Drumbeg Provincial Park, Gabriola Island

Some images from Drumbeg Provincial Park on Gabriola Island.  These photos were taken on September 7, 2020, just before the heavy smoke from the US wildfires arrived in southern British Columbia.

Shoreline, Drumbeg Provincial Park

Driftwood, Drumbeg Provincial Park

Sailboats, Gabriola Passage

Sailboats, Salish Sea

Sunlight Through the Mist, Elder Cedar Nature Reserve

I headed down to the Elder Cedar Nature Reserve on Gabriola Island the other day, hoping to capture some interesting images in the fog.  By the time I got there the fog had started to clear and the sun was shining through the trees, which made for some interesting images.  Here is one of my favourites:

Sunlight Through the Mist

This image was captured with the Fujifilm GFX 50S medium-format digital camera and GF 120mm f4 lens.

Gabriola Summer

Late summer on Gabriola Island...

Stairs to the beach near El Verano 

Edge of the Sea

All of my Sony mirrorless cameras have now been sold, and I'm back to shooting with the much more capable and reliable Nikon D810.  Here's an image captured last night at Drumbeg Provincial Park...

Edge of the Sea

Common Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea)

One of our most recent wildflowers to bloom - Common Foxglove.  The raindrops add a nice touch to the photo, but getting a sharp image was a challenge in the low light with a slight but persistent breeze blowing.

Common Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea)

Rhododendron in Bloom

Last week our Camellia was out in bloom; this week our Rhododendrons have started flowering.

Rhododendron, Gabriola Island BC

Camellia in Bloom

Spring has arrived here on Gabriola, and the Camellia in front of our house has been blooming for the past week or so.  We hear that spring has been late this year, and the flowers and shrubs have been late blooming, but coming from Alberta this is a bit hard to comprehend.

Camellia Flower

This bloom was right at the top of our tree, and I captured this image from the front porch with a 1,000mm lens (500mm + 2x extender).

Roughskin Newt

We discovered another visitor to our yard this afternoon... a little Roughskin Newt (Taricha granulosa).  A friend of the garden, they like to eat insects, slugs, and worms.

However, their skin contains a very potent poison, so we will have to supervise the cats more closely when we let them outside.

Roughskin Newt (Taricha granulosa)

Roughskin Newt (Taricha granulosa)

Roughskin Newt (Taricha granulosa)

Roughskin Newt (Taricha granulosa)

Rufous Hummingbirds

We recently bought a hummingbird feeder, and received another as a house-warming gift (thanks, Connie!) and we put them up over the weekend.  Within a few hours, we had several little feathered friends hanging around the front garden.

More Malaspina Galleries Images

I recently added a new gallery of images from the fascinating Malaspina Galleries on Gabriola Island to my Photoshelter stock photo archives (the following link opens in a new window):

Malaspina Galleries, Gabriola Island BC

Here are a few more sample images...

Malaspina Galleries, Gabriola Island

Malaspina Galleries, Gabriola Island

Malaspina Galleries

Enjoying some late winter sunshine at the Malaspina Galleries on Gabriola Island.

Malaspina Galleries, Gabriola Island

Petroglyph Island

Gabriola is sometimes referred to as "Petroglyph Island", perhaps because of the book of the same title by Mary and Ted Bently, but certainly because of the large number of ancient petroglyphs carved into the exposed sandstone in various locations around the island.

The best place to view the petroglyphs is at the Gabriola Museum at 505 South Road, where concrete casts have been made of the most prominent petroglyphs on the island; this way visitors can see and enjoy the First Nations rock art without damaging the fragile originals.

Most of the original petroglyph sites are located on private land, but one of the best sites, near the United Church, is still accessible to the public.  If you do visit this site, take care not to disturb or damage the petroglyphs; even walking on them will eventually destroy them.

Church Site Petroglyph, Gabriola Island

Church Site Petroglyph, Gabriola Island

Malaspina Galleries, Gabriola

I finally managed to get over to the Malaspina Galleries one day last week to do some exploring.  I don't know why I waited so long to check out this site - it really is amazing.  I had great afternoon light for the photographs, but there were also a lot of other people there which greatly limited my choices for composition.  Here are some of the photos - I hope you like them!

Malaspina Galleries, Gabriola Island 

Malaspina Galleries, Gabriola Island

Malaspina Galleries, Gabriola Island

Drumbeg Provincial Park, Gabriola Island

This fall has been a particularly rainy one on the west coast, and between the weather and the seemingly endless list of repairs and renovations to our new house, we haven't had much time to explore our new island home.  

We did luck out last Monday, with a very sunny sky for most of the day, so we headed down to the south end of the island in late afternoon to check out Drumbeg Provincial Park.  It did not disappoint - here are a few of our photos from that outing.

Gabriola Sandstone, Drumbeg Provincial Park

Arbutus and Garry Oak

Arbutus Tree, Drumbeg Provincial Park

Elder Cedar Nature Reserve

We've spent the last couple of days (between rain storms) exploring the Elder Cedar Nature Reserve on Gabriola Island.  This beautiful reserve protects the last remaining fragment of old growth forest on Gabriola.

Elder Cedar Nature Reserve, Gabriola Island

The Elder Cedar (S'ul-hween X'pey) Nature Reserve protects 65 hectares of mature temperate forest.  Several streams flow through the reserve, and the habitat is home to a wide array of plant and animal species.

Elder Cedar Nature Reserve

A 1.4 kilometer loop trail leads visitors through the reserve. 

Stepping Stones

Rainforest Bridge

Rainforest Stream, Elder Cedar Nature Reserve

You can find more information about the Elder Cedar Nature Reserve by visiting the Islands Trust Protected Places web site.

You can see more images of the Elder Cedar Nature Reserve and Gabriola Island by visiting our web site:  Images West - Gabriola Island Gallery

Descanso Bay Regional Park, Gabriola

Now that we're getting settled into our new digs on Gabriola, we took advantage of a recent sunny day to explore Descanso Bay Regional Park.  Here are some of the images from that afternoon...

Descanso Bay Regional Park, Gabriola Island

Driftwood Log, Descanso Bay

Exposed Sandstone, Descanso Bay

Eroded Sandstone Beach

MV Quinsam

More Gabriola Island images can be found on our web site at www.ImagesWest.ca