Earth Day

Today is Earth Day - did you know that? To mark the occasion, Matthew & Emma's Cub Pack went to Martinique Beach. This is a stunning beach about 45 minutes drive from us and there was another reason to visit. It happens to be one of the nesting grounds for the very rare Piping Plover. There are about 35 nesting pairs in Canada (if not the world) and they tend to nest on a number of beaches in the province. They haven't actually started to nest yet this year, so it was a good opportunity to take the cub pack along and educate them on the bird and steps to take to protect their nesting ground. Now stupidly they lay eggs in the sand, usually in amongst rocks and so are very susceptible to predators, clumsy humans and people driving ATV's. We met up with a couple of people who work for Wildlife Canada and one of the Pack's mums has been working on the preservation team and was able to give us an excellent insight into the bird. When we reached the nesting area, we were lucky enough to spot a nesting pair, checking out the area to decide where to nest. There is usually one nesting pair on the beach, but all in all we spotted 5 birds, so it looks like an increase in numbers - albeit small. Everyone was also issued with rubbish bags and as a small contribution to Earth Day we picked up rubbish from the beach, filling about 6 bags all in all. One of the cubs also found a carcass of some animal (possibly a porpoise) and bagged this up to take home to his mum....delightful - I'll bet she was thrilled.
It was a beautiful day, though very windy - we're suffering a bit from windburn! The photo shows you the beach and the clear blue skies! The kids all seemed to have a nice time. We also took the dog with us and Deborah walked her along the beach away from the nesting ground while we went to see the birds. While on the walk she also found 4 sand dollars. I had no idea how they formed or what creates them or even why they are called sand dollars, so I looked it up on the internet. "Children have been known to say that sand dollars are pressed sand that has been dried or even the money of mermaids washed-up from the deep. In reality, the fragile disk is the skeleton or "test" of a marine animal. By the time the test washes up on the beach it is missing its velvety covering of minute spines and appears somewhat bleached from the sun. It is hard to believe it was once alive. Sand dollars are from the class of marine animals known as Echinoids, spiny skinned creatures. Their relations include the sea lily, the sea cucumber, the star fish and the sea urchin. When alive, the local species, Echinarachnius parma is outfitted in a maroon-colored suit of moveable spines that encompass the entire shell. Like its close relative the sea urchin, the sand dollar has five sets of pores arranged in a petal pattern. The pores are used to move sea water into its internal water-vascular system which allows for movement".** So there you go - today's lesson! They are fascinating and you can see the petal pattern on the enclosed photo!
A day in the garden is planned tomorrow (trying to get it done before the blackfly appear!!). If I get a chance I'll post tomorrow's activities...

** Sand Dollar information originally obtained from:

• Gosner, Kenneth L., Guide to Identification of Marine and Estuarine Invertebrates; 1971 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
• Robbins, Sarah Fraser and Clarice Yentsch, The Sea Is All About Us ; 1973 Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.