Island NatureExploring nature on Vancouver Island, British Columbia and beyond

Bear Creek Nature Park is one of the Comox Valley’s less well known regional parks. It’s relatively new (added to the Comox Valley Regional District’s system of parks in 2011) and it is a bit off the beaten track on MacAulay Road in Black Creek. The 161 acre park includes a working fish hatchery run [...]

This weekend Jocie and I decided to venture into the snow and look for early blooming plants at Paradise Meadows in Strathcona Provincial Park. This section of the park is easily accessible once the snow pack melts and the boardwalk and trail is clear—it’s a great place to see some of the beautiful flowers that [...]

My father and my uncle always talked about the “bakeapples” they used to pick in Newfoundland. Bakeapples, or cloudberry (Rubus chamaemorus) also grow on the west coast of British Columbia, but they’re a little hard to come by and we’ve never found them in very large numbers. This morning Jocie and I visited a bog [...]

Ruckle Provincial Park on Salt Spring Island is one of the places we visit fairly regularly. Getting there isn’t too difficult and it somehow seems less onerous driving down to Crofton and then the single ferry over to Vesuvius Bay than the odyssey to get to Hornby Island. Make sure to get a BC Ferries [...]

In my previous post about the Comox Lake Bluffs Ecological Reserve I hinted that I had a few more wildflower photographs to share. The bluffs are definitely a fantastic destination for wildflower photography and there are many unique flowers that grow on the hot exposed bluffs. Chocolate Lily (Fritillaria affinis) Rusty-haired Saxifrage (Saxifraga rufidula) Grassland Saxifrage [...]

There is nothing at the parking area just beyond the dam at Comox Lake to suggest that a spectacular ecological reserve is a short 20 minute hike away. Beyond the burned rubbish and twisted metal and broken glass is a wide gravel trail that leads through an old cut block. The trail at this point has [...]

At the end of a crushed shell road lies the Deep Bay Marine Field Station, a research facility run by Vancouver Island University. It’s a gorgeous location overlooking Deep Bay and the station is spectacular in its design, looking a little like a huge clam shell. In addition to being used by Vancouver Island University [...]

One of the first wildflowers to bloom here in the Comox Valley is the gold star (Crocidium multicaule). Usually you can expect to see it in early March and this year it was right on schedule, brightening up the coastal gravel flats at Point Holmes and Kin Beach. It’s a small flower, about the size [...]

Update: March 24, 2013 Last confirmed sighting of the Citrine Wagtail on eBird was Thursday, March 21. However, since that time, access to the farm lane has been restricted due to active farming and the lane is gated. Original Post I have to admit that during the dark days of January, 2013 I had written the citrine [...]

It was such a gorgeous day on Sunday that I packed the kids in the car and headed down to Parksville. Both A and C love the playground on the waterfront, and it was a pretty easy sell to get them moving. Typically, we try to work a nature walk (or two) into any day [...]