Marlborough Forest Trails East of Dwyer Hill Road

May 2, 2020

These trails are listed in Larry Neily's web site as #16 to #32 in the Marlborough Forest Loop.  They lie inside the boundary of the City of Ottawa.  We approached from the north, going south from Franktown Road, so visited the sites in descending order.

On the way there, we stopped at Terry Carise Park for a few minutes.  Long enough for Barbara to confirm that Ospreys are again not using the platform and to see a Yellow-rumped Warbler and Song Sparrow.  Bill had more luck with the Common Mergansers and Blood Root flowers.

We also stopped at the dead end of Twin Elm Road, which was rather disappointing. Barbara got the Osprey on the nest and a Mourning Dove.  Bill got a Ruby-crowned Kinglet and a Downy Woodpecker.

We thought of stopping at the Richmond Conservation area, but we realized that we would have to get going to Dwyer Hill Road to execute our plan for the day.  We stopped briefly on Franktown Road to look for Upland Sandpiper, but none were seen.

We turned down Dwyer Hill Road and Bill showed Barbara King's Creek, where he and Bev Wigney had done their very first Jock River survey in June 2003.

Our first "official" stop was at Purdy Road north east.

We drove as far as we could, and after meeting the friendly farm folk and dog, donned our rubber boots and hiked into the soggy road allowance.

It was very wet, and Barbara said it looked like a good spot for Northern Waterthrush.  Wow, she was right on! Our second warbler of the season.

A little further on, Bill spotted a rabbit ahead on the trail.  For sure it was not one of the common guys.  It seems to be a European Hare, known locally (incorrectly) as a Jackrabbit.

We carried on to a clearing where there was an old house, then retraced our steps to the car.

Our next stop was O'Neil Road, where we saw an American Bittern right on the roadway. Bill looked in vain into the bush where it had diappeared.

We drove to the gate at the end, but there were a couple of houses with young people working on trucks.  So, we decided to skip that trail and look for a lunch spot.  We checked the pull off at Nichol's Creek where the tracks crossed.  It was an attractive spot, and we saw an Eastern Phoebe.

We drove until we came to Pine Trail.  We went a short way down the trail and found a log to sit on for our lunch.

We hiked down the trail a ways, past an old foundation,  until it seemed to peter out, but may have gone on past a bunch of dead falls.

We looked at Trail 25-5, but decided o skip it this time.

Shortly after, we saw a Brown Thrasher cross the road in front of us. We stopped and heard it singing away in the scrub, invisible. Finally it moved and we got a shot.

Our next stop was Flood Road.

We took photos where the road crosses Brassil's Creek and saw another phoebe.

Our next road was Heaphy's.  We parked at the gate beside another vehicle.

The sign was ignored, as we saw seven ATVs on our hike.  There were also a few hikers, so a popular trail. The wetland was spectacular, but our only bird was a Great Blue Heron fly over.

We checked out the Dwyer Hill Road marsh next.

Our last road was Paden Road, where we only drove as far as Brassil's Creek.  Larry Neily thought it might be paddleable, and it does look it.

We drove to the end of Dwer Hill Road, then took Donnely towards home.  We went north on Malakoff towards Richmond, then Eagleson and Old Richmond Road.  Quite a long trip, we very rewarding since neither of us had been in that area before.