Port Burwell Provincial Park
Location
- From Highway #3 go south onto Highway #19 (Plank Rd)
- Once in Port Burwell, turn right onto High #42 (Bridge St)
- From Bridge St. turn left onto Chatham St.
- From Chatham St. turn right onto Libbye Ave
- From Libbye Ave turn left onto Wilson Line
- Look for the Port Burwell Provincial Park Sign (9 Wilson Line)
Port Burwell Provincial Park is located in the Municipality of Bayham, just west of Big Otter Creek, in the village of Port Burwell. The site is part of the province’s provincial parks system managed by Ontario Parks. A diversity of natural habitats can be found here including woodlands and beach savannas and is complete with a 200 m beach and dune system. Two hiking trails provide excellent opportunities to experience a wide range of flora and fauna. There are two trails at this conservation area;
- Ravine Creek (1 km), easy. Winds through a ravine and woodlot
- Beach Trail (2km), easy. This trail goes from the campground to the beach. It has a lookout point that provides a great view of Lake Erie and the beach below.
Other park activities that can be enjoyed at the park are; fishing, canoeing, wildlife viewing, boating, cycling and winter activities.
Port Burwell Provincial Park is one of the best places along the Lake Erie shoreline to see both the spring and fall migrations. Spring migration is best for songbirds and fall migrations are best for raptors, monarch butterflies, blue jays and dragonflies. More than 85 percent of migratory birds have been spotted here in the spring. The lake proves to be a problem for migratory animals trying to cross, so this spot provides an area for them to come together before they move down the shoreline.
Many of the landforms in the park are the result of glacial lakes that once covered the entire area more then 12,000 years ago. The upper camping area of the park is made from glacial silt and sediment that was deposited here when the glaciers retreated forming the Norfolk Sand Plain. Waves and currents from the lake created the bluffs that jut up from the meadows at the waters edge. Within the shelter of these bluffs, small forests of mature beech, maple and oak have grown. The flat, wet areas below the bluff support a complex community for both plans and wildlife.