Exploring Prince Edward Island

Bedeque Bay was featured this past week as we walked the boardwalk in Summerside. One day, a sailboat caught our attention with the layers of colour and pattern in the setting. The human element looked tiny against the natural elements. 

On a particularly windy day, six kite surfers played across the Bay near the lighthouse. It looks like fun but I cannot ever imagination wanting to try it, at any age. They are courageous people!

Our friend, Helen, is in Prince Edward Island visiting her son and his family for several weeks. Helen is from Australia and made the long journey on her own this year as her husband, Frank, was unable to travel. We missed him.

Helen introduced us to Hyde Pond last week, an area we were unfamiliar with but will visit again. 

The walk along the trail is a beautiful one any time of year and one can imagine a walk there in the autumn colour. We will find out.

Nearby, Canada Geese and Mallards, including young goslings and molting birds, were safe from predators in the fenced area of a settling pond. 

That day, Helen provided a delicious lunch which we ate across from Charlottetown, overlooking the harbour and the city from Rice Point. A cruise ship had delivered tourists that day, as is common this time of year. 

I always enjoy the view of the Hillsborough Bridge across the Harbour.

My husband and I were biking last week as well and took our first picnic lunch with us on bike. We stopped at a covered picnic table about 13 kilometres from home, in a marshland area which has a pond if we’ve had enough rain. The water level in the pond was the highest we’d ever seen. We had heavy rain numerous times in spring.

Though the wind was the predominant sound, Green Frogs called from around the pond, hidden by the vegetation. The chorus was loud and almost continuous, as if the amphibians didn’t stop to breathe. Nature’s chorus was in fine voice in the wilds of Prince Edward Island.

We had lunch and enjoyed the serenade as we watched Tree Swallows dart through the air catching theirs. Red-winged Blackbirds called out as they flew to nearby trees, surveying the scene.

After lunch, we stood on the bridge over the pond and watched as Swallows picked insects from the surface of the water, swooping down, picking up an insect and continuing on their way. The birds barely slowed as they snatched their prey from the water. A Water Strider didn’t have a chance against those stealthy birds.

Twice during our time there, Great Blue Herons flew over. We have seen them feeding in the pond on previous occasions. From the tiny Swallows to the huge Herons, avians enjoy the area. 

In the ditches along the Trail, Blue Flag Irises were in abundance. 

Similarly, Daisies filled the edges of the Trail.

Along the more shallow edges of the pond, Water Arum, with its single white petal, waded in the water.

The wind in the trees, the call of the frogs, the blooms, the birds enjoying the habitat, made the experience priceless. The world and all its troubles didn’t exist for a few precious moments.

On the way home, we stopped to take in the verdure. 

Along the trail in places, Dame’s Rockets adorn the way and are worth a closer look too.

Also lupins are still blooming along the roads and trails. They are such a treat this time of year.

At home, the first peony is blooming. Yay!

P.S.

On the world stage, the news is bleak. We escape into nature most days which helps distract us. One feels helpless regarding the world situation so we work to make our little part of the world better. There is always a way to help others in need even in one’s own area. Simply giving a compliment can brighten someone’s day. A smile is a kindness which doesn’t have a price tag.

As our daughter says to the children, “Be kind. You don’t know what someone is going through.”

A busy week in August

It was a busy week. Besides our walks along the boardwalk, time with family and friends this past week has kept us busy. It included time on one of the most beautiful beaches on the island, at Thunder Cove on the north shore. It ended with a sleepover for the grandchildren, always fun, though exhausting.

There are certain expectations with a walk along the boardwalk, depending on the time of year. The Great Blue Herons which summer on Prince Edward Island are often visible in Bedeque Bay. 

The bands of colour and texture at low tide on a sunny day in the bay make us stop to take in the scene as one of the large birds feeds in the tidal pools.

By late August, shorebird migration has begun and some of the birds stop in the bay on their way south. Yellowlegs are common visitors and this one was alerting the animals to the predator sitting on the bank of the stream.

I managed a photo of the Red Fox running into the bulrushes. It was a few minutes before the bird stopped its alert!

Another day, sailboats were out on the bay as they often are but sails were furled. The wind was high that day.

At Thunder Cove, fun at the beach was the order of the day. The expanse of shoreline is a great place for sand castles, lying in the sun, a walk

or a frisbee. 

The local colony of gulls was watchful for morsels of food and were entertaining, as usual, as they explored areas vacated by beachgoers.

At sunset, the beach took on a glow in the diminished light. 

As the sun settled lower, the approaching night has a look of its own.

We headed back over the dune path, looked back at the peaceful scene and were thankful for our good fortune to live in this time and place.

Land and sea

On a lupin quest this past week, early one day ahead of the smothering humidity, we headed around Bedeque Bay towards the Indian Head Lighthouse on the shore opposite Summerside. As we neared the south side of the bay, a Great Blue Heron flew across the road about five meters ahead and above the road. Such a sighting was a great start to the day.

Along the way, fishers and farmers were busy. In the bay, on the south side of Holman Island, oyster fishers grasped the shellfish between the teeth of the tongs they held over the side of the boat. 

On land, the first cut of hay was underway in one field but cows nearby weren’t ready for breakfast.

In another field, an elderly farmer used an old tractor in his field near the road. I missed that photo and on our way back, he had stopped the antique and left it in the field. Tractor without farmer isn’t quite the same.

However, lupins lined the red dirt road near the lighthouse. 

Our first look at the breakwater was one of surprise. Had the breakwater been damaged by storms, removing some of the huge rocks along its length? 

After the requisite lighthouse shots, I walked out the road to see the lupins. The sight of the blooms in this seaside setting, though high above the waterline, is a favourite of mine.

The pinks, blues and purples, the mixes of colour along with an occasional white, always make me smile. 

Overhead, Bank Swallows flew their usual erratic way catching insects. They are an important part of the aesthetic of this place.

Islands by their very nature are linked to both land and sea. Earlier in human history the sea was our only means of transportation to and from an island. The sea also provides food as does the land of course. The vistas before me on Prince Edward Island are a combination of land and sea which I have known all my life on my island homes.

I wouldn’t want it any other way.

July along the boardwalk

It has been hot and humid, so my husband and I have been staying close to home. However, we walk early in the day, ahead of the worst of the heat and humidity. The boardwalk is our usual destination where we can often depend on a breeze to ease the effect of the heat and humidity. That breeze helps control the mosquitoes too.

The view from the gazebo is always our first stop, to look over the bay 

and across to the lighthouse.

The salt marsh changes with the wind and tides as rough waters wash inland during high tide. 

Shorebirds, such as Yellowlegs,

frequent the marsh but we happened upon a visit by a young Robin recently as well.

Every day, I photograph Song Sparrows along the boardwalk. Numerous tiny choristers sing to the heavens every day, oblivious to their human audience. I caught this tiny sparrow eyeing lunch as it flew by, hoping it would land on the tree.

At the bridge over the stream, a feeder is filled by walkers every day.

Recently a young squirrel was reluctant to share the food with birds and other squirrels who came by. It didn’t mind scolding them either.

This time of year, we always notice the wildflowers along the way. As children, my husband and I spent long summer days playing outdoors in different parts of Newfoundland. Seeing the seed pods on the Vetch plant reminded my husband how he and his friends ate those pods every summer. They are healthy and nutritious when the pods are newly formed. The kids didn’t care about that of course. 

Recently at low tide in the bay, a man dug clams along the sand bars as walkers watched him collect his supper. 

The border between the boardwalk and the sea is filled with a sequence of blooms every summer. I love the scenes with the sea as the background to the wildflowers. 

The floral border outlines land and sea.

Finally, even the crows are finding it hot these days. The four we had in our area have become six with the addition of two young ones. They have spent time on our patio railing with their heads back and mouths open but they don’t make a sound. It looks like the equivalent of a dog panting but we are uncertain what the behaviour means. 

All creatures are finding it hot this summer.