Beautiful British Columbia

Helliwell Park on Hornby Island off the coast of British Columbia; have been going here for almost a decade every summer. It never dissapoints. A great spot for eagle watching.

'Helliwell Provincial Park sits on a rocky headland forested with a beautiful stand of old-growth Douglas fir. Located on St. John’s Point on Hornby Island, the park was a gift to the people of British Columbia from John Helliwell. The stunning Helliwell bluffs guard the northern entrance to Tribune Bay.

The primary role of Helliwell Park is to protect rare and endangered terrestrial ecosystem elements, including old-growth Douglas fir and Garry oak meadows, and representative examples of marine ecosystems. The park contains sea bluffs and a rich intertidal zone. Helliwell Park is also an Important Bird Area that serves to identify and conserve a global network of bird habitat areas. It supports significant concentrations of birds that congregate in large numbers such as pelagic cormorants, surf or white winged scoters, glaucous winged gulls, long-tailed ducks, buffleheads, Barrows and common goldeneye and common mergansers. The park is nationally significant for the habitat of one of the last known populations of the endangered Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly. A number of other endangered plants and animals can be found in the park, which is also home to the rare Six-gill shark. Many sea birds and marine mammals can be seen from the trail along the bluff in the park.'