poison mushroom pumpkin with ghost projection

poison mushroom pumpkin with ghost projection, originally uploaded by robinnestridge.

Happy Hallowe'en!! enjoy the mushrooms but beware of the consequences.

up the back side of Mt Finlayson

trail heading up Mt finlayson

Yesterday I hoofed it up the back side of the mountain for first time in a while. It was overcast but was hoping it would clear when I got to the top. The ground was wet, and it had rained over night so the trees were still dripping abit with the previous nights rain. Lots of mushrooms along the way, one good one, a Cauliflower mushroom, good eatin'. A Witch's Hat mushroom suitable for the time of year.

gomphus floccossus

Clavariadelphus truncatus, club coral fungus

witch's hat

At the top the rain stayed away but the sun did also. Made it up from the road in 28 minutes, not bad for me.

It was pretty much quiet with the birds on the way up, only Kinglets could be heard. After a few minutes at the top a single bird flew from the south. I thought it was a pine grosbeak at first but the call was different and it was flying with a deep undulation and a "cheeup" call. Unknown to me. it did a figure 8 over my head as a silhoette and then dove with is odd flight pattern down over the front face of the mountain. no wing bars, grosbeak sized, fair length tail and wings, quite dark, when it went below the horizon, i thought i saw maybe some colour on the side of the head. after looking it up books and listening to some calls on the internet at home, i thought it must be a Gray-crowned Rosy Finch. I will have to head up again in the next few days to see if i can find it.

Suprisingly there was quite a bit of arbutus berries in the trees here. All the other mountains in the area have very few to no berries. I guess I will be climbing this mountian more often this winter to see what turns up.

southwards from the top looking through the fog rising from  far below

some of the trail has built in stairs

Goldstream Ridge Hike

Hiked up through goldstream campsite, 2 miles up past the railway tracks to the ridge. the campground was completely vacant from what I could see. I heard the train coming as I was hurrying my way throught the campsites, blowing its horn at every railcrossing. I managed to make across the tracks just in time to look back and get a shot as I headed up through the tall Salal thicket

Through the salal leaves I found a  few Chantrelles, which I left behind in a bag to pick up on my return trip.










From the salal thicket I crossed onto the malahat access road and about 1km later left it to climb the steep ridge on the other side

It is a very steep climb on a deer trail and sometimes it is hard to not slip on the wet moss and wild grasses. But the view is interesting, with Arbutus and Garry Oak trees scattered around the steep rock outcrops. In the spring there is alot of wild flowers up in this area, and one of the  Golden Eagle nests is not far from here. I just didnt visit it today. I was hoping for some Pine Mushrooms or atleast some Chantrelles here on the ridge top, but not a one.

Finally a view from part way up, Looking towards Mt Macdonald, and Mt Braden with the steep little hummock of Sugarloaf, way in the backgound, all of which I have hiked up this year.  Later at the top of ridge finally a clear view of all the mountains to the south.

   From here it is another 2 miles down the ridge to pick up my Chantrelles and head through the campsite to my car. As I reach the railtracks I step on a pile of Lobster mushrooms, Luckily I dont squash them all, and manage to get three or four nice ones to bring home. Off to Bottle some wine.                                                                                                                                                                    

2010-03-06

robin's blog

Arbutus on Jocelynn hill ridge

Hawkwatch oct 2

Went out to Beechey Head today in east sooke to the hawkwatch site. on the way out there, I found about a dozen meadowlarks in the old gravel pit along Metchosin road. they were singing and chasing each other all over the brush covered pit. Further along metchosin in one of the large sheep fields were 7 Greater White-fronted geese with a couple of Canada's. On the way out the trail to the lookout, in the deep woods  was a Barred Owl, and I stopped to look for my Pine Mushroom in the usual place. Last year someone else got it first, but this year I was successful and managed to get two very nice shaped Matsutakes, still in the button stage.( I see in the store by our place they have them selling for $25 a pound. Mine were in much nicer shape. France made some

fantastic pine mushroom Risotto last night, wow! that was awesome.

The first while at the lookout was not very promising. There were about 160 vultures flying by north of the Babbinton ridge but not much else around. I could hear the Murres calling from down on the water, and I counted 100 sport fishing boats out there towards sooke as well.   about a dozen Ravens came over and soared  and played in tandem groups for a few minutes. Then, finally the hawks started to pass over the ridge, about 20 or 30 red-tails, 3 cooper's hawks, and about 20 Sharp-shinned's kept me busy for about an hour. A juvenile Peregrine flew  close over my head but kept on going to the east. Evening Grosbeaks also made an appearance for abit, 5 of them circled the outcrop and disappeared to the north. On the way back to the car in the meadow I could see about 500 Vultures circling the hill tops out over Rocky Point Bird Observatory a few miles past beecher Bay.