National Marine Conservation Area in Lake Ontario. 

Good afternoon, I am writing to update you on Nature Canada’s work to establish a National Marine Conservation Area in Lake Ontario. Background The Eastern basin of Lake Ontario is particularly rich in biodiversity and contains critical habitat upon which thousands of native species, globally rare…

Sandy Pines Wildlife Centre

Greetings friends, However you like to celebrate the holidays, we wish you a warm relaxing time with family & friends, and the opportunity to appreciate our beautiful landscape and our magnificent Salmon River watershed. Thank you to Avis Price, FSR member, who researched and wrote this…

Time for Ox-eye Daisy Snacks

OX-EYE DAISY SNACKS My late father never worried too much about weeds on the farm. Crop rotation generally kept most weeds in check, and a sharpened hoe did an adequate job in keeping them out of our potato patch and tomato fields. I know,…

Bird Friendly Garden Plants

Poster courtesy of Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Birding Abandoned Fields

No doubt you have noticed as you have been driving the back roads this past month, birds flitting around in grassy meadows and darting from bush to bush. This month we check out the “little brown jobs,” the sparrows. They are passing through right…

Watch For Dangers When Out Foraging

When I used to work for a conservation authority in Picton, one of my jobs in early spring was to visit all the local schools and warn the kids of the dangers of playing too closely to fast flowing water and flooded areas. One…

Roadside Ponds, Wetlands, and Other Nooks and Crannies

The idea for this month`s places to bird came from an experience at a little insignificant pond south of Milford about 14 years ago. It is a combination of two small ponds – farm ponds they appear to be, likely spring fed as there…

The Menzel Centennial Provincial Nature Reserve

For a Change of Pace, Try Jerusalem Artichokes

Before the snow flies and the ground freezes, now would be a good time to dig up a few Jerusalem artichokes , (Helianthus tuberosus)  if you have them in your garden, or know where some might be growing. For years, I grew them in…

Stalking the Wild Tea

When I worked at Sandbanks Provincial Park as a park naturalist about 10 years ago, I always used to mix up a batch of wild tea and offer it to the campers who attended my evening programs. Usually, they would clean up the entire…