"Mer Bleue" Personal Page by GrumpyDiver

The bog, located in the eastern part of Ottawa, is one of my favourite places to see the great outdoors.

It's a peat bog, and is listed under the Ramsar Convention (The Convention on Wetlands of International Importance). Public access is along a path (mostly a boardwalk) that runs about 1.2 km long.

A wonderful place to visit on a fall afternoon.

The bog

Mer Bleue is a boreal-like bog that has features that are normally found much further north (for instance around Hudsons Bay).

A Sphagnum (peat) bog that also has larch, tamarack and black spruce as well as other smaller plants.

Marsh plants

Sorry, I don't know what these are, but this is a closeup of the ground cover seen in the previous image.

Fungus

Dead tree, covered by these interesting looking bell-shaped fungii

Bullrushes in the marsh

The bullrushes or cattails have generally gone to seed. A few are still standing in the marsh.

Beaver lodge

Beavers, muskrats, waterfowl and spotted turtle make their homes here.

This beaver lodge is located right beside the boardwalk.

Tree cut down by a beaver

Beavers are not the brightest of creatures, but they are hard workers. Some beaver gnawed this large (30 cm / 1 ft) diameter tree down. It is a good 50 m . 55 yds away from the marsh.

Too large and too far to move.

I've often wondered why the beaver is Canada's animal symbol - hard working but not too bright?

Fall colours at Mer Bleue

Our last view of the bog, through the remaining fall folliage. It's not as pretty as last weekend, as a lot of the leaves are alread on the ground, but we'll take days like this whenever we can in October. The dreary part of fall will be here in another week or so, and it's still a long way away from spring.