Next Hike

The next hike will be on Saturday, 11th August.

We meet at the Ballpark in Gillies Bay at 10:00am.

Last Saturday morning the weather seemed to be warmer than ever and I had requests for a hike that would not include much walking in the full sun.  I choose our popular Black Mountain hike judging, correctly as it turned out, that much of the route would be in shade from the forest both along the logging roads and on the off road trail. Trouble was even in the shade it was pretty hot and the bugs were unusually troublesome especially the deerfly.  As we climbed up the steep trail towards the top of the mountain we sweated and wished a nice cool breeze would greet us at the top.  Sure enough, at the shady lunchspot overlooking Malaspina Strait there was a gentle breeze making it quite pleasant to sit and eat lunch in comfort. 

 

 I think my photo is appropriate for this hot weather as it shows a very smug looking Bullfrog sitting half submerged on a Priest Lake water lily pad. 

     

      A non native Bullfrog keeping cool and wet on a water lily leaf at Priest Lake.    

Next Hike

The next hike will be on Saturday, 4th August.

We meet at the Ballpark in Gillies Bay at 10:00am

There was no hike last week.  Towards the end of a hike earlier in the month we had almost got back to the vehicles when we noticed a female grouse with some chicks in the dry grass at the roadside.  The chicks ran off in different directions as we approached and the mother felt we were too much of a threat to be ignored.  She took to the air and launched an airborne attack almost hitting one of us before eventually landing on a branch where she could keep an eye on us.  Meanwhile the chicks had disappeared into the underbrush and the mother soon became calm making it quite easy for me to get this nice shot from below. 

I always wondered why our only species of grouse is called Blue Grouse when there appeared to me to be nothing blue about the bird at all.  The neck skin patches that I once saw on a male during mating season were orange coloured, but it seems that the males of this species living east of the rockies have purple coloured neck patches. 

JD.    

The female Blue Grouse that stoutly defended her chicks from the attacking hikers. 

The Next Hike is cancelled for this week only.

The Texada Trekkers hike is cancelled this Saturday only. 

Last Saturday was Sandcastle parade day so only a very small group came on the hike.  We followed a circular route from the Community Hall that took us up into the forest behind Gillies Bay and high onto a grassy bluff with a view over the community and bay below. After lunch we followed my old trail marked with rock piles and flagging that heads south over some more attractive bluffs and through small patches of brush until it joins the well used Cap Sheaf Trail at the south end of a long narrow swamp. Following this almost to the Ball Park we turned right at the bottom of the long hill and returned to the Community Hall on the old logging roads behind Gillies Bay.  

 

My photo this week is a striking insect which goes by the name of Eyed Elater Beetle or Alaus oculatus.  It's quite large, up to two inches long, and has a couple of fake eyes on it's body that have evolved as a defense against predators. I did not realise until later that it's actually a very large click beetle so if it gets turned on it's back it can spring into the air with a sharp click and get right-side up again instantly. It's larval form feeds in rotting wood on the grubs of some insects that are pests of useful timber trees. 

JD.

Eyed Elater Beetle.  This is a very large species of click beetle.

Next Hike - meet at the Community Hall.

It's Sandcastle Weekend coming up and our meeting place is the Community Hall in Gillies Bay to avoid the congestion at the Ballpark.

We meet at the usual time of 10:00am, Saturday 21st July.

Last week we had warm dry weather for our hike and drove along dusty Bell Road parking about a kilometre north of Bobs Lake. It was pleasant hiking along the logging roads around the lake and south towards Angel Lake before heading into the campground for lunch.  My photo shows some of the hikers chatting in the shade beside the lake before heading back to the vehicles.

JD.

   

  Hikers chatting in the cool shade after lunch at Bobs Lake camp site. 

Next Hike

The next hike will be on Saturday, 7th July.

We meet at the Ballpark in Gillies Bay at 10:00am

Last week the hike day was overcast and rainy all morning only becoming dry after our hike was over.  When the forecast is poor and the rain seems likely to last we try to stick to roads instead of hiking the narrow trails where getting soaked from head to toe is bound to be the uncomfortable outcome.  A suitable choice where the hiking is much more comfortable and the umbrella put to good use is the hike along the road to Shingle Beach where the Diversity bandstand provides a nice dry location for lunch.  

My photo this time is of a female Western Painted Turtle that was busy last week looking for a suitable spot to dig a nest hole not far from the shore of Priest Lake. It was early evening and I was photographing and recording the recent digging activity of our largest reptile.  This is now considered to be a species at risk and there is funding available for research and habitat protection on Texada and elsewhere in coastal BC.  At Priest Lake there seems to be a fairly healthy population and judging by the number of nest holes I counted this time they may actually be increasing in numbers a little bit.  

JD.

 

  

   A female Western Painted Turtle checking out the nesting area at Priest Lake. Texada Island.

Next Hike.

The next hike will be on Saturday, 30th June.

We meet at the Ballpark in Gillies Bay at 10:00am.

Last week we had very pleasant weather for our hike.  June this year has been cooler and has had more rainy days than usual so it's nice when a hike day turns out well. We drove towards Davie Bay and parked at Eagle Creek in a spot that is barely recognisable after so much logging has taken place in such a short time. This is crown land and it bothers me when I see old style clearcuts of public land in contrast to the more carefully logged private forest owned by Texada Forest Reserve.  The hikers included a family from the interior who were happy to visit the Mouat bluffs with views of the straits and the smaller islands followed by lunch on the rocky beach at the south end of Mouat Bay.  The youngsters especially liked the rock hunting on the beach and managed to find a few examples of our distinctive "flower rock".  My photo was taken on a hike earlier in the month when I spotted a lone rose bush with a pair of almost perfect blooms.  

JD.

        

A pair of wild rose flowers beside the beach near the Sandbanks not far from Gillies Bay.

Next Hike

The next hike will be on Saturday, 23rd June.

We meet at the Ballpark in Gillies Bay at 10am.

On a recent hike I photographed a very distinctive type of fungus that is quite unmistakable in appearance.  It's really quite common, but being so small it probably gets overllooked by many people.  The very odd shape is rather like a very tiny china teacup of the type that have no handle, and the contents of the cup look like miniature flying saucers which, in a way, they really do become. The brownish "eggs" in these tiny nests are actually the spore cases which are dispersed when rain drops land on them and flip them out to some distance away from the cup where they were produced.  In my photo you can see a couple of empty grey spore cases resting on the bark.  There are several species of Birds Nest Fungus in our area and I don't know whether or not this one might be the more common Nidula candida.

JD.

 

 

Birds Nest Fungus with and without spore case "eggs".