The winter of 2010-2011
proved to be cold but not as snowy as the previous year.
None-the-less the temperatures still hadn’t climbed much for
our second seasonal nature walk. This time an audience of
five rather than fifty joined me. We headed down Hellen
Creek Trail to see what had arrived. Unfortunately, most of
the early blooming trees and flowers were just not ready to
show themselves. The dogwood was almost there and everything
had at least leafed out. This time of nature paints
primarily with her pastel pallet and the lighter shades of
green prevail.
The usual residential birds
announced themselves as we descended the trail toward the
creek. Chickadee, titmouse, cardinal, and wrens made up the
usual mixed winter flock. White-throated Sparrows and
Yellow-rumped Warblers made a good showing for the lingering
winter populations. The Opsrey had replaced our Bald Eagle
on the creek. These two top predators do not get along all
that well. We have a population of resident Canada Geese,
but otherwise only the Mallards cruise our section of Hellen
Creek.
We finished the day
chatting at the office steps while preparing to head out. A
Pine Warbler sang in the background and finally came out to
investigate the leaf litter under the dogwood. Above in the
branches an Eastern Phoebe sang its plaintive “pee oo wee”.
Maybe spring was indeed here, just a little late answering
the door.
I was fortunately to have
five women show up for our first invasive removal effort of
the year. We headed down to the old home site off of Hellen
Creek Trail. Last month my interns helped me pot nearly 100
white turtleheads. This native wildflower is the host for
our state butterfly, the Baltimore Checkerspot. For this
event we planted two dozen of these and several native
shrubs as well.
In the past several years
we have removed multiflora rose, wine berry, and tree of
heaven from this area. This year we hope to have completed
the removal effort by taking out all the daffodils that have
been spreading into the woods for the past 15 years. We used
an organic product called “Leaf Grow” and spray each plant
with a noxious spray called Liquid Fence (yuck) to
discourage the deer.
Round two of this effort
took place on a sweltering June 11 when another smaller
group of volunteers followed up with addition removal and
planting. June 13 found us with much better weather and two
more volunteers joined me in assaulting the Japanese
knotweed along Clifton Drive. This is our third year working
on this patch and it will require additional efforts.
The third round this year
concentrated on Japanese stilt grass. This one is easy to
remove, but very quick spreading. It also produces lots of
seed so we may have a battle ahead. Our last volunteer day
focused on this plant and we managed to clear it out of most
of the woods. Interestingly one of the worst areas was one
we had cleared of wine berry several years ago.
Our last two seasonal
nature walks combined reached our count of five from the
spring. In between those visits I was fortunate to have two
high school seniors working with me through the county
mentorship program. We explored the Preserve looking for
reptiles and amphibians. We visited TNC’s Hemlock Preserve
identifying plants and birds. They were very helpful with
trail maintenance and native plantings. And I got to visit
their schools and help with an Earth Day project.
The storms at the end of
August put a halt on, many activities at the Preserve. The
remainder of the year has been an effort to restore
driveways, trails, and access to and around the property.
Thanks to volunteers we have managed to get all of the
Preserve open again (although I just saw a small locust down
near the end of HCT). The size of some of these trees was
really impressive. The assistance I got from volunteers and
our hunters made the job much easier than it could have
been.
We look forward to 2012.
The changes in the landscape should make for some
interesting monitoring. I wonder what new plants, birds, and
insects will show up. How will it impact the deer
population? Will I finally see a coyote? They are here you
know.
And we are moving forward
to remove the old house at Hilltop Road. This one acre
parcel is schedule to be used for a small parking lot. Which
should come as good news to our visitors who have used
Clifton Drive.
