On a beautiful autumn morning, twenty one of us left from the Westview ferry terminal to begin our trip to Texada Island. Upon our arrival our first stop was the Texada Museum in Van Anda. We met with Janice, a volunteer, who opened the museum just for us. She gave us a brief recent history … Continue reading TEXADA OLD GROWTH FOREST FIELD TRIP – October 29, 2024

For the first time since our first Alpine Trip in 2017, we had fantastic weather on the scheduled field trip day (August 10) – the skies were clear, the day was warm, and it turned out to be a beautiful day for a field trip! We landed on a small plateau on the South Powell … Continue reading Alpine Adventure #7 – South Powell Divide by Tom Koleszar 10 August 2024

by Lynne Macdonald 22 October 2023 The mushroom excursion to the Duck Lake /Squirrel Crossing area was a well-attended and much appreciated outing, in perfect weather.  As promised, Izy Loveluck lead an exploration of “mushroomology”, sharing her extensive experience with identification, the related cautions, and some cooking tips. We began by walking along a pre-scouted … Continue reading Mushroom trip

by Nancy Pezel 23 September 2023 A rainy start to this trip did not deter the 10 adventurous members in their exploration of Riverbend Cave on Vancouver Island.  After gearing up with helmets and headlamps, our guide Kat took us on a 30 minute hike up a forested trail to the cave entrance.  At a … Continue reading Horne Lake Caves

by Jennifer Martin 7 September 2023 This was the clubs’ second trip to Hollyhock Learning Centre on Cortes Island this year.  While late in the summer we had great weather both sunny and cool.   After some members grabbed breakfast at Nancy’s Bakery in Lund, we boarded the 43 ft Schooner Misty Isles and headed for … Continue reading Hollyhock Learning Centre

by Tom Koleszar 13 August 2023 Alpine Adventure #6 – Diadem Mountain Once again, on our scheduled field trip day (August 12), the backcountry weather was questionable – so we had to move the trip to Sunday August 13, when we had an absolutely beautiful day!  We landed on a ridge near Mt Diadem, with … Continue reading Alpine Adventure #6 – Diadem Mountain

by John Edwards 30 July 2023 A fantastic low tide exploration day was enjoyed by members of the Malaspina Naturalists (Bengul, Dale, Dan, Madelon, Sharron, Fran, Colleen, Lynn, John and Kelly) on Sunday, July 30.  We powered out of Lund Harbor aboard the Misty Isles with captain Jonas steering us past Keefer Rock to the … Continue reading Low tide exploration

by Tom Koleszar 20 July 2023 This field trip was run for two groups on Saturday and Sunday, July 15 and 16. The trips were aboard the Tla’amin Braves II with Captain Bryce McKenzie, each following the same itinerary.  The trip leaders were Nancy Pezel and Tom Koleszar. The weather was wonderful (and a bit hot) on … Continue reading Powell River Lake

by Tom Koleszar 17 June 2023 Eleven club members headed into the Horseshoe Valley area to learn how forests are regrown after harvesting. Our guides for this trip were Darwyn Koch and Geoff Matheson – both Registered Professional Foresters with Western Forest Products. Our 1st stop was along Dixon Road where we saw a block … Continue reading Forest Regeneration

by Jason Addy 30 May 2023 A stunner of a day at the Bluffs! Fifteen members attended and I ramble along as the guide. The weather was perfect, a bit of cloud, a lot of sun, and cool ocean breezes. We started at the mailboxes on Stillwater School Rd. I talked about the history of … Continue reading Stillwater Bluffs with Jason Addy

by Sheila Peters 13 May 2023 Saturday, May 13, 2023 was a gorgeous day for 12 club members to join captain Jonas Fineman and naturalist George Sirk on the Misty Isles trip to Mitlenatch Island. Just out of Lund, Major Islet was bright with monkey flowers and sea blush and noisy with both Steller and … Continue reading Mitlenatch aboard the Misty Isles

by David Bedry, 7 May 2023 Four of us met at the north end of the mall to carpool to Browne Creek.  Dinner Rock Park is still closed.  We parked at the gate for about a fifteen minute walk to the area where the wildflowers were finally blooming.  The chocolate lilies are finally starting to … Continue reading Browne Creek wildflowers

by Pat Cottingham 26 March 2023 On a cool and very windy day, 5 club members caught the 0810 ferry over to Comox and met up with our informative and interesting guide, Nancy Pezel, in Qualicum Beach.  We were in search of the Brant Geese (sub species Black or Pacific Brant “Brant nigricans) arriving from … Continue reading Return of the Brant geese

by Pat Cottingham, 3 Oct 2022 An enthusiastic group of 12 spent a stunningly beautiful, warm and calm day on the Comox Estuary and in the Baynes Sound area.  We went over as foot passengers from Westview and boarded bus transport at Little River….to take us to Comox Harbour to link up with Duncan Cameron … Continue reading Comox Estuary Tour #2

by Cindy Dalcourt, 19 Sept 2022 A beautiful sunny fall day with calm seas for 12 of us to head over to Comox for our first ever trip with Comox Harbour Tours.  On the way there we were lucky to see whales spouting in the distance on both sides of the ferry.  As we had … Continue reading Comox Estuary Tour #1

by Tom Koleszar, 8 August 2022 Our scheduled field trip day of August 6 had beautiful weather, however, our helicopter was taken to fight wildfires near Bute Inlet, so we could not go! After much discussion and planning and rescheduling, we managed to get a full trip up to Slide Mountain two days later – still … Continue reading Alpine Adventure #5 – Slide Mountain

by Howard and Lois Bridger, 23 July 2022 Leaving Lund at full capacity with twelve passengers, our Captain Jonas and assistant Tosh. We couldn’t have asked for a nicer day. The temperature was perfect and the few clouds were scattered over the mountain tops. We motored around Sarah Pt., past the Curme Islands to Prideaux Haven … Continue reading Desolation Sound (aboard the Misty Isles)

by Nancy Pezel and Tom Koleszar, 10 July 2022 We conducted this trip on two separate days aboard the Tla’amin Braves II with Captain Bryce.  The weather was OK on both days, just a brief shower on Sunday afternoon.  The lake was relatively calm and the clouds generally high enough to see the surrounding hilltops, if … Continue reading Powell Lake’s Natural and Not So Natural History

by Howard and Lois Bridger, 26 June 2022 It was a fair weather day as the Misty Isles, with Captain Jonas, naturalist George Sirk and a full contingent of twelve naturalists headed out from land towards Hernando Reef. Bird sightings included, a pair of rarely seen Caspian Terns, a Peregrine Falcon, Kingfisher, Harlequin Ducks, Purple Martins, … Continue reading Low tide exploration (aboard the Misty Isles)

by Tom Koleszar, 29 May 2022 Fifteen club members headed into the back country to learn about riparian areas and find some big trees.  After leaving Lang Bay, we drove for an hour to get to the canoe route portage at the head of Windsor Lake.  Here we parked and walked the ~1km route down … Continue reading Streams and Trees

by Sharon Shultz, 7 May 2022 The Misty Isles, her Captain Jonas Fineman and Naturalist George Sirk picked us up at the Lund Marina and took us on a lovely day trip to Mitlenatch Island. Twenty seven (27) species of birds were spotted during our trip. The camas, monkey flowers and sea blush were in full … Continue reading Mitlenatch (aboard the Misty Isles)

by Tom Koleszar, 1 May 2022 Fifteen of us gathered at the Inland Lake parking area to begin to get to know the mosses of this area with trip leader Rod Tysdal.  Rod is a retired forester, and spent the last few months delving into the world of mosses – buying new books and dusting … Continue reading Mrs and Mr Moss – getting to know them

by Andrew Bryant, 30 Apr 2022 Nine of us gathered at the Italian Hall to marvel at the wonders of spring migration – with an expert. Iwan van Veen was at the top of his game and I think we had 20+ species before leaving the parking lot.  He kept careful track and by days end … Continue reading Birding by Ear (Part XI)

by David Bedry, 17 October 2021 We met at Lang creek on a drizzly morning where we were met by Phil and Tesarlatwo of the hatchery’s staff.  With our overnight down pour they had been up all night.  They had been monitoring the rising creek levels and keeping the water intake for the building free … Continue reading Lang Bay Hatchery and Nature Garden

by Winnie Ferrier, 24 August 2021 Eleven of us arrived at 10:00 am in Lund to meet Misty Isles for a day on Mitlenatch.  The day was sunny and the ocean calm. After a safety talk by Jonas, our skipper, we were underway.  As we journeyed we were given archeological and historical facts of Mitlenatch by … Continue reading Mitlenatch day-trip

by Tom Koleszar, 14 August 2021 After being rained out last week, we got out today.  The wildfire smoke threatened, but we were largely clear in the mountains further from the coast. Twenty members were landed by helicopter at 1660 metres elevation in the meadows between Ironface Peak and Mount Alfred.  The weather was sunny and … Continue reading Alpine Adventure #4 – Ironface

by Tom Koleszar, 24 July 2021 On a nice sunny day, 9 naturalists set sail with Captain Jonas and Naturalist George Sirk on the Misty Isles for a tour of the Hernando Reefs on a very low tide. On the way they passed by Major Rock with all its bird and marine life.  Many different species … Continue reading Misty Isles low tide trip

by Tom Koleszar, 18 July 2021 After being postponed due to heat two weeks ago, we finally got to go on our beach field trip on Sunday.  The tide was nice and low, and the day warm and sunny (but not too hot!) Michael Stewart lead us on a walk along the beach at Lang Bay, … Continue reading Life’s a beach

by Pat Karis, 13 June 2021 Eight Malaspina Naturalists arrived at Lund to take a boat trip to Desolation Sound.  Our captain ”extra-ordinairre” Jonas shared with us that he had left Whale Town on Cortez Island, that morning, 2 and a half hours prior to arriving in Lund…at 9:45. After a few minutes of instruction around … Continue reading Desolation Sound

by Tom Koleszar, 5 June 2021 On Saturday eight intrepid members of the Naturalist Club braved the weather to explore the world of ferns with trip leader Rod Tysdal. Rod is a retired forester, and he dusted off a lot of his old knowledge – and even bought a new book – to prepare for this … Continue reading Fun with ferns