West Head: A community’s natural home
Jane Alexander enjoys birding at West Head (Photo by Doug van Hemessen/NCC staff)
A small peninsula juts out from Nova Scotia’s south shore; its name is West Head.
Strong winds blow through West Head’s fields of grass, and waves crash against the rocky shoreline. Trails wind through the centre of the peninsula and around its edges, which were historically used by cattle and sheep, and are now used by people seeking a connection to nature and to their most cherished memories. Thanks to local resident Jane Alexander, this precious piece of nature is now protected by the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC).
Jane is a Tony and Emmy award-winning actress, best known for her performances in The Great White Hope, All the President’s Men and Eleanor and Franklin, among others. In addition to her career success, she has served on boards and councils of many nature conservation organizations, including Audubon, Wildlife Conservation Society and BirdLife International.
Jane has always been fascinated with the natural world. As a little girl growing up in Boston, she would climb trees and peer under the bark at the tiny insects that lived there. Her dedication to nature conservation began in early adulthood, when she moved to a rural part of New York state. There, she found joy in watching the birds outside the house she shared with her husband. After two years in the house, she was suddenly struck with the realization that the same birds returned to the same location in her backyard every year.
“I think that’s when it happened,” says Jane. “I just thought, this is what I’ve got to do.” From then on, she committed herself to nature conservation, hoping to protect the habitats of migratory birds and other creatures.
Almost 30 years ago, Jane and her husband moved to Nova Scotia, where she remembers visiting her mother’s family as a child. They bought a house on West Head and instantly fell in love with the breathtaking landscape. Jane would go for long walks on the trails and watch the family of whimbrels that feasted on the barrens’ crowberries every summer.
Jane immediately realized the ecological value of the area; she knew that this magnificent land had to be protected. What she would soon come to realize was that the area is much more than essential habitat for migratory birds.
West Head is also a significant landmark in the history of the nearby fishing community of Lockeport. Traditionally, the community would gather at the edge of the peninsula to watch their family members head out to sea. Hundreds of stories reside across this vast landscape.
Edsel “The Skipper” Roache aboard the Bluenose II (Photo courtesy of Cindy Roache)
Edsel Roache’s story begins long before Jane ever stepped foot on West Head. Edsel, nicknamed “The Skipper,” comes from a family of fishermen who depended on the sea’s bounty for their livelihood. Until he was four years old, his family lived out on the windy peninsula in a shared house with another family. When they moved to Lockeport, they were some of the last people to leave West Head. Edsel’s grandparents and great-grandparents lived in another house, closer to the end of the peninsula.
“If you go there today, you can still see the imprint of where the house used to be,” says Edsel. That small piece of land is named Roache’s Cove after Edsel’s family.
In 2001, Edsel’s son, Jonathan, passed away in a tragic fishing accident. The two used to spend their days together out on the grassy barrens, and Edsel continues to feel a strong connection to his son when he ventures out onto the land. He walks the path up to West Head every day, if he is able. There, he breathes in the fresh ocean air and feels more at peace and at home than he has felt anywhere else.
“It’s a little spot of heaven,” he says.
Whimbrels frequent the barrens to feed on the abundant crowberries (Photo by Bill Crosby)
Nature photographer Bill Crosby also finds himself out on the grassy barrens several days a week. Though he grew up in Lockeport, he didn’t form his connection to West Head until his adulthood.
“It wasn’t until I picked up a camera, I’ll say, 12 or 13 years ago, that I really grew fond of West Head,” Bill explains.
Bill spends hours upon hours out on this cold and windy outcrop, waiting for the perfect moment to snap photos of the various species that frequent the area. Raptors, northern harriers, red-tail hawks and peregrine falcons can be spotted flying overhead. Least storm petrels burrow in the earth, and provincially endangered Harlequin ducks overwinter along the rocky shoreline.
A snowy owl stares back at local nature photographer, Bill Crosby (Photo by Bill Crosby)
Once, when Bill was out with his camera on a cold winter day, he sought shelter from the wind on the backside of a hill. To his astonishment, a snowy owl sat on the ground only a few feet from him, completely unbothered by his presence. Bill thinks the owl had seen him on West Head before and understood that he was safe to be around.
“It saw me five days a week for two months,” Bill explains. “It was almost like it knew me.”
There is clearly something very special about this small part of Nova Scotia that is loved by humans and wildlife alike. When they first moved to West Head, Jane and her husband were shocked to learn that it wasn’t already a protected area. For many years, they had a goal to purchase the land to give back to the community.
Jane was finally able to locate the owner of West Head and purchase it in 2022, just a few years after her husband passed away. She donated the land to NCC through American Friends of Canadian Nature, an American organization that supports nature conservation in Canada. The West Head Nature Reserve was officially established in 2024. The community of Lockeport was overjoyed by this news.
“Jane Alexander will never know what she did for me when she made sure that land was protected,” says Edsel. He and Bill are among dozens of locals who are eternally grateful for Jane’s efforts. They and their children and grandchildren will continue to make memories on the land they call home.
