Metchosin Biodiversity Project

Mechosin residents enjoyed their first Metchosin Biodiversity Day on the last weekend in April. The weather was ideal. Over a hundred people came by the biodiversity centre at the Witty's Lagoon teaching shelter.

The weekend event began on Friday night when guests met at the Metchosin Council Chambers to hear Christian Engelstoft, a contract biologist with Habitat Acquisition Trust, tell us about some of the most furtive animals of Metchosin, the bats and owls.

On Saturday, April 30, a dozen or so birders, ranging from experienced birder to novice, joined Ian Cruickshank, one of our regions best bird experts, on a bird-spotting walk. Ian once again displayed his uncanny ability to identify unseen birds from the meerest "cheep" in the bushes.

More guests arrived at 10:00 am. A wide range of drinks and snacks were laid out (including a batch of Martha Haylor's cinnamon buns) to fortify people for the morning walks. CRD Parks staff had displays set out for people to see. The button machine, which made metal buttons out of nature pictures, was a big hit. Three groups soon headed out to sample the wares of Witty's. Joel Ussery took one of the groups to see the salt marshes. Kem Luther's group circled the teaching shelter to look for mosses, mushrooms, and lichens. Sean Rangel led his group toward the beach to view the ecosystem changes from the Witty's parking lot to the beach. 

The morning walks wrapped up around noon. The volunteers ate bag lunches and prepared for the next influx of visitors for the 1:00 pm walks. When they arrived, Andy took a dozen people to look at wildflowers. Another group, let by Mistress of Slime Kristiina Ovaska, searched for slugs and snails, many of which were in hiding because of the warmer, drier weather. Sean Rangel redid his ecosystem walk for a new batch of visitors. While the groups were away, several groups of Witty visitors stopped by the CRD displays and helped to finish off the snacks.

The bioblitz survey group traversed several of the Matheson Park paths, including the trail to Cougar Bluffs. The bluffs give hikers unrivaled views of the park. They also open up the opportunity to find several taxa not found in the rest of the park.The steep slope just below the ridge weeps a steady stream of water in the spring and the seepages provide habitats for an unusual array of mosses, liverworts and lichens.

One of the Pacific Northwest liverworts that enjoys seepage habitats on cliffs is Fossombronia. Without its tall setas and round spore cases, Fossombronia would be difficult to spot: the thallus lies along the ground and dies back in warmer weather. Fortunately, this species almost always has sporophtyes in the growing seasons.

Lichen species can be extremely widespread. One of these circumboreal lichens, Mycoblastus sanguinarius, can be found among the original 80 lichen species recognized by Linnaeus in the first edition of his Species Plantarum (he called it Lichen sanguinarius). The bioblitz search team saw this species on the trees in Matheson. There is a chemical in the base of its apothecia that presents a blood red color (thus the species epithet sanguinarius), especially when the spores above it have been grazed by snails.

Draped on the tree branches that extend over the waters of Matheson Lake are the Ramalina lichens. The one pictured here, Ramalina menziezii, is aptly called both the Fishnet Lichen and the Lace Lichen--the threads of this lichen form a fine matrix that resembles a net. Recently declared the state lichen of California, Ramalina menziesii contributes nitrogen to the local ecosystems and often serves as a browse for mammals (when they can reach it).

A group of about 20 searchers worked their way along the path at the southern shore of Matheson lake. They found 27 different kinds of fungi. Of these, 6 were new to the Metchosin Biodiversity Project database--they had not been recorded in Metchosin before. The new fungi were Clavulina rugosa, Lachnella alboviolascens, Marasmius androsaceus, Mycena tenerrima, Nematogonum ferrugineum, and Tremellodendropsis tuberosa.

One of the foray members turned up a prime specimen of Hysterangium separabile, a false truffle. References report this mushroom to have a slightly fruity, sometimes pungent, odor. This particular specimen had a strong smell of horseradish.

One of the bird's nest fungi, Nidula niveotomentosa, has a white, turned-out rim and the outside of the "nest" is covered with small white hairs. This specimen had already discharged its "eggs" (spore cases).

Mycena tenerrima is a small (cap about 2mm) mushroom often found after wet weather on fallen branches. When it is young, the cap has granules on the top that look like grains of sugar.