critters

Great Blue Heron. We get a lot of these around the farm. Pretty spectacular birds. For reasons that are beyond me I find the remains of up to half a dozen of them in the fields every year. The only thing that I can figure is that they ground roost during the nights and coyotes get lucky every now and then. When I lived in Victoria there was a Heron colony that roosted in the tops of the trees near Goodacre Lake in Beacon Hill Park. There is a Heron colony not far from the dikes here in Pitt Meadows.

The cranberries are coming along at their own speed this year. Usually by this time we have the colour peaking and are just waiting for the neighbour to finish off his harvest before we start ours. This year the colour is coming slow and I would not be suprised if we don't start our harvest until the beginning of November. It is not a big problem as long as we don't find ourselves in a deep freeze. Three years ago we were booming and loading out in a heavy snow storm and the day after we finished there was half an inch of ice on the bogs. Bloody cold. Of course when it is that chilly, the chances of bending too low and getting a gallon of water slopping into your chest waders seems to increase.