Seeking – and finding – tranquility on a sometime rainy day
I expected the park to be busier, but the threat of rain kept the crowds away so we had a delightful couple of hours checking out the usual viewpoints and exploring a couple of new ones, at least until the rain caught up with us for real.
Spring is probably my favourite time to visit Lighthouse Park with its array of wildflowers, some of which aren’t very common around Vancouver. Plus, at a time when we can’t visit the Gulf Islands or Vancouver Island, the mossy bluffs and arbutus trees make it feel like a little bit of a welcome escape across the strait. We visited the park a few weeks ago at the beginning of the main fawn lily bloom so I didn’t feel like I had to go chasing all over the park to find them today, but I was, of course, delighted to find a few still blooming, and in areas of the park I hadn’t previously seen them. As I said in another post a few years ago, Lighthouse Park wins again!
In bud or bloom:
- Fawn lily
- Death camas
- Saskatoon berry
- Columbia lily
- Starflower
- Trailing blackberry
- Coralroot
- Rattlesnake plantain
The last of the fawn lilies 
Death camas 
Death camas in flower 
Pink tinges on this white fawn lily
- Hairy manzanita
- Kinnikinnick
- Arbutus
- Fringe cup
- Salmonberry
- False lily-of-the-valley
- Skunk cabbage
- Oregon grape
- Scotch broom
Hairy manzanita 
Arbutus in bloom 
That tree.
In song or flight:
- Nuthatches
- Robins
- Spotted towhees
- Pacific wrens
- Ravens
- Bald eagles
- Chickadees
- Kinglets
- Dark-eyed junco
- Northern flicker
- Pileated woodpecker
- Pine siskins
- Black oystercatchers
- Cormorants
- Unidentified small wader
On or under the water:
- Harbour porpoises
- Harbour seal
Point Atkinson lighthouse gleaming against an ominous sky
Being. Outdoors. 
Such a beautiful place, especially when not too busy. Impressive flora and fauna spotting. Those lilies are so pretty.
It really is a little pocket of wilderness. It’s been crazy busy the last few times we’ve been there so it was great to be there on a quieter day. We’ve taken to parking outside the park and walking in though that wasn’t necessary on Sunday.
I’ve seen lots of chocolate lilies in the forest just about Whytecliff Park. I hadn’t seen them in previous years but maybe I wasn’t looking as much.
I had no idea there were chocolate lilies in this area – I think I might have to go look for them!
We found them! Wow – what a patch that is, I’m not sure I’ve seen so many in one spot before. And all the blue-eyed Marys too! Thanks for the heads-up :-)