Mer Bleue Boardwalk
The moccasin flower (pink lady slipper) blooms in June and knowing that there were some at Mer Bleue we went looking in the first week of June. We found a good number, but many were past their best before date having bloomed earlier than usual with the mild spring weather.
The cotton grass, which I have only seen at Mer Bleue and in Nunavut, seemed to be in peak condition
Labrador tea and blueberries were blooming as well.
The dogwood plant (vs the bush/small tree) was prevalent in one small area
Mustard, bladder campion, blackberry (or brambles), highbush cranberry, peace lily, tufted loosestrife and huckleberry were also blooming
The grey alder was showing new growth
Unlike other nearby ferns with a long brown seed(?) spikes, one fern had a bunched seed(?) pod
A very sorry looking rabbit was constantly shaking its head. Its ears and face had many engorged ticks.
A return visit in the mid-afternoon of June 24th produced no rabbit, but a hungry raccoon and different flowers including another orchid
The raccoon was at the start of the trail, checking out the bird feeding area for seed. It seemed to be a hungry female trying to find anything to eat. Maybe the last few days of rain had kept her in?
She was competing with a blue jay for what few seeds there were
Two areas, one in full sun, one in shade, along the boardwalk produced small clumps of rose pogonia orchids (or snakemouth orchids depending on which website you use for IDing)
There was an abundance of sheep laurel
Some of the blue berries were ripening and the tamarack cones (?) were developing
Lots of dot-tailed whitefaced dragonfly were enjoying the mosquitos, a small butterfly, a striped hairstreak, seemed to be soaking up the sun after all the rain.
The bog looked very lush and green with the shrubs in full leaf and the bull rushes with new cat-tails. A beaver trail through the bull rushes was very evident.
CHAPMAN MILLS
Chapman Mills is a small conservation area on the west side of Rideau River just north of the Vimy Memorial Bridge. It has canoe/kayak launching and a single tail that is partial boardwalk
There isn't a great variety of flowers/plants but a few blooms we out. Wild rose, catchfly (looks like a bladder campion on steroids) and black locust
There is a barn swallow nesting "roof" along the trail. I think it gets some use, but not much maybe it is too accessible to curious humans. Thought it was humorous that the female mallard, of a pair flying by, landed on the roof, while the male kept going in the secluded bay.
What we did spot was six garter snakes all in one 15 foot stretch of the trail. They seem to want to sun themselves, but if we stopped to look at them, they slithered away into the undergrowth
