Chalet Pruche from Birch Alley

After three months being officially closed the arboretum is gradually opening up again, starting with members only. This morning we made our first visit for three moths or so under bright blue skies and pretty well had the place to ourselves. It was glorious.

Of course, all is not perfect in paradise. Our car was the only one in the parking area … except for the one that arrived after us and having the whole parking to choose from opted to park three feet from us … social distancing anyone? You can only sigh.

Scott has done a fine job keeping the trails open without too much tidying around the edges. The Copse was in fine form with all the trees and bushes we planted three years ago seeming to be very well established and growing apace … our efforts were not wasted.

We noted 21 species of birds – if interested there is a checklist here: https://ebird.org/qc/checklist/S70465356

A pair of Tree Swallows were constructing a nest and a House Wren was well established in a nest of his/her own at the Branchery.

We took the route that goes across Dale’s Field and past the quarry to Blossom Corner; thence to the Copse and around the Canada 150 Trail before returning along the last section of the main trail. A couple of very well spent hours.

So – photographs, that’s what you came here for. Some of the pictures below have captions – click any image to see the full gallery at full screen resolution.