The House & other Arctic musings

Lion's Teeth

I remember being a little startled when I first saw a Dandelion up here. There isn't, after all, a lawn to speak of within hundreds of kilometres of here.

I was even more surprised to learn that the Dandelion species that are  up here probably are not one of the common introduced species seen in the south, but native species. Uluksan in the fall is one of the best places to find them, which is exactly where we found many this past weekend.

(And while unrelated to the rest of this post I couldn't resist this clump of Prickly Saxifrage and its patterns and colours).

Of course where there are Dandelions and children together two things are required: picking some for mom, and blowing Dandelion seeds everywhere.

Torpor

Last night, I sat marveling at the scene before me. Stretched out on a steep hill, lazily picking blueberries while Hilary sat beside me, eating the blueberries I was picking and nattering away incessantly. Below was Marcil Lake and beyond that Adam's Sound. There was barely a breath of wind, and in the late evening the light shifted and changed before my eyes. Not a soul was in a more beautiful spot than I was in that moment.

Travis was off exploring and soon I could hear him calling from above. When I didn't appear, he came to me, telling me he had found a Bumble Bee. We climbed up to the road and across it he searched briefly for the insect, until his eyes caught it again.  I had expected to see Bumble Bee flying amongst the few remaining flowers, instead I had to follow his pointing finger to a bee sitting under a flower, not moving.

To get a decent photo I would have had to lay in water and mud, so instead I set the camera near the bee, and took a photo using the timer. Then I'd look at the photo, adjust the focus, and the zoom, reposition the camera, and then repeat the process until I was satisfied with the result.

The bee was so motionless that I thought it was dead, but when I gently brushed its back, it slowly moved. It seemed to be in a state of torpor, waiting for the sun to return and warm the air, and it. Once warm it could return to searching for ever scarcer flowers, before the return of the inevitable snow.

The detail is worth clicking on to see at a higher resolution.

Large-flowered Wintergreen redux

While out blueberry picking this weekend, I discovered another, larger, patch of Large-flowered Wintergreen. The habitat appears to be quite different, the common denominator would be a large snow cover in the winter.

At any rate, here are a couple of rather nice (I think anyway) photos of a small patch of them.

And because the other posts I was planning on posting these photos to are getting rather large, I'll include photos of...

Bog Saxifrage

and Cotton Grass

Nodding Saxifrage

Just above the high tide mark on the beach I was walking today I found a few scattered Nodding Saxifrage (Saxifraga cernua). The pictures don't do it justice but I wanted to show this flower for, like Viviperous Knotweed, Nodding Saxifrage has a second reproductive strategy in addition to seeds. Nodding Saxifrage also propagates itself asexually by bulbets. The plant essentially produces little clones of itself which break off and, if soil and conditions are right, set root and grow into a plant.

This is the only photo in focus showing the flower, and it is a pretty, typical, saxifrage flower.

This shot I meant to show the bulbets, which are the reddish "buds" on the stem in the crook of the leaves. The cool thing about the photo though is until I blew it up, I never realized that there are tiny grains of sand stuck in the hairs on the stem of the flower.

Cuckoo Flower (and others)

I believe this is a Cuckoo Flower (Cardamine pratensis), one of the mustards. The photo doesn't really show the delicate lilac colour of these blossoms. I'm starting to have more and more of an appreciation for the mustards.

This tiny flower was growing next to it, both at the edge of a pond. I've yet to identify it, so if anyone has any suggestions... The blossoms are only about 5 mm across.

And finally, I've been meaning to stop for awhile and photograph these Bog Saxifrage (Saxifraga hirculus) that are growing in a marshy area beside the road to Victor Bay. Their deep yellow really stands out against the grasses and sedges they are growing amongst.

Large-flowered Wintergreen

I really like this showy, fragrant flower, that is relatively scarce around here.  Or I think it might be scarce, I might just not be looking in the right spots. I know of one spot where I can reliably find Large-flowered Wintergreen (Pyrola grandiflora), across the road from First Bridge's picnic area. I checked there and sure enough a number of them were in bloom.

They were growing near some Viviparous Knotweed (Polygonum viviparum). It is one of a few flowers that also develops asexually. The bulbets below the flowers detach and when they come to rest in suitable soil, sprout roots and grow into what is essentially a clone of the plant.

And here are a couple of other flower photos from last night.  Thrift (Armeria maritima). A bit of a top down photo but I wasn't about to lay down in a stream to get the photo.

Prickly Saxifrage

This is really a lichen photo with some Prickly Saxifrage in it.

Prickly Saxifrage

Easily one of the prettiest flowers here, Prickly Saxifrage (Saxifraga tricuspidata) always gets my attention. Small cream coloured flowers with orange spots rise above sharp leaves, often red, that are low to the ground. They tend to be found in drier spots, and one place they abound is on the hills above the inflow of Marcil Lake.

Masses of flowers are found there on the south facing hill, amongst the lichen covered rocks.

Here are a couple of other flowers there. I believe that this is Vahl's Cinquefoil (Potentilla vahliana) but am unsure.

Some waning Arctic Poppies over looking Marcil Lake.

River Beauty, or Dwarf Fireweed (Epilobium latifolium). Hilary had me photographing each bunch for awhile.

Pillowy Soft

It seems to be a bit of a photo mainstay across the north right now, from Sweden to Alaska, and on Facebook as well. So here, from last night, are a couple of shots of Arctic Cotton (Eriophorum sp.). The title of the post is even more appropriate when you read allycke's post about it's former use in Sweden.

Placemarker

I'm back from an abbreviated camping trip with Travis, and apparently my calender is full for much of the day or the next three.  Here's a photo from the trip to hold your interest (?) until later.

Ice flowers

It seems, these days, that photos have taken over my blog. There are things to write about, its just easier this way right now, and it feels like everywhere I look I see a photo opportunity. So for something completely different I give you, flowers and the iceberg. Well, okay, perhaps not "different" but... like it or not it is what you're getting.