It's happening!

 It's spring time in the forest!!

Walking down along the creek the signs are all there...
A few pussy willows are still coming out...

The creek is singing...Griffin wishing for stick throwing... 

There use to be a bridge here for bringing the logs down from the hills onto waiting

trucks but has since been decommissioned...

 In the summer this is a great "cool off the dog" pool.

The salmon enhancement society releases hundreds of tiny fish in here

and if you put your feet in the creek, they swim around your toes to see if you're

something good to eat!

The moss has started to show off in thick blankets of all shades of green,

covering the skeletons of logging from long ago...

 When men were men and logging was done by hand, they would cut a notch in the

big tree, insert a long board and then a man would stand on either end and begin the

long process of cutting the tree with a band saw...

Now all that's left are the "mouths" from these springboards.

If only they could speak to us and the stories they could tell!

Looking closer you can see the tiny flowers of the mossy carpets...

The first of the Dog Tooth violets are beginning to bud...

As well, the False Lily of the valley unfurling her delicate leaves...

Coltsfoot...

and Indian plum...

Licorice fern...

Leftover fish bones from spawning days in the fall...

A loose downy feather, surely someone will collect to line a nest...

Speaking of nests...under this bridge I saw a grey bird fly out...

After careful investigation I found something I've never seen before...

The nest of an American Dipper!

Like a big fuzzy bowling ball.

I've seen the bird itself many times fluttering along creeks but never have I seen a nest.

They are so sweet how they stand and bop up and down in between diving. (hence the name 'dipper')

I watched the pair going about their business and got a few shots of them...

 It was hard though because of the low light and the fact that they move

around so quick and they're the same colour as the creek!

Did you know that they are the only true aquatic songbird?

After walking a bit more along the creek, looking at Hobbit inspired roots and trees...

...marvelling at more moss...

Amusing Griffin in between...

I went back near the bridge and just caught a few shots of the dipper

collecting grass and dipping it into water and then mud and taking it back to add to the nest...

How fortunate I was to witness one of natures marvels!!

Here's a little sample of the beautiful song of the dipper...video by Lynn Kelly

Maybe next time you're by a creek you may hear one!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNsmksfs_uY

 

 

 

 

 

 



Places of mystery...

Often I walk in places where stories are hidden beneath the forest floor.

Around these parts, I can usually guess at it's past...logging and fishing mostly.

The other day Griffin and I took a walk down Ayum Creek which we haven't done in a year or so.

On your way into Sooke, there's a Shell station and then a little bridge.

This is where we parked and took the  trail through the woods...

We wander alongside the creek until it begins to open up.
This is where some of the story begins to take shape.

Those pilons in the distance are evidence of the logging that went on here many years ago.

I believe large barges and booms were tied up here loaded up with the timber from up in the hills.
Now they sit abandoned by humans but fully utilized by the natural world around them...

The logs would be cut, brought down by oxen or trains, put into the creek,

floated down to this holding pond...

...I imagine burly loggers running atop the logs, preparing them to be sorted and
guided through this channel...

it was all part of the Sooke Forest Products Mill which stood on the peninsula in the distance...

The rusted water tower still stands awaiting those brave enough to climb up
 and put their mark in spray paint.
I believe it shut down in the early '80's and the land is now empty save for
a few random ships tied up to the old wharf...

I used to walk Griffin down there but now it's off limits, probably due to vandalism.
There was once talk of putting up a hotel here but those plans were nixed.
Too bad...it's prime real estate and would have had magnificent views.
Part of the problem is the amount of time and money to clean up
 all the toxins left behind from the mill.
But on my side of the creek, you can still walk amongst the history,
lying on the beach...

Old boom chains becoming one with the mudflats at low tide.
As with a lot of these places, the natural world is still alive and well and
the birds, deer, bear and vegetation abounds.
These Purple Martin boxes were put up to try and attract this endangered swallow...

The long and slender arms of the Arbutus trees dot the seashore...

She gives up her bark instead of her leaves to reveal the smooth auburn skin beneath...

Old Mans beard seems to love it here as well...

and from the big and beautiful to the tiny moss crop and lichens that grow beneath...

Back down the creek, through the woods, I find bits and pieces of a chapter of this
area that is no more...

We now have a park and maybe a few stories from some old timers but nature
will stake her claim on this land as she so often does.