2nd Marsh -- June 14th, 2012

It was time to visit the marsh to see what June had to offer. The Dame's Rocket show is over. The only sign of the gorgeous display of a couple weeks ago is a few patches here & there.

For now, there's very little color in the marsh. I appreciate that green is a color, but you know what I mean. But with the healthy growth this year, there's more green than usual... taller, thicker... just more of it.

This is the channel along the berm. It's a chore to get close to the water now. No turtles today.

Along the berm: At times the berm is decked out in color... today it's green for the most part.

The strong winds we've had lately have taken their toll. The boardwalk is scattered with leaves, and a couple good-sized trees came down. This one (between the berm and Farewell Creek bridge) isn't a problem... yet. You can easily walk under it.

This one, on the other hand, is a problem. It's about 200 yards west of the Beaver Pond. The clearance between the boardwalk and the tree is about 3 ft (and the trunk is easily a foot in diameter), so unless you're a world-class limbo dancer, you have to crawl on all fours to get under it... or if you're more athletic than I am, maybe you can climb over it.

Canada Anemone

Purple-flowering Raspberry-- Thanks Gerry.

Blue-flag Iris and snail... one lonely specimen near a vernal pool.

There's one patch of Forget-Me-Not in the marsh... that I've come across at least. The larger leaves are Wild Cucumber.

I do like green leaves, in good light, with a simple background.

Many species of fungi are white.

I couldn't get any decent, clear shots of this Tiger-Swallowtail Butterfly, but even in these shots you can see the red & blue dots near his "tails".

Fleabane

Field Bindweed

Birds-foot Trefoil

Cow Vetch

Water Lily in channel along the berm.

White & Red Clover

A male Monarch, distinguishable by the two black dots on his wing.

More green leaves with a simple background.

These are tiny... less than half an inch across, or high.

Dryad's Saddle

Like everywhere else, Wilkinson's Pond is overgrown.

I went down to the GM Tower to see how the new growth was progressing after the fire of about 6 weeks ago. This is what it looked like on April 30th.

And today...

Water Lilies are in the marsh in big numbers this year.

A few Mute Swans... probably loving the new underwater growth.

Until next time...

The Friends of Second Marsh web site... 

http://www.secondmarsh.ca/

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

http://www.secondmarsh.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 -