2nd Marsh -- March 4th, 2012

It had been over 2 weeks since I was at the marsh so it was calling me. I can only ignore the call for so long... then I have to go, even if there isn't anything new to be seen. My curiosity gets the better of me.

There's lots of moss now to add some green to the browns that are dominant this time of year. Botanists tell us there are over 12,000 species of moss. Nature loves variety. Mosses are non-vascular plants as the botanists call them. ie. They don't absorb water through their roots and transport it to their leaves, they get the water directly through their leaves.

That's why they are so drought-tolerant. Sprinkle some water on them after a long drought and they come back to life, while the vascular plants may have died.

Unlike the ones above, this one is only a fraction of an inch high, rather boring compared to the others.

It's only at this time of year that you can see how much water & ice there is to form the vernal pools that we'll soon see.

Farewell Creek from the bridge.

I'm not sure this beaver knows what he's doing. He doesn't appear to be very good at taking down trees. But their teeth never stop growing so maybe he's just keeping them from becoming fangs.

A beautifully colored fungus.

Moss, fungus and lichens. This is their time of year to get some attention, not having to compete with all the green growth and  wildflowers that follow. The Lichen "cups" are intriguing.

This is also the only time of year you can see the channels in the Beaver Pond, though even now you can't see much.

This is the surface of a large salt & pepper rock that's near the path. Is the black volcanic? Probably not in this part of the world.

Be different and stand out in a crowd.

I didn't see anything out of the ordinary today, but you don't know whether you will or not sitting at home.

The Friends of Second Marsh web site... 

http://secondmarsh.science.uoit.ca/

A direct link to a map of the paths/trails in the marsh...

http://secondmarsh.science.uoit.ca/Recreation_Map.html

A link to a page that has my past posts re the marsh, in one place rather than scattered throughout this blog...

http://rgbell.ca/2/

- fini -