Twenty-three Orilla Naturalists Club members and friends joined together on Saturday, October 13th at the Adams Nature Reserve on Cooper’s Falls Road near Washago to explore the property. Heather and Alec Adams offered two guided hikes – one fast-paced and one slower-paced. This 100+ acre property was purchased by the couple in 1973 and visited often to connect with nature while they still lived in Toronto. In 2017, they finalized the agreement with The Couchiching Conservancy, and the Nature Reserve was established. With connections to the Kashe Lake Barrens and the massive Queen Elizabeth II Wildlands Provincial Park, this protected paradise helps create an important conservation corridor.
The two groups of hikers spent two hours walking along the Canadian Shield, taking time to stop to examine mushrooms and plants. A few highlights include:
– Many types of fungi, lichen and moss, including a type of Amanita fungi
– Polypody fern: Polypodium is a genus of between 75-100 species of true ferns, widely distributed throughout the world
– Blue Harebell (Campanula rotundifolia): native to dry, nutrient-poor grassland and heaths in Britain, northern Europe, and North America. The plant often successfully colonises cracks in walls or cliff faces and dunes.
– Bear scat
– Successfully walking across a beaver dam twice without getting wet
Heather and Alec shared many stories and the history of the property. A big thanks to them for leading us!
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| crossing the beaver dam | ||
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| common polypody fern | fern spores | Cladonia sp. lichen |
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Photos and text from Tanya Clark |
| Amanita fungus -Destroying Angel | Blue harebell |
