Nature Comments and Info for the Annapolis Valley - by Larry Bogan
Here I will report on Monarch Butterflies, Astronomical events, and ideas that I have about nature.
Milkweed is the larval food of the Monarch butterfly which is endangered in Nova Scotia. It is of valuable to know where patches of it are located to inspect during the breeding season for larva and eggs. These early stages of the Monarch can then be protected from predators and reared to increase the butterfly population. Two species of milkweed are growing in Nova Scotia. Swamp milkweed (asclepias incarnata) tends to be found in wetter environments and Common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) grows well in the light soils of the Annapolis Valley and is known to be growing in several places. The Common milkweed is invasive because it spread by a robust root system as well as its air-born seeds. Large patches of it can occur in abandoned unused fields but most patches are small with less than 50 plants.
Below is a Google map of known locations of Common Milkweed.(created Nov 2015 and updates as patchs are found or destroyed) Locations have been added and corrected with the help of members of the Blomidon Naturalists Society and others interested in the well-being of the Monarch butterfly. The icon (leaves) marks locations on the map where the milkweed has been found. Most of the larger milkweed sites are in the Waterville-Cambridge-Coldbrook area. More exists but is still to be located. If you know of other plots not show, please share to be added on the map: info@valleynature.ca
Note: Click on the icon for a brief description. Zoom in to locate the site more accurately on the map.If your browser doesn't show, here is the map on Google Maps
You can help by just driving, walking, or biking you local area and reporting any milkweed you observe growing there. In the Fall, milkweed has very identifiable seed pods to help recognize the plants. If you do find some plots, we would like to know. The following is the desired information
Milkweed will next be visible in May when it will be sprouting up from the ground. It will be flowering in June-July. | ![]() |
After flowering in July, Common Milkweed slowly grows seed pods that are characteristic of milkweed. The size and shape of leaves are the best key for identifying the plant at this stage. | ![]() |
In late summer, autumn and winter, Common Milkweed can be identified easily from the opening pods of seeds with the fluffy seed parachutes. | ![]() |
Wikipedia has a good description on its Common Milkweed Page. This is the most abundant type of milkweed and grows in patches because is spreads through an expanding root system. It can fill whole fields, usually fallow or abandoned fields. It is common along hedgerows and along roadsides and especially along the railbed that runs through the centre of the Annapolis Valley. It likes light soils and thus is abundant in the Cambridge and Waterville areas. In the Fall and Winter the milkweed plants can be easily identified from the prominent seed pods and seed fluff that may be still be attached to the pods. The stalks are tough remain after the leaves drop after a frost.
There is also a Wikipedia Swamp Milkweed page.
Swamp milkweed will grow in wetter soils and is usually associated with headwaters of streams or their intervales. It is seen more commonly on the South Mountain and less so in the Valley. However, it can grow anywhere. It is a tall plant but has smaller leaves than the Common milkweed.
Maps of Kings County
Here is a historical note from Klaus Jensen who lives north of Coldbrook on Brooklyn Street about Common Milkweed:
"The first recorded occurrence was in 1929 (I think) near the Avonport train station. That year some national botanical organization took a train trip from Halifax to do some botanizing in the Valley and the finding was recorded in The Canadian Field Naturalist. In the late ‘80’s or early ‘90’s the Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture’s weed inspectors conducted a milkweed survey of Kings County, and as I recall, some 347 locations were found. The distribution of milkweed at that time was clearly associated with the east/west railroad line and was likely introduced in grain shipments. At that time, milkweed was on the noxious weed list and and there was considerable effort to keep it in check by spraying it. Herbicides were never successful in eradicating it from any location although milkweed could be suppressed. This program ended at least 15 years ago. Since then stands of milkweed have greatly increased and new stands are popping up in many places."
In the botianical book "Flora of Nova Scotia" by Roland and Smith (1969 N.S. Museum)
"Ascleplias syriaca (Common Milkweed)
Sparingly introduced as a weed in light soil; at scattered places in the Annapolis Valley; at Le Breau's Creek in Hants Co.; and near Mabou in CB; presumabley being introduced also elsewhere. Scattered throughout the Maritime Provinces. July"
The images below are copies of the presentation describing my view of the 50 years with the Blomidon Natualists Society. This is a slide show galler. Click on the first image to start the sequence.
A view of the Canard River before all the dykes were built .
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Today when one drives from Wolfville to Canning, Nova Scotia, it is a pleasant passage through productive farmland the whole way. During thetransit, there are crossings of a river and a couple small streams which are hardly noticed. Before 1750 this trip would have been far different because several dykes holding the tidal waters of the Minas Basin had not been built yet.
The map below of the area of interest shows the flooding to the 7 meter level which is the top of the current Wellington dyke. So the blue area would be covered in water at high tide if the dyke were not there..
The Wellington dyke was build by the Planters in 1825 and preserved all the lands the Acadians had 'rescued' from the tides of the New Minas Basin plus marshes seaward of the road from Port Williams to Canard. The dyke is 1.8 km long and allows approximately 1300 hectares to be used for farming that would otherwise flooded periodically by salt water. The tides had pushed water up the Canard River past Steam Mill to north of Aldershot. The amount of farmland created is equal to and a little more than the land behind the Grand Pre Dykes.
The land along the Canard River was 'rescued' from the sea in stages. The first dykes were a small one at Steam Mill that opened up about 20 ha for crops and another at Upper Dyke Village on a tributary of the Canard River that opened up about 25 ha.. The map below is one from Brent Fox's book "Wellington Dyke: History of the Canard River Dykes" published by the Kings Historical Society in 1985. The Acadian dykes, in order of construction were
The following numbers were determined using online mapping using Flood Maps and Google Earth.
Name | Length (m) | Area Added (ha) | Area subtotal (ha) |
Steam Mill | 90 | 17 | 15 |
Upper Dyke Village | 250 | 25 | 40 |
Upper Dyke | 520 | 95 | 135 |
Middle Dyke | 540 | 130 | 265 |
Grand Dyke | 1750 | 620 | 885 |
Wellington Dyke | 1850 | 410 | 1295 |
The path of totality for the April 2024 Solar Eclipse crossed New Brunswick, Canada, from the St. John River Valley to the Northumberland Straits. The width of the path was 171 km. I had selected the small village of Stanley, N.B. as the sight for observing the eclipse. I set up in a nice little village park with benches and table beside the Upper Nashwaak River. There was a good view to the Southwest where the Sun would be. Stanley was 26 km south of the centre-line of the eclipse and had 3 minutes 10 seconds of totality. This was only 10 seconds less than an eclipse seen on the centre line. We were staying with the Bernards in Charter Settlement. If we had observed from there, totality would have only been 1 minute and 48 seconds. The gain was well worth the 3/4 hour drive north of Fredericton.
The whole eclipse took place from 3:23 pm to 5:42 pm ADT. The Sun was a 44 deg altitude at the start and moved through 35 degrees ending at 24 deg above the horizon. Totality started at 3:33 pm and ended at 3:36 ADT. At that time the Sun was at altitude 35 degrees in the Southwest. The weather had cleared the previous night and there were cloudless skies. A few high cirrus and lenticulars seen on the drive to the site had dissipated.
I used a Canon M2 mirrorless camera to capture images of the Sun. It had a 500 mm mirror-lens (Rokinon) with a aluminized mylar filter. The lens had a fixed aperture of f6.3. The camera was set on manual at ISO400 and shutter speed of 1/125 th of a second. (afterward it was determined that this slightly over exposed the Sun, with the filter). The camera was mounted on an equatorial drive so as to track the motion of the sun. The drive was a Sky Watcher Star Adventurer mounted on a surveyors tripod. The mount was align as well as possible with a magnetic compass (magnetic delination of -16 degrees) and a level. During the eclipse the Sun stayed in the field of view of the camera for an hour before having to be readjusted. In order not to have to touch the camera to take pictues and adjust settings, the camera was controlled via WiFi with Canon Connect application run on a Vernee Android phone.
63 images were taken during the whole eclipse (15 during totality without the filter and 48 during the partial phase (with the filter).
The Sun during the 'partial' phase of the eclipse. This image was created by putting together 14 of the individual images of the Sun taken through the solar filter. The centres of the Sun were placed along a line that is the path of the Sun through the sky as the Earth rotated during the eclipse. The Sun moved to the right and down (West in the sky) while the Moon moved very slowly Eastward relative to the Sun and passed in front of the Sun to completely block it a the time of totality of the eclipse. Both the Sun and the Moon appears to move west by one diameter every two minutes. But at the same time the Moon is moving eastward relative to the Sun approximately its own diameter every hour. This is the reason the movement of the Moon over the Sun takes about an hour and then it requires another hour for it to move off the Sun. |
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The last seconds before the Sun is totally eclipsed by the Moon. Only a sliver of light peeks over the edge of the Moon and through its valleys or partially blocked by some mountains. This creates an uneven line of light from the Sun at this point. | ![]() |
An overexposed Solar Corona during Totality, with Venus visible below the Sun and Jupiter above (difficult to see in this image). This was taken with my point-and-shoot Canon SX620 in mid-eclipse | ![]() |
Totality with the Solar Corona dominant. 1/4 second exposure | ![]() |
Short exposure - Note the loop Prominence at the bottom and the other on the right. | ![]() |
A Closer view of the Prominences erupting from the Sun's surface and peeking around the edge of the Moon. Prominences are filaments of hot gas. This image has over exposed them and they appear thicker than they are. | ![]() |
As totality ended the Moon moves to reveal a tiny bit of the Sun. At this point the sky brightens very quickly. This view shows what is called the diamond ring. | ![]() |
At our home in Nova Scotia the eclipse was only partial but at totality in New Brunswick, the Sun was 96% covered in Brooklyn Corner, Nova Scotia. I have an automatic weather station that records the solar Radiation, the outdoors temperature and the windspeeds. The image below has all three graphs lined up showing the decrease in solar radiation during the eclipse, the drop in temperature and the decrease in wind. These all occur at 4:37 pm at the time of maximum eclipse. (click on the image for a larger image)
As with my Currie Brook Adventure, I discovered this unique place when going after a geocache. This time it was only one outing and it required only one short hike. The unique quality in this site is the long continuous series of cascading water coming down from the top of the North Mountain. I first looked for the geocache container that was near the bottom of the cascade. After it was found, repaired and placed in its correct location, I proceded to climb or hike up to the top of the cascade. The images below are in the order seen during the climb. The total height gained was 67 metres and the length of the trail was only 300 metres. At this time of the year there was enough water flowing to make the cascade interesting. Other visitors had reported that in the summer the stream dries up and there is no cascade of water.
Click on the Thumbnail Image to see the full size picture
This is a description of my adventure in the Autumn of 2020 to explore a gorge on the north edge of the Southern Uplands of Kings County, Nova Scotia. A geocacher with the interesting moniker of Junior Woodchuck Huey, had hidden nine caches along the stream, called Curry Brook. In two separate hikes, one from the bottom and one from the top of the stream, I found all of them. The two routes overlapped so I saw the entire section of this interesting area.
The image to the right is an aerial view (Google Earth View) of Curry Brook and tracks of my two hikes. The yellow track is the first (Hike 1) and the red track done a couple days later (Hike 2). There are no trails along the brook and most of the walking was done on the edges and in the stream. Rubber boot are necessary most of the year.
NOTE: Click on the images to see an larger version
Although Hike 1 was the longer of the two, it was easier in the sense that the lower part of Curry Brook is wider and less confined and made for easier access and walking along the upper brook, On Hike 2, I had to use rope aides to descend a steep cliff, then the gorge was so narrow, at places, it was impossible to walk on the edge of the stream and required climbing over steep embankments.
My access for Hike 1 was at the end of Pinch Road off of West Brooklyn Road. From this spot I had to bushwack down the gully at the end of the road until I reached Curry Brook. I then walked upstream mostly on the edge of the stream and sometimes on the bank when there was one. Soon there were no banks to walk on and I had to cross the stream many times and walk the edge of the stream. It took me a couple of hours to walk up as far as I went but I was geocaching along the way. When I returned to the car, it only took me 40 minutes to walk out. I had my rubber boots and sturdy staff, to help in my travels. The temperatures were cool, about 5 C during my travels.
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Curry Brook empties into the Gaspereau River and the Gaspereau Valley is a pretty agricultural location. This lower end of the Brook crosses fields and is very open, this image gives a view up stream where it leaves the woods at the edge of the southern upland. |
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The first geocache up Curry Brook was on the side of a rock face in the stream bed. The stream at this time was flowing but not vigorously. None of the stream was so deep that it would cover my rubber boots so I could cross back and forth to get to the gravel beside the stream which was less slippery than in the stream. |
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As I walked up stream, the sides of the gorge became higher and higher. This image shows one of the sharp turns in the stream around a high rocky bank. |
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This spot was one of the most dramatic with is vertical rock wall and the stream flowing next to it. Fortunately, the opposite side of the stream did not have a steep slope and walking through was no problem. In fact on this lower hike I had no real challenge to walking up the stream. If the Curry Brook were in flood as in might be in the spring, then there would be some difficult spots. |
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This is not the farthest up stream that I got on this day, but it was the destination for hike 2. An Earth Cache, is located here but I did not know that at the time, and it was the long rock wall and high gorge cliff that induced me to take this picture. This rock wall is similar to the previous but much higher. |
Access to Curry Brook for this hike was from West Brooklyn Road. There is a narrow and sometimes difficult trail from the road into the woods up then down to the edge of the gorge. At the edge the trail plummets into the gorge. There are old ropes there that are of some help to not fall. I used my staff and carefully descended not trusting ropes.
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This was my view over the edge of the uplands into the gorge. Someone had created a trail from West Brooklyn Road to this spot and the way down was very steep with ropes attached to trees to make it a little safer. I believe there is a better way down just a bit north of this spot but I used what was there and made it down and up safely. |
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This is another view at about the same spot but half-way down the slope. You can see Curry Brook and some of the rope. When I came back from my hike, I climbed back up this way and found one of the geocaches I had missed on the way down. I also explored the side farther up stream. At this point the both sides of the gorge is steep and narrow. This allowed me to see upstream from here. A place to explore in the future. |
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This is a panorama of the brook from above at the entrance to the gorge on this hike. It is sort of a little hollow that has a narrow entrance and exit for the brook. The next image shows the entrance of the brook. |
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This view from the bottom of the gorge, looking at the entrance of the brook. I forms a mini-waterfall or rapids. You can see the flow was not great at the time I was there in early November. |
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I walked downstream from the hollow toward where the 'fault' location. This view is back up stream toward the hollow and you can see the narrows. Here it is best just to walk in the stream. (if you can). There were many of these narrows just downstream of here (see next pictures.) |
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Narrows number two. I liked this one as there was a turn in the brook just before going through the 'slot'. |
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This is the third narrows and, I think, the most challenging to get through as there is a pool below the narrowest part that is too deep for my rubber boots so I had to 'siddle' along the steep sides and walk carefully. What a lot of fun! I believe the first geocache south of the hollow is downstream of here. (It would be a longer but easier walk up stream to that geocache). |
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A panorama of the 'fault' area. [click on the image for a better view]. Down stream is to the left. There is a nice flat area opposite these cliffs and I ate my lunch there and enjoyed the view. |
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On my return back upstream, this is the view of the 3rd narrows from down stream. I chose the left side to 'siddle' up and had to climb carefully over the rocks and not slip. |
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In November the leaves are off the trees and nothing was blooming so I only had ferns, lichen, mosses, and liverworts to look at to satisfy my natural history curiousity. This shows and interesting collectiion I found at the stream edge. Note: This time of the year was great for avoiding mosquitoes, black flies and ticks. |
The day, I hiked the Brook in November as pleasantly warm, about 16-17 C and I took my time walking from about 11 am to 2 pm. I was alone and, as always, very careful in all my movements. My practice is to have a sturdy staff to lean on while walking anywhere. It is especially helpful crossing or walking in slippery stream beds. It also stabliled me descending the steep slopes into the Curry Brook gorge.