The Couchiching Conservancy files on the Church Woods are thick.
This charming little 25-acre woodlot in Shanty Bay stands waiting today for anyone who has the inclination to wander through it, thanks to the enormous effort of a small group of neighbours who made it their business to protect it almost a decade ago.
Ask any farmer, and they’ll tell you there are not nearly so many Barn Swallows as there used to be. The science backs them up – over the past 20 years, there has been a steep drop in swallow populations across eastern North America. In Ontario, Barn Swallows are now listed as a threatened species.
Bird behaviour, like human behaviour is sometimes very cruel, but nonetheless very fascinating!
Several hundred years ago, lush, green forests covered almost all of southern Ontario. The forests were made up of trees of various species, sizes, and ages with shrubs and woodland flowers underneath. Wildlife abounded in these wooded areas. There were few openings in the forest canopy except where weather systems had downed trees or where native grasslands thrived.
Noella Storry has been a volunteer with The Couchiching Conservancy for over 7 years. During this time, she has filled many different volunteer roles including Property Team Leader (Prospect Marsh Nature Reserve) and Event Ambassador.
Some of the more popular television programs are those in which a Real Estate agent shows a couple a number of houses from which to select their future home. There are a few such programs, each with their own particular twist, but in every case, the couple selects one house. We have a pair of birds in our yard whose antics remind me of those programs! The birds are House Wrens.
As an environmentalist, sometimes I get sick of environmentalists.
It’s not that what they have to say isn’t important; it is. But the steady flow of bad news is a drag. It can leave you feeling depressed and powerless. Whether or not we’re conscious of it, in this age of ecological decline, we’re all suffering.
There has been much emphasis lately on plants that benefit wildlife, especially pollinators such as bees. Most people think of native wildflowers for this purpose but there are many helpful, and beautiful, native shrubs that are important to wildlife.
It is a rite of spring for me to build swallow houses– each March getting the urge to build a few from left over’s from wood working projects and from scraps from local contractors who know I would never refuse a scrap of usable wood or asphalt shingles.
Volunteerism is alive and well at The Couchiching Conservancy. We will be doing a ‘spotlight’ on a number of volunteers this year to show off their passion for protecting nature and the types of jobs they do.
Our first Volunteer Spotlight is on 15 year volunteer Alan Smale.
