Many insects are pollinating and reproducing, plants are growing with some of the flowers in bloom, and birds and mammals are as active as ever, capitalizing on this dynamic time through means such as predation and plant consumption. It is a beautiful and exciting time of year to visit Fresh Pond, and I enjoyed the […]
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Category: Notes from the Field
Fresh Pond Almanac—March at the Meadow
In March, conditions will make the gradual and uneven transition from harsh winter to muddy spring at Fresh Pond. March brings the onset of new plant growth for the year and the final stretch of food scarcity for the reservation’s overwintering animals before the relative bounty of April and the summer months beyond. The shift […]
Birds in Winter, Deadwood & Collembolans
Field Highlights » Birds in Winter, Deadwood & Springtails Season: Winter | Location: New-England’s meadows, forests, parks, and gardens. EwA runs biodiversity walks monthly when we invite our guests to observe with us the passage of the seasons on the local flora and fauna. Each exploration is a chance to nature chronicles that we may […]
Lichens, Pollution, and Us
Visit a forested area that’s not near a city, and you’ll see all sorts of lichens decorating trees and rocks. But if you visit an urban area or walk alongside a highway roaring with traffic, you won’t find very many lichens. As a matter of fact, Downtown Boston is a lichen desert. Lichens get nutrients from […]
May the Lichens Be With You
If flowers are commonly placed on a loved one’s final resting place, why shouldn’t lichens be allowed to reside on that loved one’s gravestone? After all, a lichen on a gravestone occupies a branch on the tree of life considerably closer to the branch occupied by that loved one than a chrysanthemum. Plus, that lichen […]
Forest Explorations — April in the Fells
Another month – another EwA Fells walk! Each forest exploration walk brings its load of wonders and this April’s walk wasn’t any different. April is an exciting month: vernal pools have thawed and are welcoming frogs and salamanders to breed, and the forest floor exhibits the colors of its first bloomers. Anticipation builds up, and […]
Keeping the Fells Whole
Documenting habitat fragmentation in a mixed-use urban forest Publication: January 29th, 2022 Note the scroll on the right-hand side below to get through the whole report. You can also read it in its original StoryMap format > here. Sharing is Caring Spread the Word! ✒️ What you think is important to us. Feel free to […]
Over-Collecting (Mushrooms)
Not too long ago, I led a mushroom walk in central Massachusetts for the North Country Land Trust. Just prior to my foray, there’d been a mycological club foray at the same site, and the vast number of mushrooms collected by those foragers lay in waste on the ground near a picnic table. As a […]
Wasps Biosurveillance and Milkweed Haven
Season: Summer | Location: New-England’s meadows, parks, and gardens Look for wasps and the intense activity of insects on milkweeds in the warm summer months. What do they have in common? Both have a bad ‘rep’– yet they are ecologically critical, truly endearing, and certainly not to be feared nor despised. Here’s to these incredibly […]
Forest Explorations — May in the Fells
The forest floor was dominated by swaths of Canada Mayflower during this month’s Forest Exploration – a sure sign of spring. This low-growing understory perennial has yet to flower at the Fells, but others including Bloodroot, Wood anemone, and (somewhat regrettably) the highly invasive Garlic mustard are now in bloom. As it is currently a […]