The hotel breakfast was
limited to cold things in packets but we found enough to eat and the complimentary
cookies we’d been given last night were delicious. Regarding our transport for the trip it seems in order to fit everyone and their luggage in, one pair has to go in the car each
time with the rest of us in the minibus swapping around on the various
seats. First we went to nearby Boundary
Bay but there wasn’t much around and it was rather misty.
There were quite a few Greater Yellowlegs fairly close to shore.
But the most exciting sight was a Coyote out on the mudflats which ambled in our direction and then posed nicely.
I must have been bored to be photographing spiders' webs.
And wild Sweet Pea
This little speck is a m. Anna's Hummingbird - you can just see the reddish colouring around the head.
Spotted Towhee
White-Crowned Sparrow
This was fascinating and I didn't have a clue - it's common name is a Robin's Pincushion AKA bedeguar gall or moss gall, which is a chemically induced distortion of a wild rose's leaf bud caused by the larvae of the tiny gall wasp.
We then headed for the ferry to Vancouver Island, a two hour crossing during which we "could" see all sorts of exciting things from the ship's top deck, but unfortunately it's become apparent all too quickly that we are in for "Indian Sightings" ie. a glimpse of any part of an animal or bird irrespective of whether it's through binoculars and of course not necessarily photographable. Apparently we saw Common Loons, Surf Scooters, Pelagic and Brandt’s Cormorants, Red-throated Loons and a Caspian Tern. A female and calf Humpback Whale were also allegedly seen in the distance.
After docking at Nanaimo we were introduced to the farce that is supermarket shopping for lunch for 12 people. In a strange supermarket Ian and I took maybe 4-5 mins to locate a suitable sandwich each plus a packet of crisps and a drink for Ian - more or less what we'd have at home. Others roamed around for nigh on half an hour and were positively encouraged to put all and sundry into the group shop, after which the leaders added numerous different kinds of cakes and biscuits for everyone to try plus fruit. We somehow got all the shopping into the car and headed to Neck Point Park to eat it but unfortunately it was rather breezy with no bird activity so after finishing lunch, which took some people ages, we continued our journey across Vancouver Isand.
Our next stop was at Cathedral Grove to see the
magnificent collection of Douglas Fir and Western Cedar trees to give us an
insight into the ancient forest that once covered the island. Unfortunately I found it rather a disappointment; there was a well constructed board walk through the trees but most seemed to have toppled over and just lay around in an untidy heap. I'm sure if we'd have had longer we could have found a more interesting section to walk through.
Nice bark though.
