Good Morning #Canada
I regularly drive by a road sign in my rural neighborhood that welcomes me to the Escarpment Biosphere Reserve, part of the UNESCO World Biosphere program. The world network of UNESCO designated reserves covers over 700 regions in more than 120 countries. In Canada there are 19 UNESCO biosphere reserves that protect sensitive habitats and encourage sustainable communities. Read more about them via the link below.

#CanadaIsAwesome #BiosphereReserve
https://www.biospherecanada.ca/

Yesterday, Nature Conservancy of Canada announced that the charitable land trust was expanding its protection of the Frontenac Arch Biosphere with the recent acquisition of 75 hectares of land. https://www.natureconservancy.ca/en/where-we-work/ontario/news/frontenac-arch-75ha.html The news is a reminder of how lucky we are to live in this amazing area. In celebration of this good news, here is another in my continuing series of images exploring tiny landscapes from November 2022, this time featuring a tiny cluster of pixie cups nestled within some red-stemmed feather moss. The interaction between the fungus and algae symbionts is shown by little green dots of algae visible on the whitish fungus of the pixie cups.

#biospherereserve #biodiversity #lichensubscribe #mosstodon #fungi #fungus #mycology #natureconnection #naturephotography #macrophotography #pagan #animism @animism #fungifriday

Happy #Imbolc! Here in the Frontenac Arch, we are far from seeing any spring flowers. It will be weeks before our endangered Black Rat Snakes emerge from hibernation to mark the new season. However, there have been some beautiful frost flowers recently as we head toward a deep freeze polar vortex of -30C temperatures in the next few days. On these cold, wintry days we thank #Brigid for warming our hearth!

#LáFheileBríde #Druidry #WheelOfTheYear #biospherereserve #biodiversity #natureconnection #naturephotography #macrophotography #pagan #animism @animism

Here in the Frontenac Arch we got our first storm of this winter with significant snowfall (about 30cm in 12 hours) in the past couple of days. The land is now blanketed in over 40cm of snow. Hidden underneath are mosses and lichens and other beings that were easy to see just a few weeks ago. Last week I shared a view of what looked like a miniature #forest #landscape of pixie cups in a photo taken in late November 2022. Here is another view from that same day of a cluster of pixie cups surround by haircap #moss.

#biospherereserve #biodiversity #lichensubscribe #mosstodon #fungi #fungus #mycology #natureconnection #naturephotography #macrophotography #pagan #animism @animism #fungifriday

I love the miniature #landscapes of #nature. This image of a tiny #forest of pixie cups - a type of lichen which is a mutualistic relationship between fungus and algae - was taken less than 200m from my house in the Frontenac Arch... The living world is amazing!!!

#biospherereserve #biodiversity #lichensubscribe #mushrooms #mushtodon #fungi #fungus #mycology #natureconnection #naturephotography #macrophotography #pagan #animism @animism #fungifriday

Had a great winter break with visits and snowy hikes over the past couple of weeks. And no social media. But it's 2023 now and winter has a bit of a grip on the landscape here in the Frontenac Arch #biospherereserve for the moment - the lake has finally frozen over in the last couple of days. For #WaterfallWednesday on Mastodon, here is an icy view I captured on Jan 13, 2018 of Tiffany Falls, along the #NiagaraEscarpment in Ancaster, ON.

#nature #forest #waterfall #natureconnection #naturephotography #landscapephotography #mosstodon #photography #pagan #animism @animism

Very interesting conservation history.

Eine sehr interessante Naturschutzgeschichte.
#nationalparks #wilderness #biospherereserve #wildnis #Biosphärenreservate

This is a cute little mushroom from back in Sep 2020 here in Threshold Forest in the Frontenac Arch. Not sure of the identification, but I think it is a ringed twiglet (Tubaria confragosa). Please let me know if you think it is a different species...

#nature #forest #biospherereserve #mushrooms #mushtodon #fungi #fungus #mycology #natureconnection #naturephotography #macrophotography #pagan #animism @animism #fungifriday