I’m hoping to enlist the help of citizens close to Sauble Beach!
The local MNRF supervisor has urged anyone to report raking, bulldozing, or heavy equipment operations on the beach. With the Phragmites issue it is imperative that the sand not be tilled as it will further propagate this most invasive species – you probably know this already!
Removing sand from around benches and playground equipment is allowed without applying for an MNRF permit but raking, tilling, etc. is definitely not.
If heavy equipment appears to be encroaching on the beach there are two numbers to call. One is the MNRF office in Owen Sound at 519-371-6751. The other is available 24/7. It’s the MNRF TIPS line, for reporting infractions at 1-877-847-7667.
Thank you,
Kate McLaren
Owen Sound Field Naturalists President
Thursday night’s strong show of support for the OSFN to formally defend the habitat of piping plovers, along with conservation of dune ecology was very inspiring!
The next Young Field Naturalists’ event, a tracking outing with Jeff Kinchen, will be on Saturday February 24th from 2-4pm. Details on the revised schedule or at the Young Naturalists’ Page. Slightly melted tracks. (Photo by Brian Robin)
Bannock
At the January outing, the kids (and adults!) cooked bannock over an open fire. It was my first time partaking, and I’m pleased to be able to share this recipe. Mine lit on fire, which I’m told is the traditional method of ensuring doneness, and it was delicious. ~Brian
Mmmmmmm. (Photo by Brian)
Krista’s Campfire Bannock
3 cups of flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp salt
1/3 cup sugar
(optional 1 tsp cinnamon)
1/2 cup of margarine
Cut in margarine into the dry mixture until margarine is about the size of a pea. Slowly add water until it is the right consistency to roll into balls. (about 1 and 1/4 cup of water – give or take). Roll the balls in a little bit of flour to reduce stickiness.
This recipe provides enough bannock for about 25 children.
Bob Knapp has extended an invitation to join two upcoming snow showing hikes, one run by the Sydenham Bruce Trail Club and one by the Friends of Hibou.
Sydenham Bruce Trail Club
Saturday January 20
Meet 10:00am at Home Depot (north east corner of parking lot)
Snowshoe approximately 6km or 2.5 hours along 2 loops on the Bruce Trail just 4 km north of Home Depot.
Depending on the weather and snow cover there will be a chance to see some neat places on this BTC property including streams, wetland and escarpment. Snowshoes should be necessary.
Hike Leader: Bob Knapp
If you plan to attend: 519-371-1255 rmknapp@yahoo.com
Friends of Hibou
Sunday February 4, 1:15pm
Hibou Snowshoe Hike:
Meet at the south Parking Lot Grey County Road 15
Enjoy this 2 hour Snowshoe Hike along the inland trails of Hibou Conservation Area.
The following is an announcement from Grey County about a public workshop on The Grey County Recreational Trails Master Plan.
Recreational Trails Master Plan
November 14, 2017
Open House and Workshop:
Join us for a workshop to learn about the Recreational Trails Master Plan.
Wednesday November 29, 2017 at 6:00 p.m.
Grey County Administration Building
Council Chambers
595 9th Avenue East, Owen Sound
This meeting is your chance to hear what we’ve done so far and to participate in a workshop for the project. The meeting is open to all members of the public. Please pass along this email to anyone that you may think would be interested in attending.
Please note this is not a formal public meeting. We will share a brief presentation at the beginning of the workshop and then break into smaller groups to discuss the project. A public meeting will be scheduled for later this year.
The Project:
Grey County is preparing a Recreational Trails Master Plan. This plan will provide a blueprint for future trails projects and requirements. It will be focused on linking community trails to County trails, determining the ultimate use of the CP Rail Trail and looking at trail use and future requirements for trails in some of the 48 forest properties owned by Grey County.
The project will develop trail standards for walking trails, bicycle trails and multi-use trails, and considering the compatibility of ATV and snowmobile users with non-motorized users. It will develop criteria to apply for restricting certain trail users to specific areas or trails.
So far, the user groups we have identified include snowmobile, horseback riding, hiking, biking, snowshoeing, cross country skiing, dog walking, and ATV use.
If you have questions please contact Sarah Johnson, sarah.johnson@grey.ca or at 519-372-0219 ext. 1241.
The next Young Naturalist outing is a Habitat Hike in Walter’s Creek Management Area Sunday, Nov 26th, 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm.
Please note the new location:
County Road 29 runs north/south between Walter’s Falls and Bognor. It passes the Holland/Sydenham Townline on the west. The Townline is closed to vehicles but you can park either along County Road 29 or inside the blockade.
This is a Habitat Hike in Walter’s Creek Management Area, to look for nature’s homes, from cocoons to caves along the Bruce Trail. Parents are encouraged to join us.
Remember to dress for the weather.
Please bring a small day-pack.
Everyone’s should have water, tissue and a small snack.
You might also bring binoculars, camera, sketch book, sunglasses, lip balm.
Remember:Travel light!
About the Owen Sound Field Naturalist’s Young Naturalists’ Program
The Young Nats Club is for boys and girls ages 7 to 12 years old. Younger and older children are welcome, however ages under 7 must be accompanied by an adult during each meeting. We typically meet once a month from 2:00 pm until 4:00 pm (please note offsite trips are planned), but for some events the times may vary. The program operates from October to June but with no meeting in December. Parents or guardians are encouraged to stay and participate or volunteer if they wish.
Held every year between December 14th and January 5th, the Christmas Bird Count is one of the the largest citizen science projects.
If you would like to join one of the counts in Grey or Bruce counties, the contact information and dates of the 2017 counts are listed below. If you are outside the area, or would like more general information about the project, head to the Bird Studies Canada Website.
A version of this column appeared in the OS Sun Times on Wednesday September 13, 2017
Since last month, there have been many Nature Club activities happening in Grey and Bruce Counties.
The Sauble Beach contingent of Piping Plovers had departed by early August, after the most successful year since their return. The Plover Lovers committee and team of monitors had a very successful season, of monitoring and outreach education, including their stimulating Beach Talk speaker series.
On August 19, the Escarpment Biosphere Conservancy featured a “Species at Risk Walkabout” with Naturalists Miptoon and Jarmo Jalava.
For several weeks in August the Bruce Birding Club made forays to the Mitchell area to see and study the diverse bird populations in the wetland areas of West Perth.
The Owen Sound Field Naturalists held its first field trips for this new season of 2017-18, by joining in with two of the Monarch tagging days hosted by Butterfly Gardens of Saugeen Shores, an organization dedicated to enhancing the habitat for Monarch and other butterfly species. Formed in the fall of 2014, this organization has engaged in developing habitat sites called pods, along the shores of Lake Huron with an enthusiastic team of volunteers to look after them and many individual butterfly gardens in the residential areas of Southampton and environs. As James Kamstra told us at Kinghurst Butterfly ID event back in July, even then, it was looking like the best year for Monarchs in the last five. In the Southampton area, some properties have been very successful as “roosts”, where butterflies gather to feed and rest while on their journey south. There have been reports of up to five hundred Monarchs in one location there. I too have been noticing many Monarch butterflies working their way south, throughout the area, whether while I was swimming at Sauble Beach with grandchildren, cycling in the Arran Lake area, or running on trails near Tobermory and Dorcas Bay.
Kerry Jarvis of BGOSS with a Viceroy in hand – a Mullerian Mimicry educational moment. (Photos by Brian Robin)
Melitta Smole (left) and Diane Baulch tagging a Monarch and recording data (Brian swears they’re holding a butterfly).
“XPL 127”, tagged and released by Brian on a different day.
At the Monarch tagging event we attended on August 29, Kerry Jarvis and Melitta Smole explained identifying features of Monarchs, male and female, and demonstrated the tagging process, whereby a numbered and recorded lightweight sticker, (an initiative first developed by Canadian Dr. Fred Urquhart in an effort to learn more about the destinations of this iconic species), is carefully attached to a wing. Thereafter, anywhere that butterfly is discovered the origin of its tagging and its eventual final destination can be tabulated, to build on the collected data, from which patterns of travel and interruption can emerge.
Sticky Tofieldia at Petrel point. (Photo by Carol Harris)
OSFN members were also invited to join Botanist Barbara Palmer and members of the Sydenham Bruce Trail Club on Thursday morning, September 7, for a leisurely walk at Petrel Point Nature Reserve to enjoy wildflowers, including lots of asters and goldenrods!
Tall Green Bog Orchid at Petrel Point. (Photo by Carol Harris)
A Fringed Gentian at Petrel Point.
(Photo by Carol Harris)
One of the many asters at Petrel Point. (Photo by Carol Harris)
The Owen Sound Field Naturalist Club has already launched its 2017-18 season, sending its Hart’s Tongue Herald newsletter to its membership, and getting started with a flurry of activities in September.
Two separate and complementary September Fern Hikes entitled “Rock Stars of the West Rocks: Ferns in abundance” were filled to capacity with waiting lists, so quickly, that it suggests that OSFN’s popular hike leader and speaker Peter Middleton, is not unlike a Rock Star himself. These opportunities to learn in an outdoor classroom are a special component of OSFN’s programming.
The Owen Sound Field Naturalists Club is getting ready to present its 2017-18 season of speakers and field trips.
Kerry Tagging Monarchs, Sept. 2015 (Photo by Melitta Smole)
The OSFN Speaker Series begins this Thursday September 14, with Kerry Jarvis of the “Butterfly Gardens of Saugeen Shores”, and his presentation “Fantastic Pollinators & Where to Find Them”. You are invited to see and hear Kerry Jarvis as he shares the plight of the Monarchs and what one community is doing to attract them, and other pollinators. Discover how you too can lead the way to finding fantastic pollinators! This will take place in the auditorium of the Public Library in Owen Sound. The evening begins at 7PM, and it is recommended to arrive early, if possible. OSFN personnel will be on hand to process membership purchases and renewals as early as 6:30PM. Admission for the evening is free, although donations are welcome.
Peter Middleton leading an earlier fern hike. (Photo by Carol Harris)
The club’s Field Trips or “Outings”, will fill up the rest of September with Peter Middleton’s second Fern Hike, and Bob Gray’s field trip to trace a unique watercourse in the area of Colpoy’s Bay, (September 17) and rounding out the month on September 30, is a Trout Hollow Saunter – with Robert Burcher, “Following the Footsteps of John Muir”, near Meaford. The OSFN field trips are splendid opportunities to learn, at first hand, from knowledgeable hike leaders, and are primarily for members, with pre-registration required.
In addition, OSFN is involved as a partner in a supportive role for two special events – a special tree planting programme being planned by the City of Owen Sound to plant 150 trees, in Celebration of Canada’s sesquicentennial. Here is the information about that for you to get involved in a volunteer capacity for a community event.
The Big Canadian Tree Plant
Planting of 150 trees at Kelso Beach Park, Owen Sound
September 23rd, 10am to 12:30pm
This event will require the help of many volunteers, who can register on the TD website
The second partnering OSFN is doing is in support of the newly created bursary fund for the Outdoor Education Centre’s association to fund bursaries for attending Outdoor Wilderness Leadership Symposiums (OWLS), diversity initiatives and more.
Last year’s October speaker for OSFN, Adam Shoalts, also well known as Canada’s Indiana Jones, in tribute to his northern explorations, mapping, anthropolgy, writing and academics, is returning to Owen Sound. Just last week he completed his mammoth solo summer voyage, crossing norhern Canada by canoe, and portage from the Yukon-Alaska Border, to the mighty Mackenzie River. and all the way east to Baker Lake, a voyage of discovery, research and celebration of Canada’s sesquicentennial.
6:30PM Saturday November 4th is the date and time for his new presentation in the Community Hall in Harrison Park. This special fundraising evening will include special hors d’oeuvres, a trading blanket feature and more.
Tickets are $60. each and can be reserved for you by contacting Deb Diebel at the Outdoor Education Centre, by email at Deborah_Diebel@bwdsb.on.ca or by telephone at 519-534-2767 or 519-379-0864 (cell) Only 70 tickets will be sold, on a first come first serve basis.
Again, this fundraising event is an initiative of the Outdoor Education Centre and its association of Outdoor Educators, with the supporting partnership of Owen Sound Field Naturalists, and Adam Shoalts’ appearance is generously sponsored by Caframo.
The rest of this season’s Speaker Series provides an eclectic array of topics and themes, ranging from the witty and wise ecological fables of Paul Aird, complemented by the exquisite line drawings of Thoreau MacDonald, to local and national representatives of the Nature Conservancy of Canada. Then in December a fascinating look at Tom Thomson the Naturalist (and Artist). In January Peter Middleton returns with a talk to follow up on his fern hikes. Always popular Willy Waterton and Audrey Armstrong will share with us their voyage to the North West passage. Dr. Sonja Ostertag will share her research findings related to the Beluga whale. Popular columnist and bird artist Barry Kent McKay joins us in April. Members night in May features a variety of presenters from the club, and the season finale features a friendly social occasion and potluck dinner followed by Markdale native Ted Armstrong’s up to date presentation on the iconic Woodland Caribou.
In addition there is a plethora of outdoor activities, providing opportunities for learning, and for Knowing Nature Better, our club’s motto.
Thursday night’s strong show of support for the OSFN to formally defend the habitat of piping plovers, along with conservation of dune ecology was very inspiring!
