Speckled Alder and Cattails

Took a walk all the way to the far property line, which is across the old riverbed. This is area D10 in the grid plan described earlier. The whole area is frozen over and thus easy to walk. The snow was only about 4 to 6 cm (2-3 in.) deep over the ice. The entire river bed section that I walked was covered in cattails which indicates that the swamp is shallow. Cattails do not tend to grow in deep water. I also came across speckled alder [Alnus incana ssp. rugosa] along the shoreline where the water is too deep for the buckthorn. Otherwise buckthorn tended to dominate. Came across tracks in the snow of man [Homo sapiens] on foot following the shoreline of the swamp. There were two sets of tracks and one was much larger than the other.

Came across frequent Fisher tracks even near our house right up to the bird feeder wich is no more than a dozen metres from our door. It was probably in pursuit of the red squirrel that enjoys the sunflower seeds in the bird feeder. There is still one red squirrel feeding today, so it is one (life) for the squirrel and zero (meals) for the fisher, this time.