Snake at Uplands Park – August 2012

Markus, a young Oak Bay lad, spotted this snake at Uplands Park and sent along this photo. Thanks Markus. Can anyone ID this?
Margaret Lidkea adds: “This is our native Northwestern garter snake. They frequent Garry Oak Meadows and people’s gardens, eating slugs and worms. Kid’s often call them “garden snakes”. They have a variety of colours, and most have stripes. They release a stinky smell to say “go away”, and rarely bite.”

Oak Bay News: Bike Racks & New Information Kiosk Planned for Uplands Park

The August 23, 2012 issue of the Oak Bay News has an article on the new bike racks approved for Uplands Park. Approval was granted at the August 13, 2012 Oak Bay Council Meeting. The article also notes the new information Kiosk that is being planned for Uplands Park by the Friends of Uplands Park. The bike racks and Kiosk proposals were presented to Oak Bay Council by Margaret Lidkea and Kathleen Matthews, on behalf of the Friends of Uplands Park. The Oak Bay News article can be read online at New features help protect Uplands Park

Dog Poop Challenges in Uplands Park – August 28, 2012

What to do about the dog poop situation in Uplands Park? Seems worse than ever today (August 28, 2012). Here is a shocking image demonstrating the behaviour of some of our dog walkers. Is it better in a bag, or just left, unbagged, on the side of the path for people to trod upon? Too much of the latter seen on my walk today.

Fire in Uplands Park – August 23, 2012.

Chris Hyde-Lay, Manager of Park Services, Oak Bay, has advised the Friends of Uplands Park of a fire, in the central rocky area of Uplands Park, that took place around 10pm on August 23, 2012. Chris noted: “It was about 75 m square. A little bark scorching to some of the small Garry Oaks.” I took photos of the burn on August 28, 2012. (Perhaps too many photos.) The burn extended to an area where FOUP had done a lot of broom removal in October 2011. This is the same area where there was another fire many years ago (2003?). I have photos of that burn as well, somewhere, and the same little Oak trees were scorched in that previous fire. Slideshow seems to present the images in a random order so hard to follow the actual spatial relationship of the photos.

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Walk in Uplands Park – August 28, 2012

The dry grasses in Uplands Park smelled so intoxicating today. Here are some photos from my walk. (by Kathleen)

Birding in Uplands Park… Bird List

From the July 29th Bird Walk in Uplands Park, Margaret reports:

If you are a birder, please look at this wonderful list made by Geoffre Newell and his Dad, David.  It includes a list of the species that we saw last Sunday.  Geoffre will be leading the next bird walk on Sunday August 26 at 8:00 am.  Meet at Cattle Pt near the first boat launch and bring your binoculars. We had a great time on July 29!l  Thank you so much Geoffre and Dave.

View the PDF here: Common Birds of Uplands Park