First peep: April 5!! This is a day earlier than last year’s record. The temperatures have been around 8 to 10° C for the last few days with plenty of sun (but dropping to frosty temps overnight). Although we did have a whacky spring squall (and a snow day off school!) on April 4. I heard … Continue reading
Filed under spring …
Spring Peepers 2021
First peep: April 6!! This is the earliest date yet for the peepers in our back yard — what’s more, friends have been hearing them along the Fauxburg Rd and in the Valley for more than a week already. Today’s temperature reached +13° C and that came after a very wet few days — perfect … Continue reading
The iNaturalist app
At the beginning of April we downloaded the iNaturalist app on my phone and have been slowly but steadily uploading our nature observations. (The website is much easier to browse through: iNaturalist.ca) So far, we’ve uploaded 57 plants and animals. Our “finds” include salamanders and spiders, lichen and fungi, trees and shrubs, beetles and bees… … Continue reading
Bird Nest Bonanza!
During COVID-19 lockdown we’ve spotted more bird nests in the garden than at any time in the previous 10 years. Here they are — in order of discovery (all spotted within a month from mid-April to mid-May, 2020): Cardinal nest on the way into the wood was the first nest of the year. She laid … Continue reading
Spring Peepers 2020
We’ve had a mild, sunny few weeks (give or take a few showery days) and we listened for peepers for a few nights before we heard them on April 13: a very average date for the last 10 years after a pretty middle-of-the-road winter. I need to do some more research on average daily temperature … Continue reading
Spring in Quarantine
March 22, 2020: The world has been rocked by the COVID-19 pandemic and we’ve been in quarantine for a week since Matt came home from a work trip overseas. Today the premier announced all provincial parks and all beaches are now closed and people will be fined $1000 for violating the social distancing laws. We … Continue reading
A soggy spring
It was a cold, wet spring on the whole (and an especially wet May) and everything was a week or two late as a result. April 21, 2019, saw the first few pink blooms open on the magnolia, the first lilac buds and the rhubarb shoots just poking through. May 8 we spotted our first … Continue reading
Spring Peepers 2019
The first peep of 2019 was April 14. It was a glorious warm and sunny day 15 degree day today following a mild, rainy day yesterday. No surprise at all that the peepers were out tonight. Today was also the day the daffodils unfurled and the crocuses bloomed on the front lawn. But no … Continue reading
Spring round-up 2018
Here are a few of my favourite “finds” this spring in Nova Scotia. Here’s a painted turtle laying her eggs on the side of the Dynamite Trail — photographed by a friend, Callen, who spotted her while we were out for an evening bike ride at the end of May near Oakland Commons Pond. They … Continue reading
witches whiskers 