Spring is springing

#Ferns
#Fiddleheads
#Photography

#SilentSunday

A small, relatively unknown, Saanich community park. I discovered it over a decade ago. Jada found it about 2 years ago. She was surprised that I'm very familiar with this park because no one else she knows has been there before. We both love it because we see no other humans while visiting & exploring trails. I was telling her that you can find native sundew plants by lakeside & it's a good place to harvest fiddleheads & look for mushrooms. Told her about the beaver history of this tiny lake/wetlands spot too. The older huge beaver lodge was decimated a few years ago, due to human impact/road construction near their wood harvesting areas. The beavers weren't seen for awhile after that. They returned sometime over past 2 years & built a new beaver lodge - it's currently about 1/3 size of the previous lodge. No photos of it because we didn't go close to lakeside on our hike. Neither of us were into getting super muddy yesterday.

This park space features:
- multiple hiking trails from relatively easy to moderate levels
- diversity of native plants/wildflowers
- native amphibians are present; many frogs & turtles live there
- healthy biodiversity of insects & invertebrates
- birds diversity
- beavers habitat
- trees diversity
- wetlands & marshes
- fish bearing habitat
- mix of sunny & shady rest spots; no benches or tables but some larger, open spaces that are good for resting at
- community stewardship

Super limited parking space. Only room for 2 cars on side of road, by the small park sign. Very easy to miss the sign if you're not paying close attention.

#nature #hiking #Saanich #CommunityPark #forest #trail #footpath #wetlands #ferns #ecosystems #VictoriaBC #VancouverIsland #Wsanec #VanIsle #PacificNorthwest #ForestWalks #Cascadia #PNW #lake #ecological #stewardship #conservation #biodiversity #environment #TakeAHike #GetOutside #DisabledHiker #DisabledPhotographers #NaturalWorlds #SacredNature #WorldInMyEyes #photography #NatureLovers