West Bragg Creek

I love seeing this plant with it's beautiful bright berries. Just love the mix of orangy red, green and black. This one was growing in the forest in Bragg Creek Natural Area, east of Kananaskis and west of Calgary, when we went there to botanize the area on 3rd September. Those who are unfamiliar with wild plants may confuse this plant with the False Solomon's-seal, as the leaves are similar.

A chunky mushroom, photographed in West Bragg Creek on August 27th.

This is a macro shot of a very tiny Sedge, growing at Bragg Creek Provincial Park, west of Calgary. It is common, native and grows on moist banks and meadows. Also known as Golden-fruited Sedge. The fruit are 2-3mm long, oval, plump, light blue-green to orange-yellow, fleshy and translucent when fresh, becoming white and coarsely ribbed when dried. Belongs to the Sedge family, Cyperaceae.

Took this almost a month ago, in Bragg Creek natural Area, west of the city. A far cry from yesterday's snow and cold temperature! Today has been grey, too, though the sun has just this moment come out.

I think there might be one teeny speck in this image that is in focus, LOL! However, I kind of like it and, those of you who know how small moss capsules are, will appreciate the macro, ha. One of these capsules might be something like an eighth of an inch long, if that? The yellow are spores on the tips of the capsules. Can't remember what kind of moss this was, but it was found in West Bragg Creek, Kananaskis. I'm going to absolutely collapse in a short while, with a mug of coffee and the sandwich I took with me today but never ate. A handful of us made a return visit today to Rod Handfield's property south west of the city, and we spent the whole day botanizing and mushrooming. Totally exhausted and I need some "lunch" and coffee. I think I am totally "mushroomed out" - it's a wonderful forest to explore and we found all sorts of interesting things. I'm filthy, tired and hungry .... and happy : )

These bright red berries add a welcome splash of colour in the forest at this time of year. We saw these in West Bragg Creek, Kananaskis, on 3rd October. This is a medium-sized, native shrub, whose leaves turn a beautiful colour in the fall. The berries are very high in Vitamin C, but are somewhat astringent. The bush has a most unpleasant, very musty smell, which can be smelled from quite a distance. www.saskfruit.com/studentwebsites/High%20Bush%20Cranberry...

Not a patch on your photo quality, of course, but just wanted to let you know that I was thinking of you yesterday when out of the city with friends. I was thrilled to bits that this bokeh happened "naturally", ha, ha! We all enjoyed seeing Pussy Willow catkins at the edge of the forest. Thanks so much for making me aware of "bokeh" and how fascinating it can be, and for providing endless inspiration. Big shoes to fill, but I'd love to improve, even if only a little bit : )

I thought this was quite a beauty, with the tiny markings on the top surface, and no little pieces nibbled out of it. Seen at Bragg Creek Natural Area.

This beautiful Crepidotus was growing on a broken-off branch that was lying on the ground when a few of us went to search for Lichens and Fungi yesterday, at West Bragg Creek. This is the gilled, underside, which I always love to see. By the way, Crepidotus means "cracked ear". I'm out for a long day of botanizing south west of the city today - in rain (like yesterday) all day, according to the forecast. We seem to be having June's weather in August - it really barely seems to have been any summer this year, though I'm certainly happy to have had cooler weather on many days. See you later. (Later: apologies - I replaced this photo after about nine hours, as so few people seemed to have seen it. Usually, I don't upload photos at some unearthly hour of the morning, well maybe around 7:30 a.m., so I suspect today's pics were somehow buried by all the photos people uploaded later during the day. I really do dislike replacing an image, as I know it pushes everyone else's photos one place further "down". Which is why it is really annoying when people do this every single day, sometimes as many as three times in one day! Very rough location marked on my map - really not quite sure where the right spot is. Not sure what's going on with my computer at the moment. The hard drive just constantly "runs" when I load MY Pictures, and this evening it was making copies of photos and adding them to a different folder in My Pictures. I was constantly trying to delete these unwanted copies, but it just kept copying more and more - hundreds of the wretched things! Thanks so much to the folks at the SuperEco group for posting this shot as an "Admin photo of the week", for the week ending August 14th, 2010. Much appreciated!