On Sunday I headed down to Blenheim and Erieau to check things out. This time of year we look for shorebirds, but it seems suitable habitat is difficult to come by with higher water levels and dense vegetation in some spots.
At Blenheim, the ponds are still fairly high, and the sprinklers not all that great. I found a few shorebirds, including Least and Semipalmated Sandpipers and a few Lesser Yellowlegs along the edges or in the sprinkler cells.
There is a bit of habitat at the Erieau marsh trail, but the only migrant shorebird was a Least Sandpiper.
I then moved on to Clear Creek to check out the old quarry. Things were quite sparse! Next Sunday is the Clear Creek butterfly count, so I wanted to see how things were shaping up. I certainly hope things pick up, as there were very few leps! Even odes were sparse on this visit.
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| Calico Pennant |
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| Great Spangled Fritillary |
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| Azure Bluets |
Today, I wanted to check out a section of the Howard Watson Nature trail at Sarnia. The trail follows the old Grand Trunk Railway (GTR) right-of-way from Confederation Line heading northward, curving eastward, and over to the east side of Bright's Grove.
The GTR was originally completed in 1859, running from Stratford to Point Edward. The line went straight to Point Edward, but a spur was made to curve around old Lake Wawanosh connecting to the Canadian National Line at Confederation. The line was last used for trains in 1967. I still remember the tracks at Point Edward that went under the Bluewater Bridge! (There I go aging myself again).
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| Site of Blackwell Station |
Here is an old map from a previous blog post, where you can see the rail line going straight across just in from Lake Huron:
Here is a modern map from Google where you can see the curve through Blackwell Trails Park and Twin Lakes area.
The Howard Watson Trail was established about 1988 after years of off and on negotiations.
The section I walked today was from Modeland Road to Blackwell Sideroad. It skirts the north edge two ponds and has lots of wooded area. The whole trail is actually good for nature as there are many plants both uncommon and common. An inventory was made by the late Dorothy Tiedje and others I believe. Indeed it is good for birds and insects.
I was interested in seeing what insects I could find along this section. I did find some in the rare category!
Royal River Cruisers are found here, which are critically imperiled. Hard to believe that with all of these I find in my area! I saw two of them.
I also noted Double-striped Bluets.
Others damsels:
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| Stream Bluet |
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| Violet Dancer |
Here are some butterflies:
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| Wild Indigo Duskywing |
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| Northern Broken-Dash |
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| Silver-spotted Skipper |
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| Common Sootywing |
Other parts of the trail certainly warrant exploration in the future!
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| Common Checkered-Skipper |
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