Category Archives: natural history

A few early spring nature notes from Sandy Lake & Environs 23Apr2021

On Monday April 19th, Ed G and I lowered a probe to the deepest part of Sandy Lake and found that the lake had “turned over” and was well oxygenated from top to bottom. View the limnological limnological profile. That … Continue reading

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Did the deer follow the hare or the hare follow the deer to Marsh Lake?

On a few-degrees-below-zero day in early February, I set out from Sandy Lake Beach Park  to go to  Marsh Lake. I especially  wanted to see the hemlock-lined Upper Peverill’s Brook in winter, where it flows into Marsh Lake. Sandy Lake … Continue reading

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In the Water and on the Drumlin by Bedford Lions Sandy Lake Beach Park

Some reasons to celebrate and some reasons to be concerned about Sandy Lake & Environs Short link for this page: https://cutt.ly/ShAkAGM (www.cutt.ly/ShAkAGM) A presentation by David Patriquin to the Bedford Lions Club on Dec 3, 2020. View Hi-Res Video of … Continue reading

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Anticipating Hurricane Teddy & some thoughts about winds and Nova Scotia forests

Hurricane Teddy is tracking northward and “is expected to impact Atlantic Canada and the Gulf of St. Lawrence region Tuesday and Wednesday as a “very dangerous” post-tropical storm as it moves through the region, bringing strong winds, heavy rain, storm … Continue reading

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Trips by Transit’s first “virtual trip” is to the proposed Sandy Lake – Sackville River Regional Park!

Trips By Transit is a K’jipuktuk (Halifax) based community organization that promotes citizens getting out and about in nature without having to own or have ready access to a car, or be limited by lack of familiarity with places to … Continue reading

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Four breeding age female Eastern Painted Turtles were deliberately run over near Marsh Lake

UPDATE Aug 1, 2020: View Turtles facing a tough road across the country By Staff in Halifax Today, Aug 1, 2020. ——- One of the special attributes of Sandy Lake & Environs is the presence of three of Nova Scotia’s … Continue reading

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‘Heard a Mink Frog’s wooden “cut, cut, cut” lately?

There has been an interesting discussion on the NatureNS listserv (reported publicly on Nova Scotia Bird News by Date) about Mink Frogs. It was initiated by this post (bolding inserted) by N.D. on June 15, 2020: Heard a new (for … Continue reading

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Now we can enjoy spring in the forests of Sandy Lake & Environs

Icelanders started a bit of a trend with their urging people to hug trees to overcome isolation during our days of Covid-19. We’re still under Covid-19 distancing rules in NS, but as of May 1, 2020, we can again visit … Continue reading

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A species to watch: freshwater mussel

  The freshwater mussel Pyganodon cataracta occurs in abundance at Sandy Lake. I have viewed many living specimens while snorkelling in the shallows (down to 2-3 m) and discarded shells are common amongst emergent wetland plants around the fringes of … Continue reading

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Sandy Lake & Environs well represented in iNaturalist Nature Challenge – let’s keep at it!

The ‘City Nature Challenge 2019: Halifax Regional Municipality’ project ran over the days April 26-29, 2019 and generated an impressive 6839 observations including (approximately) 839 species by 229 observers. From the Facebook Page: Some interesting stats so far (which may … Continue reading

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