Nature & Discovery.
Mer Bleue Conservation Area protects a 3,500-hectare sphagnum bog roughly 7,700 years old — boreal-like ecology far south of its normal range, designated a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance in 1995, and the largest bog and natural area in the National Capital Region. A 1.2 km boardwalk loop pushes out into the bog from the trailhead.
Out west on the Ottawa River, Shirley's Bay carries 270+ recorded bird species.
The brief.
Mer Bleue's boardwalk is the easy entry point — flat, accessible, and enough to read the bog without walking the perimeter. Rare bog plants, spotted turtle, beaver, muskrat, and waterfowl all use the site.
Shirley's Bay sits on the northwestern edge of the Greenbelt with mixed trail and shoreline access, concentrating waterbirds, shorebirds, and migrant songbirds along the river corridor. Stony Swamp's 40+ km of trails carry winter finches, black-backed woodpecker, and Bohemian waxwings in colder months and nesting diversity through summer.
Pinhey Forest holds the area's only inland sand-dune system on a 10,000-year-old postglacial ecosystem. The Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club maintains the canonical regional birding-hotspot inventory.
3. places.
- 01
Mer Bleue Bog
3,500-ha sphagnum bog with Ramsar Wetland of International Importance status (1995); boreal-like ecosystem south of its normal range; spotted turtle, beaver, muskrat, waterfowl, and rare bog plants. Boardwalk loop into the bog.
- 02
Shirley's Bay
Greenbelt shoreline on the Ottawa River with 270+ recorded bird species; concentrations of waterbirds, shorebirds, and migrant songbirds.
- 03
Stony Swamp
40+ km of trails through maple forest, alvar clearings, and beaver ponds; winter-finch and black-backed woodpecker hotspot in colder months.
Today's read.
Cool but comfortable for layered effort · light winds · clean air.
By the book.
- 01Mer Bleue Conservation Area is NCC-managed; the boardwalk and perimeter trails are open to the public free of charge.Source ↗
- 02Birding-hotspot guidance and rules of access for OFNC-recognised sites (Shirley's Bay, Mer Bleue, Stony Swamp) are maintained by the Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club.Source ↗