Spanish Bank Creek - A Fish Story

Spanish Bank Creek flows through Pacific Spirit Regional Park (through the University Golf Course) and under North West Marine Drive near the western end of Spanish Bank Beach.

Spanish Bank is the beach west of Tolmie Street on North West Marine Drive named to “commemorate the meeting of the English (under Captain Vancouver) and the Spanish (under Galiano and Valdes) in this area in June 1792” according to BC Geographical place names:

"Named because the Spanish exploring vessels Sutil and Mexicana, under Galiano and Valdes, were found here at anchor by Captain Vancouver in June 1792. The British vessels did not anchor in this neighbourhood nearer than Birch Bay. The bank is shown, but not named, on Galiano's charts of 1792 and 1795, but on Vancouver's chart it is not mentioned at all. It was known to the officers of the Hudson's Bay Company as Spanish Bank for the above reasons, and was the name adopted by Captain Richards, HMS Plumper, when making his survey of Burrard Inlet in 1859."

Source: Walbran, John T; British Columbia Coast Names, 1592-1906: their origin and history; Ottawa, 1909 (republished for the Vancouver Public Library by J.J. Douglas Ltd, Vancouver, 1971)

The Spanish Bank Creek has come into my orbit in the last couple of years. It is close to where I live and I would often pass by while running or walking without stopping, until a neighbour (a stream keeper) first told me about the restoration project at the creek. Curious, I would stop and watch, talk to stream keepers, if they happened to be there, and gradually learned more of the creek's story.  Now I stop by once or twice a week to see what is happening. In this blog I am passing on what I have learned about the story of the creek.

In the fall of 2000 Coho returned to Spanish Bank Creek to spawn, ending an absence of over 80 years.

The creek was salmon bearing before development of the area and installation of a culvert that was impassable to fish.



The return of the fish was achieved by community fish stewardship groups in cooperation with Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Vancouver Park Board and the Ministry of the Environment.  A restoration project was started in 1993 after the Vancouver Salmon and Stream Society identified the creek’s potential. For the project to be successful the old culvert needed to be removed, other portions opened to the daylight, and the channel restored. The channel passes under a pedestrian walkway on the foreshore that is well used by the public year round.  The foreshore has been stabilized with plantings of dune grass and with rock and log placements: (Spanish Bank Creek Restoration Project)

An off-channel pond was dug north of Marine Drive which now provides a rich habitat for Coho fry to spend their first one and a half years of life.

Off Channel pond best viewed from above on Spanish Trail

The stream keepers acknowledge the cooperation of the UBC Golf Course Greens Keepers in maintaining a viable salmon stream.

Coho and Chum salmon fry have been released by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans annually since1999. The Coho Salmon fry come from Capilano River and the Chum salmon fry from Kanaka Creek.  In addition, students from over 50 schools have been involved in rearing chum salmon fry in aquariums in their classrooms for release into the creek. Stream keepers are generally on hand to help with the release and give guidance to the school children involved.

The Coho fry stay in the creek for a year and a half, leaving the creek in June to return a year and a half later, usually between November 15 and December 15. The chum leave the creek as fry, (either shortly after hatching or after being released into the creek as fry) to return between 3 and 5 years later (usually 4 years) to spawn. The fish and fry change their colour in order to blend into the background, which helps to prevent them from being eaten by predators.



If it wasn't for the shadow, this salmon fry would be hard to spot

 The area is rich with animal life including otters, raccoons, herons, eagles, owls and mink and the forest is very dense and can be dangerous: stinging nettles, ticks and steep and slippery terrain.

Late last fall Coho returned and spawned in the creek producing a healthy population of fry. 

Measuring salmon fry

Here is an article from BC Outdoors Sport Fishing from the September October 2003 issue (click on article to enlarge):

The creek is now cared for by volunteer stream keepers. I have helped with chum drops in the last 2 years and I often stop to talk to stream keepers when they are by the creek or just to observe. I have taken pictures of the arrival of the chum fry, the portioning into pails and then the release into the creek. School groups are involved in the release of fry into the creek from a platform that was built just south of North West Marine Drive for that purpose, The stream keepers also take buckets of fish as far up the creek as the temperate rain forest allows; this way the chum are able to spend more time in the creek before their trip to the ocean and it is hoped allow them to become imprinted on the creek for their return several years later. Last Fall I was lucky enough to see spawning fish entering the creek and watched for some time as they struggled up the creek.

Some of the Spanish Bank Stream keepers and DFO Canada members (standing) Dick Scarth, Ron Gruber, Scott Ducharme (DFO), Jesse Neri (DFO), Sandie Hollick-Kenyon (DFO) and (kneeling in front) Maurice Le Gallais

The stream keepers made a documentary about “Spanish Bank Creek”: Video 1 2002 and Video 2 2004.

Come and see the creek, but watch from the foreshore path or creek shore and remember that the stream keepers path is for authorized persons only to protect the well being of the creek and the fish and for the safety of the public.

Thank you for reading this post, thank you to all those involved in bring the creek back to life and a special thank you to my neighbour Maurice LeGallais for his help with this post.

"Fire and Ice" and The Flack Block

In this post I feature the Flack Block, the inspiration for another work in my Vancouver (VBC) Gargoyles and landmarks series. The series highlights decorative details on well known Vancouver landmarks, which I refer to as "gargoyles" because they add a fanciful air to the Vancouver skyline and give character to the structures they guard or adorn.

The “Flack Block” was built for, and named after, Thomas Flack who struck gold in 1897 at the beginning of the Klondike Gold Rush.

Investment money from the gold rush had created a building boom along West Hastings Street. The Flack Block, built in the Romanesque revival style, is located at the corner of West Hastings and Cambie Streets. It is the work of William Blackman (1842-1904), built between 1899 and 1900. It has four storeys, a stone, brick and masonry façade and columns and arch details on windows. The façade is dominated by a richly decorated arched doorway on the Hastings Street entrance.

 Hastings Street entrance details:

The original Provincial Court Building, built at Court House Square, now Victory Square, was in the then centre of the city's financial and legal district. The Flack Block, located across the street, held offices of barristers, insurance agents, mining brokers, gold dealers and jewellers and the original Bank of Vancouver with small retailers at street level.

Years of neglect left the building in disrepair and a face lift removed the arched, carved doorway. This heritage building has recently been carefully restored including recreating the details on the arched doorway from historical photographs. The restoration of the building, by the Salient Group, received a 2010 Outstanding Achievement Award from Heritage BC.

"Fire and Ice" by Gillian Olson © 2010

It is the carved arched doorway that is the subject of my work “Fire and Ice” which brings together several of the elements of the doorway. Done in ink and watercolour, the ink work was finished with orange and blue washes to highlight the contrast between the dragons and the facial elements. This image is available as cards or prints, for more details see my website http://www.pswhimsy.com/

Hope you enjoy this Whimsy Wednesday post.

Just one more thing for today........ Go Canucks Go!

Whimsy Wednesday - Scents and sights of the Season

Introducing Whimsy Wednesdays, a regular weekly update on things in the PS Whimsy world. This post features fragrant flowers, hummingbird videos and an update on the critters in a local park.

Finally some better weather and opportunity to spend more time outside in the garden and out enjoying the natural beauty of the season.

The early summer flowers are blooming and the air is filled with their beautiful scents. Here a peony with its delicate blooms and sweet fragrance.

Wisteria is not only a beautiful vine, the smell of the blossoms is sweet and delicate.

A closeup of one of the blooms on my wisteria, which mysteriously seemed to have died a couple of years ago but has since grown back from the root, probably from below the graft, and this year is blooming again finally and providing lovely shade for those warm summer afternoons (please).

Horse chestnut blossoms with their delicate scent and the first of the wild roses.  The wild roses are a native plant and have a rich scent.

Honeysuckle is almost ready to burst into bloom, here is my painting of honeysuckle:

Done in watercolour and inspired by pictures I took while vacationing in the Dordogne area of France. This is available in cards or prints (4" x 6" or 8" x 10"). There is a link to the website on the sidebar, for more information on format and prices on this and other images.

Flowers add a beautiful fragrance to the air and also provide nectar for the hummingbirds. At this time of year the Rufus hummingbirds make an appearance to share the flowers and the feeders with the Anna's hummingbirds.

Hummingbirds are fascinating creatures. The Anna's hummingbirds stay all winter, I have two at least that I feed throughout the winter. I bought a cover for one of my feeders this winter because the snow buildup on the feeder was preventing them from getting at the food.

Hummingbirds drink nectar from flowers or sugar water from feeder using their tongue, if you watch the following videos carefully you will see the tongues protruding from their beaks during pauses in feeding. They seem to lap it up. Hummingbirds also need protein, and they get that from eating small insects and spiders.

Rufus hummingbird drinking from my feeder:

Anna's hummingbird at my feeder:

Here is an update on the local critters. I got a couple of pictures of the turtles recently:

Here is an eagle parent feeding one of the two youngsters in its nest near Aberthau House. You may have to click to enlarge this to see the little guy.

The goslings are growing fast, all fluff and down now, but feathers starting to develop on wings.

Here are some of the baby bunnies sharing a carrot, the grey one especially is still quite small.


That's all for today. Thank you, hope you enjoyed this post. You are welcome to leave your comments on the blog.

Marine Building and "Marine Mosaic"

The Marine Building at 355 Burrard Street in Vancouver was built in the art deco style. Designed by McCarter, Nairne and partners (they also designed the Georgia Medical Dental Building), it took 16 months to complete and opened in October 1930. It has 21 floors, and rises 321 feet. The exterior is terra cotta coloured brick and cream coloured brick decoration making it resemble, to some, an iced cake. Built for G A Stimson Co., by the time it was completed the stock market had collapsed, the owner was in financial difficulty and, as a result it was sold (for less than it cost to build) to British Pacific Building Co. (owned by the Guinness family of Ireland). The Guinness family had previously bought property in West Vancouver and had financed construction of the Lions Gate Bridge to provide access to their new subdivision British Properties (see my earlier blog, "Lion at the Gate" on the Lions Gate Bridge).

Marine Building reflection

A J Taylor, managing director of British Pacific Building Co., converted the observation deck of the Marine Building into a penthouse apartment for himself, his wife and his daughters, but later moved out because his wife disliked the height.

The interior of the Marine Building is beautifully appointed with several types of hardwood, brass and stone. Both the interior and exterior are decorated with striking relief sculpture in a marine theme.

Lobby details

Exterior details

The building was renovated from 1982 to 1989 to update the structure, during which the lobby floor was replaced with marble and the former Merchant Exchange on the ground floor was replaced by a restaurant.

The variety of marine life and lore on the building is fascinating and includes ships, marine birds, fish and shells and images of Neptune. This is what interested me in the building and why I chose the mosaic theme which allows me to integrate these elements in a single piece. Here is my tribute to the Marine Building titled "Marine Mosaic":

Here are more of my marine theme works:

 "Barnacle Beaks"

"Beached by a Storm"

 "Ocean Pearls"



 "See Shells"

"Seeing Stars"

These images are available on 5" x 7" cards or as prints (4" x 6" or 8" x 10") at http://www.pswhimsy.com/

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Just a reminder:

ART SHOW @ Knox Fellowship Hall, May 29, 2011 from 11 am to 3 pm. My painting friends and I will be having an art show and sale at Knox Fellowship Hall on Sunday, May 29, 2011. Knox Fellowship Hall is located beside Knox United Church at 5600 Balaclava Street, one block east of Blenheim just north of 41st Avenue. There will be a variety of media (watercolour, acrylic, oil), subjects and sizes of original work and light refreshments will be served. Hope to see you there. Here are some of the paintings I will be showing: 

Thank you for reading this latest post.