Public walk – Wards Island Evening Nature Stroll

Date: Jul 17, 2025 at 18:15
Meeting Location: ack Layton Ferry Terminal – gate for Ward’s Island; Ferry departs 6:30 pm for Wards.

Join us on Thursday, July 16th at 6:15 pm for a 2-hour, 2 km circular nature walk over mostly paved surfaces, with some sand and gentle slopes. No stairs.

Thursday, July 17th at 6:15 pm – Wards Island Evening Nature Stroll

Leader: Ellen Schwartzel

Walk Location: Wards Island Environmentally Significant Area (ESA)

Meeting Point: Jack Layton Ferry Terminal – gate for Ward’s Island; Ferry departs 6:30 pm for Wards.

Getting There: Take TTC to Union subway station; either take the streetcar the short bit south or walk south on Bay Street (under the Gardiner Expressway), 15 minutes to the ferry docks

Walk Details: A 2-hour, 2 km circular nature walks over mostly paved surfaces, with some sand and gentle slopes. No stairs.

Accessibility: We will be on loose beach sands for some of the walk.

Washrooms: Washrooms at Jack Layton Ferry Terminal and also at Wards Island. Park washrooms are open till 10:00 pm.

Walk description: Come explore the best nature bits of Wards Island, while savouring cool lake breezes, the evening glow and the city skyline.

Ward’s Island Environmentally Significant Area (ESA) has one of the two last remaining natural dune systems on the Toronto Islands; the only other place to see dunes is at Hanlan’s Beach. The comparatively small area at Wards offers habitat for at least 23 locally significant plant species, such as Sphinx Ladies tresses and Greater Fringed Gentian. It is also special for offering breeding habitat for leopard frogs and common toads, in the interdunal wet swales. Birds we might see include Killdeer, Flycatchers, Chimney Swifts and Yellow Warblers. The invasive reed, Phragmites, has been increasing at this site in recent years, unfortunately. We will discuss how Wards Island ESA could be better cared for, what might be some first steps and what the role of the nature community could be. If time allows, we will also check out one or two other nature areas around Wards Island.

We will return to the Wards Island ferry dock before the 8:45 pm ferry departs. (Sunset will be 8:55 pm on July 17) The ferry also departs Wards Island at 9:45 pm and 10:45 pm, should you wish to stay later.

What to Bring: Water, sun hat, binoculars, insect spray, snacks optional

This walk is only one of more than 140 that TFN will host this year alone! TFN members enjoy a complete listing of walks in our newsletter. Not a member? Learn more about the benefits of membership now!

Please tag any photos you take on this walk with #TFNWalk so that we can all live vicariously through your lens.

Toronto Field Naturalists wishes to acknowledge this Land through which we walk. For thousands of years, the Land has been shared by the Wendat, the Haudenosaunee, and the Anishinaabe. Toronto is situated on the Land within the Toronto Purchase, Treaty 13, the traditional and treaty Lands of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. This territory is also part of the Dish with One Spoon Wampum, a covenant agreement between Anishinaabeg, Haudenosaunee, Wendat peoples and allied nations to peaceably share the land and all its resources. Today, the Land is home to peoples of numerous nations. We are all grateful to have the opportunity to continue to care for and share the beauty of this Land.