Old Growth Forest

Glendyre,

Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

Glendyre is a small, Scottish gaelic community 

that hosts a very large and almost

obsolete phenomenom - one of the last remaining 

and possibly the best example of an old growth forest.

With white birch and sugar maple trees 

measuring over 10 feet around!!

I was in a total state of bliss.

An off-trail hike of only 1.1 km seemed like 10!

The banks of the brook we crossed were steep

and laden with downed trees covered with moss

and hidden from view by mammoth ferns.

There were treasures everywhere!

Wood Frog
(Rana sylvatica)

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker holes.

Artist's Conk
(Ganoderma applanatum)

This is only a small sampling!

Rest assured, this parcel of land is being strongly considered

in the 12 Per Cent Plan,

an effort by the Nova Scotia government

to secure the natural wonders

of the province.

Fuzzy Visitor

Fingered Dagger Moth Caterpillar

(Acronicta dactylina)

(5th instar larva)

I found this little guy walking through my rock garden.

Listed as uncommon but widely spread,

the Dagger Finger Moth,

as pictured below,

(Janice Stiefel/bugguide.com)

is found in deciduous and mixed wood forests 

in all of the U.S. and S. Canada.

Larva feed on willow, alder, birch, poplar and hawthorn,

overwintering as a pupa in leaves or debris.

Larvae are present from July to October.