Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: north west of Cochrane

I was out on a walk at Griffith Woods this morning and then decided that, as I was already part of the way to Cochrane (NW of the city), I would go a bit further and check to see if there were any Northern Hawk Owls still in the area. Yet again, no sign of them at all, so I suspect they have already moved away, further north. Before checking this location, I did a brand new drive which, because of my driving phobia, was pretty brave : ). Actually, I missed the turn to Grand Valley Road (I was concentrating more on the number of kilometers) and drove a long way along Highway 1A before realizing that I must have gone wrong somewhere. This is the kind of scenery I was driivng in, some highway and a lot of gravel roads, too. When I eventually found the right turn, I kept my eyes open for a Great Gray Owl - they are sometimes seen in this area. Not a thing today, though, other than five Bald Eagles. They seemed to be enjoying the tremendously strong wind that accompanied me for most of my drive - it was all I could do to keep the car on the road!

LOL, almost sounds like an item off a fancy restaurant menu! This was such a beautiful tree branch, covered in Red Tree Brain fungus and orange jelly fungus, maybe Witch's Butter (?). It was a wonderfully colourful sight! This was taken when we went to botanize the Perrenoud Natural Area, north west of Calgary and north west of Cochrane on 18th June. We were lucky enough to see two young Great Gray Owls in the forest there, too. "In 1980, George Emil Perrenoud donated this land to the Alberta Sport, Recreation, Parks and Wildlife Foundation for the purpose of a wilderness park for the benefit of the residents of the Province of Alberta." tpr.alberta.ca/asrpwf/programs/parks/park_and_wildlife/pe...

This was a rapid, two-shot chance, but at least I managed to get one photo that is fit to post (horrid, messy background, though), LOL. Seen briefly at the Perrenoud Natural Area, north west of Calgary and north west of Cochrane. Thanks, Art and Terry, for the exact ID!

Was so happy to see this little cluster of mushrooms a week ago in the Perrenoud Natural Area, north west of Calgary and north west of Cochrane. Very slowly, the odd mushroom is appearing - great, having waited almost a year for mushroom season again : )

Someone picked this tiny mushroom to show the group, when we were on a walk at Erik Butters' Ranch in the Benchland area (north west of Calgary and north west of Cochrane) on 11th July. It was growing in the open field where we were walking. I didn't want it to completely go to waste, so took a quick shot or two of it - with no guilt, LOL, as it wasn't me who did the "picking".

Sigh ... typical Calgary Stampede weather at the moment - rain! However, hope those of you who enjoy the activities have a great week! Just happened to notice this tiny blue butterfly resting on someone's cowboy hat on the ground during a delicious BBQ two days ago. Lunch was put on by Erik Butters' and his wife when a few of us joined the Ghost River Watershed Alliance group for a nature walk on part of Erik's land. Heavily cropped, as the hat was quite a distance from me : )

I just thought this was a nice mix of lichens (no doubt very common ones) growing on this dead wood. Seen at Keith and Sandy Logan's acreage near Bottrel, north west of Cochrane (which is north west of Calgary). We spent a good part of Friday recording the plants, birds, insects, etc. that we saw there.