User: | Open Learning Faculty Member:
I’ve had to change my location, so this is an updated observation. I choose to pick a bigger location closer to my house. I decided to pick a length of the dyke along a common road in Surrey, BC. The length of the dyke is about .6 km. I choose this location due to the about of wildlife and components of the environment along the dyke. The top of dyke A (dyke B is running parallel) is well worn, but always a quiet dyke in comparison to dyke B. The two dyke paths are separated by a large canal of water, about 15 feet across. There is a combination of tall yellow grass and brambles that make it difficult to venture down to the canal, but entirely possible.
As it was a clear day, there were plenty of animals out. I heard several hawk or falcon calls, crows in the surrounding trees, some human traffic from the nearby roads, construction from the nearby complexes and a tractor in the blueberry field on the right side of dyke A (if facing SE). There was evidence of animals from the scat along the trail, paw prints in the mud, ducks and a few loons swimming in the canal and crows flying overhead.
There was plenty of plants that I was not familiar with. Brambles along the shoreline, tall yellowing grass on either side of the dyke, green short grass along the trail with spots of clover and dandelion weeds. Mixed into the tall yellowing grass there were brown tall plants with seeds and dying flower heads of some sort. I was not familiar with them, but they might potentially be thistles.
Overall, it was a great first observation of this location. I have many things to ponder about how to create my hypothesis and test it out.
A few questions I had:
- How does precipitation effect the dyke’s ecology system?
- Does the dyke water levels rise and fall frequently?
- Are there bugs and fish that I was not able to observe?
- How does the blueberry farm effect the dyke?
I’m looking forward to returning, observing the nature another day, and answering some of my questions. Below are some of my field notes from my adventure.
