Mer Bleue & Lyn Valley Conservation Areas

 Thousand Islands National Park

It is really fortunate that Canada's National Parks admissions are free this summer and you just have to pay for parking. Conservation Areas usually have no parking fees and the admissions are always free. So my father and I took a little trip down to the Thousand Islands to visit the national park but unfortunately no nature discoveries or photos were found but it was a decent hike along the St. Lawrence. After the park visit we went to Lyn Valley Conservation Area in search for orchids that we had seen there before, Ladies Tresses and Green Bog Orchid but they were nowhere to be seen in the overgrowth along the old quarry just outside of the conservation area. But we did discover some interesting captures that we have yet to see this summer. 

Silver-spotted Skipper (Epargyreus clarus) at the Lyn Valley Conservation Area, Ontario, Canada.

Greater Bladderwort (Utricularia macrorhiza) at the Lyn Valley Conservation Area.

I do love the carnivorous plants and finding a Bladderworts that isn't U. vulgaris is always a great bonus that I share with the Carnivorous Plant Society of Canada : CPSC when I come across these favourites. I have been a member of the Society since 2020 when they discovered me and my photos on Facebook. 

Trip to the Mer Bleue

Visiting the Mer Bleue Bog is always an interesting adventure I was once again searching for my Sundews that should have been flowering but alas no flowers or blossoms were to be found on the little plants found in the bog. I was pleasantly surprised when my father discovered a new variety of orchid in the Mer Bleue Conservation Area and Ramsar site. I have yet to see two of these orchids blooming next to each other so it was a great bonus capture for these beauties.

Rose Pogonia (Pogonia ophioglossoides) Mer Bleue Conservation Area, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Ramsar site no. 755.

Northern Green Frog (Lithobates clamitans melanota) Mer Bleue Conservation Area.