end, you will reach part of Burrard Inlet, with Belcarra across the water to the east and Simon Fraser University campus across the water in the southeast. Little Cates Park is just south of the end of Dollar Road and that is where some of us Nature Vancouver amateur botanists met on May 23 for…

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TREE-IDENTIFICATION WALK IN QUEEN ELIZABETH PARK, MAY 9, 2026

TREE-IDENTIFICATION WALK IN QUEEN ELIZABETH PARK, MAY 9, 2026

Trip report by Nina Shoroplova We tree-identifying botanists met at the Grace McCarthy Plaza in Queen Elizabeth Park, opposite the Bloedel Conservatory, early on Saturday May 9. First we looked at a couple of flowering dogwoods, Cornus florida. They are the ones whose white (or sometimes pink) bracts show the notch at the top, where they pulled apart after protecting the tiny green true flowers. The green leaves have a central vein and arcuate subveins. We set off northeast to…

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LEARNING FROM THE LAND WALK TRIP REPORT – MAY 10, 2026

LEARNING FROM THE LAND WALK TRIP REPORT – MAY 10, 2026

Trip report by Joanna Chin This Learning from the Land walk, organized by Nature Vancouver as part of the Vancouver Bird Celebration, brought together 27 participants for a morning of shared listening, observation, history, and natural history at Jericho Beach. LoriAnn Bird, Ryan Regier, and Joanna Chin each brought different perspectives to the walk. LoriAnn Bird shared knowledge as an Indigenous Métis herbalist, Ryan Regier brought his knowledge of trees and local history, and Joanna Chin guided participants through bird…

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TRIP REPORT – MEET THE MOSSES WITH CONNOR WARDROP, MARCH 28, 2026

TRIP REPORT – MEET THE MOSSES WITH CONNOR WARDROP, MARCH 28, 2026

Trip report by Nina Shoroplova Connor Wardrop, a bryologist and Ph.D. candidate at UBC, led twelve of us on a “Meet the Mosses” walk in Stanley Park on March 28, 2026. We met at North Lagoon Drive and set off on Cathedral Trail, where there are plenty of bryophytes (that is, mosses, liverworts, and hornworts). Bryophytes are nonvascular land plants (though for some groups, nonvascular is a bit of a misnomer!); they are very different from other land plants! Bryophytes,…

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TRIP REPORT YEW LAKE WALK, SEPTEMBER 7

TRIP REPORT YEW LAKE WALK, SEPTEMBER 7

A cloudy, cool morning with a bit of a breeze greeted us at the parking lot. As we set off, right at the trailhead we were treated to two adult Cooper’s Hawks in a snag. They then flew about for a few minutes before disappearing into the forest. We set out and were accompanied by Chestnut-backed Chickadees as we headed towards Yew Lake. Stopping to check out plants along the way, we noted Bunchberry berries, Copperbush berries, Pearly Everlasting in…

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TRIP REPORT YEW LAKE WALK AUGUST 3

TRIP REPORT YEW LAKE WALK AUGUST 3

There were surprisingly few insects as we headed out on the trail and came across some Fireweed, Deer Cabbage and Copperbush right at the start of the path.  A Townsend’s Warbler was spotted and then chickadees of both species, Black-capped and Chestnut-backed, soon appeared. A little way further along we came across four Olive-sided Flycatchers, possibly a family group. While we were watching these birds, four juvenile Red-breasted Sapsuckers were spotted in the snag next to one of the flycatchers….

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A TREE-IDENTIFICATION WALK IN QUEEN ELIZABETH PARK – AUGUST 30, 2025

A TREE-IDENTIFICATION WALK IN QUEEN ELIZABETH PARK – AUGUST 30, 2025

Trip Report by Nina Shoroplova. Photos by Nina Shoroplova and Caroline Penn. Twenty-five of us went on a tree-identification walk in Queen Elizabeth Park on August 30, 2025. We started at the southeast corner—actually an off-leash dog park—and went first toward the Vancouver Lawn Bowling Club and then around the tennis, pickleball and basketball courts and sports field. It’s an area that’s full of both native and ornamental trees. We gathered around an English oak, Quercus robur, and learned to…

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A SUMMER HIKE IN CYPRESS PROVINCIAL PARK

A SUMMER HIKE IN CYPRESS PROVINCIAL PARK

Trip Report by Helen Baker “Find something different,” our hike leader Gail Ross challenged us. Our group of nine were strolling on a cool green path that winds through a grove of old-growth Hemlock and Yellow-Cedar in Cypress Provincial Park. We all stopped and peered through the tree trunks and underground. “I see something!” someone said, pointing to a clump of spindly purple stems growing straight up from the forest floor. Gail nodded and explained the unusual coral-like growth was…

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TREE-IDENTIFICATION WALK ALONG ENGLISH BAY

TREE-IDENTIFICATION WALK ALONG ENGLISH BAY

Trip Report by Nina Shoroplova. Photos by Nina Shoroplova and Caroline Penn. The first time some members of Nature Vancouver joined Caroline Penn and me, Nina Shoroplova, on a tree-identification walk of the many trees along English Bay, we went from west to east. This time we met in front of the Vancouver Aquatic Centre and walked from Sunset Beach Park in the east, through English Bay Beach Park in the west, and ended in Alexandra Park, the one known…

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