Hey Steemers!

I hope you are all having a wonderful day. My birthday is coming up and I'm excited because I am going to spend some time in the woods, taking pictures of plants, fruits, mushrooms and landscapes. This morning, as I was setting up my camera, uploading pictures from my SD card to my computer and I stumbled upon an album of photographs I took on a previous hike. I decided I would share some of them with you. I also have a story that involves police officers, environmental protection and the media, you'll find out more about that towards the end of the post! Let's start with my favourite picture:

* Hydnellum Peckii, the craziest mushroom I ever found. I saw them in one spot, it was the first time of my life I came across these, and the only time so far. I'm still hoping to get another shot at photographing such an amazing specimen. I will post about it in the herbarium soon.

* A view of the old mine now filled up with water where I took all the pictures presented in this post.

These pictures were taken in a small patch of woods, not even a square mile, found in my hometown of Vaudreuil located near Montreal. Hidden in a private neighbourhood, I found the spot by searching for small woodlands on Google Maps. Went to investigate and the place became one of my favourite places to go to take my mind of everyday life things. It used to be a mine where a construction company would excavate rock. Something like 50 years later, the hole they left had filled up with water, beavers had taken over along with frogs, mushrooms and fruit baring trees.

* One of the inhabitants of this small paradise.

* Some colorful fruits one would come across on a hike around the pond

* A funky looking plant

There is a foothpath surrounding the pond. As I was walking around, I stumbled across a couple mushrooms and decided to take a few pictures. I don't own a good ol' DSLR camera, but what I have is a decent for a point-and-shoot and it allows me to enjoy taking pictures (Fuji s4200). I would love to upgrade my kit in the near future, but I just finished school and I have hard work to do before I can afford to get a DSLR. Here are some of my findings, I am not able to identify most of these mushrooms, but if you have suggestions as to what they might be, feel free to let me know!

* Nice little cluster of potato-looking mushrooms

* Specimen I found in a dark place

* Not the best picture, but quite a weird mushroom that's look like mashed potatoes.

I went back multiple times to this location. It was a true paradise to me. Always brought my camera because I would discover new things everytime. I felt like the limited area made it a game of finding hidden gems as the landscape wouldn't change much since it revolves around the pond. I became more and more aware of the small wonders the surrounded me. The spot became my playground, making me feel like a child every time.

* A dragonfly that took a break with me as I was eating lunch.

* A bug that died laying on top of a stick.

* Spent a lot of time trying to capture this one as it kept moving around.

Now my relationship with this place got rough at one point. Let me explain. This was a private land, but I had no idea. I often saw people walking their dogs and enjoying the weather, but the owner started calling the police every time someone would go in.

You see, the owner had started to drain the pond. He was pumping the water out, careless of the pond's inhabitants. He had carved a two-way road in the middle of the land with bulldozers, destroying all the plants and the spot where I found the crazy mushrooms (first picture). I was there that day to take more picture of the Hydellum Peckki, but they were destroyed, eradicated by heavy machinery. I was heartbroken and very worried about the consequences of draining the pond.

* Spiky weed

* A delicate flower

When the police arrived, they explained why I couldn't come here anymore, they told me the owner wanted to build houses on the land. I told them there was illegal bulldozing on the property (there was a warning posted for the owner to stop his work as he didn't respect his permit) and they didn't care a bit. I left with a plan. I contacted the appropriate government ministry about the illegal destruction of the habitat. They told me they were already aware and that they were the ones who posted the warning.

* A quick view of the destruction and the warning posted for the owner.

I went back at night a few times after that to see if the work had progressed and it had (I was risking a fine for doing this, but I felt I had to do something about the situation). The owner didn't care, the pump was running at night. I kept in contact with the ministry, sending them pictures of the progress. A few days later the local newspaper talked about it. The reporter said that the pumping was flooding other properties and that the owner was to be prosecuted in justice as he would not stop. I was happy, angry and worried. Such careless behaviour was disgusting to me. I was glad someone had contacted the media. This guy had to be exposed. His name was mentionned in the article, small victory.

I think he eventually became a bit paranoid. Me and a friend once decided to meet up near the land, but we would then drive to another location. It was just a spot to meet up. We didn't go on the property. I was parked on the street (didn't go to the property, I just drove by and parked the car to text my friend). I saw someone peeking through the fence of a nearby house, a grow man. Didn't think much of it, I was parked besides his house after all and he probably was just curious. Well the guy came out, and asked my friend what he was doing (he was parked around the corner, he had arrived a few minutes before me). My friend told him he was parked waiting for a friend and the guy snapped. Told him to leave, that he had no right. My friend left, I mean why would you even try to deal with someone who thinks they own a public street. The guy took my friends licence plate number down. I got a text from my friend telling me to leave. Now, at that point I was wondering what was going on. As I drove my car away, I saw the guy running across his yard, jumping from his balcony and puling himself over the fence to try to (I believe), get my licence plate too. It just looked crazy. I felt like this guy was on a witch hunt or something.

I do not know what happened after that. I felt like I did what I could, and I would not risk having this crazy guy after me. He was probably losing money in this ordeal and who knows what this guy would do about it. I don't have to courage to go back, it would break my heart to see the whole place destroyed. I cherish the memories I have of it and the few pictures I took are a reminder of how nature can be surprising.

So that's it Steemit. That's the story behind these pictures. I hope you enjoyed the read and that you saw some pictures that you found interesting. I will be back with more soon!

Also, I've been working hard of build an herbarium here on Steemit (and you are more than welcome to participate). Please have a look, feel free to add information in the comments and give your feedback! I hope we can get discussions started about some of these wonderful plants and amazing mushrooms. Again, here's the link to the herbarium.

With love,

monskor