A Walk In The Newport Forest - The Bluebell Walk

It was a fairly busy weekend for us as we drove out to Wardsville after our enjoyable visit to Longwoods Conservation area this morning. Our daughter Erin was leading a walk at 1 PM at the Newport Forest a beautifully unspoiled resource that was owned by Erin's friends Professor Kee Dewney and his wife Pat. The annual Bluebell Walk is by invitation only so we were very pleased to attend. The 115 acre site is not normally open to the public. About five years ago (2007) Kee and Pat donated the property to the Thames Talbot Land Trust so that the land will be preserved in its natural state in perpetuity. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ABOUT THE NEWPORT FOREST



Play the video for more details on how this all evolved. Video prepared by the London Community Foundation.

Wendy and I arrived a little early (around 12:30 PM) and explored our way to Kee's trailer. On the way we noticed lots of deer footprints. Although we have never been here before, we feel like we have because we read Kee's email newsletters at least every week.

The first thing Kee did when he arrived was check the rain gauge. "It looks like 23 millimeters of rain. Don't let me forget that." As he emptied the gauge.

Birdhouses and raccoon boxes adorn the surrounding trees.

On our tour of the forest, Erin leads the way describing many of the features found along the trail.

An American toad poses for the camera.

Late spring is a wonderful time to explore since there are very few mosquitoes out yet.

The Thames River meanders though the back of the property.

Today's tour was called the Bluebell Walk and we weren't disappointed. The bluebells were out in their glory. Erin explained that the flowers come out first in the forest before the leaves in the trees block out the sun that gets to the forest floor.  Once the leaves block the sun, the flowers disappear and different plants take over.

There was a couple dozen people on the tour and everyone seemed to be enjoying the perfect weather.

Erin shows a Trillium and describes how the White Trillium comes in different colour variations. Even though they are different colours they are still called White Trilliums. An exception, Erin tells us are ones with green stripes. These markings are caused by disease.

Jane Bowles made some artsy Bluebell cookies

After the walk, Kee and Pat entertain us in their outdoor living room.  Snacks and drinks were a welcome treat.

Wendy meets Kee's friend Steve.

Wendy snaps a picture of Pat.

Kee and Erin deep in conversation. Read a snippet about Kee Dewdneys colourful life CLICK HERE 

Check out Erin's Blog CLICK HERE
Check out Keewatin Dewdney's  Web Site CLICK HERE

If you are in the area next weekend check this out:

Public Hiking Tour - You're Invited

Coming up May 12 @ 1 p.m.

Thames Talbot Land Trust

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Our Annual Outing At Longwoods... A Re-enactment of the War of 1812

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This year marks the centennial anniversary of the War of 1812. Americans don't talk about this war much because they lost. Canadians do remember because there probably wouldn't be a Canada as we know it today if they hadn't beat the Yankees 100 years ago.

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Even the vendors are suited to the era with their 19th century period garb and wares.  I was assured the mother-to-be was authentic. Obviously no modern products are allowed. All cars are parked in distant lots to preserve the setting.

The weather for this annual event this time is nicer than it has been for several years. Wendy and I like to walk one of the trails while we are here to view the re-enactment.

Every year we look forward to seeing the thousands of trillium flowers that are so prolific here.

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The mild winter and early spring has encouraged a  profusion of spectacular green foliage.

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Out On The Water At Fanshawe Lake

 
Saturday was sunny and 72 F so we hitched up the boat trailer and drove out to the Fanshawe Lake reservoir in Fanshawe Park. They charged us $12 for the car and $10 for the boat which is no real hardship for me but I can see how it would discourage a lot of people from taking their canoe or small boat very often. In fact I too would maybe go more often if the price was lower. We pay for these parks in our taxes and I don't think they should be making them exclusive to those who can afford it. We only saw a couple other boats the whole day.

The motor had been drained of fuel for the winter (run out until it starved and quit) and yet it started right up on the second pull. We explored along the shoreline for about 3 hours, shedding our coats as it felt warmer in the bright sunshine. A beautiful day for putting around.

There was quite a bit of debris left over from the winter around the edge of the lake so there was lots to look at.  Obviously the water had been much higher at some time since the strewn branches, old stairways, and plastic drums were high up the banks.

At the north end, where the Thames River flows into the lake, Wendy spied a huge eagle's nest. We tried to get closer but the outboard motor started complaining by bumping along the bottom in the too shallow river delta. We were forced to pull up the engine and wait until we drifted back into deeper water. Still, we could see a pair of bald eagles peering back at us from the nest that was several feet in diameter. They seemed to locate the nest in the tallest tree, but only slightly above the other trees and positioned in such a way that the nest was not visible from the main activity area of the park. We pretty much had to drive the dinghy into a restricted area past a red warning marker in order to see it.

Later in the day clouds began to obscure the sun and the temperature dropped just enough for us to know it was time to load the little boat back on the trailer and head back home. This was the first time we were boating since we put the Phoenix away forever last year. Nice to get out on the water.
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Erin Makes The Front Page of a Major Newspaper

Well, it's a major newspaper in Strathroy!
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Fuelling Change - A Contest For $100,000

Six months ago "Friends of the St. Clair River" entered a contest to receive a grant that will help them to take the steps necessary to remove the St. Clair River from the government's list of "Areas of Concern". Hence the project name: "Remediating the St Clair River Area of Concern". Since our daughter Erin sits on the board of "Friends of the St. Clair River" she was active in soliciting votes for the project.

In the months leading up to April 30th (final date) contest close we were leading the pack of contestants with a tidy margin of several thousand votes. In the last week or so of the contest, things changed for the worse. Our project dropped to third position behind a project to preserve the Wolverine in Alberta, and "Scrap-It", an automobile recycling initiative in British Columbia.

In the last few days, desperate emails from Erin and her friends encouraging support and the ever increasing lead by the others made it look like there was little hope of winning. I sent out a dozen or so "appeals" to my friends and I must have not been alone because amazingly the vote gap began to narrow. Encouraged by this I sent another 20 or so emails to everyone I could think of that might care about the St Clair River.

As it came down to the last 5 minutes on Monday night, Erin and Jake sent this email:

"To help everyone do this in less than 2 minutes (it's the last day, and the top 3 are all within just a few people's votes!!) follow these steps:... (Website and instructions to vote)

- goto http://www.fuellingchange.com/

As of this writing St Clair is behind by 180 votes.  Each person gets 50 votes so we need 4 people more.

Jake"

It looks now like we have won the $100,000 but the officials have warned against publishing the results until an audit is done. The results will be made official by the end of May.


Thanks to all that supported this worthy cause. What an amazing race. It just proves -  
Your Vote Does Count!
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Unseasonably Warm for May

We don't usually see temperatures in the eighties in early May, but we never really got winter this year and I think we are about a month ahead of normal as far as the advancement of Spring foliage is concerned. We were on the verge of drought conditions, so a little rain is certainly welcome too.
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