Little Trout River, Grand River

 

Willets

The Little Trout River is a river that I had paddled many years ago. Still, it deserves more exploring – especially the marshes for the globally rare Salt Marsh Copper butterflies. I’m also looking for the new PEI dragonfly (Seaside Dragonlet). The river flows down from the Richmond area but is only navigable to the Cross River bridge (R131). The marshes are further up the river, where they widen, so I don’t know if that habitat classifies as an actual salt marsh. I especially like that this river is undeveloped for most of its length. There are a few homes at the mouth of the river on the east side. On the west side, there’s an old abandoned airstrip. I need to investigate this airstrip property more to see if it’s public/crown land.

My track, WD12 kayak (5 km)

On August 14 (Anne’s birthday), I drove to the Grand River bridge with my 14ft Wood Duck kayak. There’s a large launch site to the SE end of the bridge – mainly used by the oyster fishers & farmers. It’s almost 1 km from the bridge launch shore to the mouth of the Little Trout River. On the way there, I got some good photos of three Willets resting on a dock. They look similar to Yellowlegs, except they don’t have yellow legs. I did come across other bird sightings, including a nice Bald Eagle and a Belted Kingfisher. For all nature observations on iNaturalist, click HERE.

Grand River bridge launch site

 

Grand River bridge ramp

I couldn’t paddle all the way to the Cross River bridge due to the low tide conditions. I’ll have to return next year at higher tides to check out the large marsh and the narrow section as you approach the bridge (R131). Another thing to check next year is launching at the end of Cross Shore Loop Road.

Bald Eagle (mature)

Belted Kingfisher

Three Willets on a dock