Oceanspray, also known as cream bush rock spirea, ironwood or arrowwood is a common native flowering shrub found growing in forests on the Southern Gulf Islands and Vancouver Island. In logged areas, or forests recovering from wildfire, it may be one of the first plants to appear. In July, we Read more…
As the Biologist for the Mayne Island Conservancy, I get to visit some pretty cool places, and see some amazing things. Finding hidden patches of wildflowers in bloom, watching giant silk moths emerge from cocoons, and observing the graceful movement of kelp crabs balancing on the tips of an eelgrass Read more…
When environmental factors change, as is happening with global climate change, the geographic boundaries that a species can survive within shift as well. This is known as a range shift, range expansion, or range reduction depending on the circumstances.
Despite very wet, cool weather, 90 dedicated volunteers participated in the annual Mayne Island Beach cleanup, held on Sunday, May 15th. A big thank you to all the beach cleaners, captains, and depot crew that came out on Sunday, and also thanks to those of you who have picked up Read more…
Spring is here, with rain, flowers, insects, and – bats! Our B.C. bats are now returning to summer roost sites. One of our more familiar species in buildings and bat boxes is the Little Brown Myotis. Like all B.C. bats, the Little Brown Myotis is an essential part of our Read more…
This is part one of the “Below our feet” series. This series of articles aims to shine a light on the mysterious underground world of plant life beneath our feet. Held together by roots, soil organisms, bacteria, and fungi run this underground world of decomposing plant material. Plants whose aboveground Read more…
To follow up on previous posts in the Oystercatcher, in the fall of 2021 the Conservancy began to more actively advocate with the provincial government to live up to its responsibility to deal with the hyperabundant populations of introduced Fallow deer and the native Blacktail deer. The large numbers of Read more…
From the scuttle of shore crabs to the spray of clams, the intertidal zone is always teeming with new and exciting life! We visited Piggott Bay with the Mayne Island School at low tide to see what we could discover, and the beach did not disappoint. After navigating rocky crevices Read more…
In 2017 our community came together in an amazing way, raising money to help purchase what is now St. John Point Regional Park. This 68 acre park is a huge addition to the small public land area on Mayne Island being managed for nature conservation and low-impact recreation. Since becoming Read more…
New Addition to Miners Bay If you’ve been to the Miners Bay dock in the past couple of weeks, you might have noticed something new in the water. Our light trap has been deployed and will stay floating beside the dock until this September. Not to be confused with a Read more…