June 9, 2021

Hammond Pond Walk on June 4, 2021

I walked for about an hour in the woods adjacent to Hammond Pond. It was warm, but overcast, and the biting insects were, surprisingly, not noticeable. There have been other times of the year when I noticed far more types of fungi, maybe they come out more in cooler fall. I love this place because it has wetland, forest, rocky ledges... so much diversity of habitat. It has trails but also is open and small enough to easily just wander without getting too lost (if you head far enough in any direction you'll find a familiar road). I haven't been taking as many walks on my own lately, and this one reminded how much I love wandering (which is, to me, slower and less intentional than "hiking") in the woods on my own!

Posted on June 9, 2021 02:43 PM by heatherolins heatherolins | 11 observations | 0 comments | Leave a comment

October 9, 2020

Neighborhood Walk, Friday Oct. 9 2020

Some of my students have expressed concern that they cannot complete assigned nature walks because they are not near any "natural" areas. While I generally believe "the wilder the better" when it comes to observing nature, I also think it is important to realize that nature, and even wildness is all around us. So, this morning I walked around the neighborhood that my campus sort of spills into, and tried to do the nature walk that I assign my students (this week's theme was fungi). It was a cold, bright morning. I think it got almost to freezing last night! So, there weren't many insects out and about, and in this fairly dry area, I didn't see many large fungi. However, this neighborhood has lots of old stone walls and trees that are COVERED with lichens. So, I tried to find as many types of lichen as I could, since lichens are a symbiosis that include a fungal partner. I also wanted to show that by looking for "weeds" you can see a lot of different plant diversity. I enjoyed finding a few different types of lovely flowers among the plants growing (wildly) through cracks in the sidewalk, in overlooked patches of earth, and right out of the stone walls. In addition to the flowering plants, I found lots of moss, especially on the well-shaded stone walls and tree trunks. I love seeing how mosses and lichens grow together (not to mention all the overlapping types of lichen). It makes me wonder about the interactions they might have. Are they competing for growing space? Might they be cooperatively sharing resources somehow? This is something I should look into. Next week's assigned nature walk theme is plants, so this walk provided plenty of examples of local plant diversity as well. Not a bad start to this Friday!

Posted on October 9, 2020 01:49 PM by heatherolins heatherolins | 24 observations | 0 comments | Leave a comment

September 27, 2020

Blue Hills Hike, Sept. 27 2020

The family and I took a hike this morning in the Blue Hills in a trail we haven't visited in a few years. There was way, way more trash at the roadside than I remember. Once the weather was humid and overcast, but not too hot. We didn't see many animals, but it the fall colors were certainly on display. Overall the woods seemed more yellow than green. There were so many yellow leaves falling from the trees, it reminded me of snowfall! I love returning to the same places at different times of years to see the seasonal differences.

Posted on September 27, 2020 06:39 PM by heatherolins heatherolins | 13 observations | 0 comments | Leave a comment

February 24, 2020

Sunday February 23, 2020

I took a lovely "golden hour" walk/jog at a small nature preserve in Canton that I always forget the name of. What looked all brown at first revealed some lovely variation in flowering grasses, and there were a few striking mosses and fungi as well. It was unseasonably warm (probably ~50C). I look forward to coming back to the same small section of trail throughout spring and summer to document seasonal changes.

Posted on February 24, 2020 07:16 PM by heatherolins heatherolins | 12 observations | 0 comments | Leave a comment

October 15, 2019

Moose Hill Wildlife Sanctuary, Monday October 14, 2019

A lovely walk on a perfect autumn day - sunny and bright. We took the trail to the bluffs overlook which give a nice view of the area (including Gilette Stadium). Most of the trail was wide and flat, and there were some great boardwalks through areas that are no doubt very muddy at other times of the year. Lots of yellow and orange fall color, with pops of red here and there. I was amazed by the quiet. Usually when I'm hiking in the greater Boston area its hard to avoid road noise, but this felt much more secluded!

I took a few quick photos of a large insect that seemed to have too many legs because I was chasing a toddler and didn't have time to look at it carefully, but when I looked at the photos, I realized it was actually two spiders interacting (!) - mating perhaps.

Posted on October 15, 2019 01:22 PM by heatherolins heatherolins | 6 observations | 0 comments | Leave a comment

September 1, 2019

Visit to Curtis Farm Preserve: August 31, 2019

Went for a walk yesterday at the Curtis Farm Preserve in Harpswell, Maine. It was a lovely trail through field and forest ending up at a coastal bay. The trail also crosses one of those classic New England stone walls in the woods. Hard to imagine the woods being farmland in the not to distant past. The trail also included a phenomenal nature playground and story walk section of the trail which made the walk almost magical for my 3yo. While looking for bird shapes hidden in the playground, we saw a bird of prey (hawk, osprey?) circling overhead. There was a lot of plant diversity along the trail, including a wild apple tree (or more likely a vestige of the old farm) right by the shore, and berry bushes bordering much of the trail. The trail had even more colorful "decoration" due to the many brightly colored fungi dotting the way. The weather was sunny without being hot, and the bugs were barely noticeable. It was a pretty perfect walk in the woods - Thanks Harpswell Heritage Land Trust!

Posted on September 1, 2019 10:04 AM by heatherolins heatherolins | 20 observations | 0 comments | Leave a comment

August 22, 2019

Visit to Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary: August 18, 2019

Went for a walk through this wonder Mass Audubon site over boardwalks and through the woods. There were more turtles than could be counted, many sunning themselves in neat lines along branches sticking out of the water. In addition to these observations we saw geese as well as a hawk. It was shady and very humid. There were also quite a lot of fungi along the trail, but I was on parent duty and wasn't able to make as many observations as I would have like to. This is a great place for woods walks with little ones, as well as a great place to see both aquatic and forest critters in close proximity.

Posted on August 22, 2019 01:31 PM by heatherolins heatherolins | 5 observations | 0 comments | Leave a comment

May 23, 2019

Walk around the Chestnut Hill Reservoir

I took a walk around the reservoir today, and saw some familiar animal faces. When it is warm out, I almost always see these turtles sitting together on rocks, generally on the Northwest side of the reservoir. I often see Geese and Swans, but this was the first time I've noticed goslings - this pair had 5. The weather was overcast, but warm (~65°F) and breezy.

Posted on May 23, 2019 05:51 PM by heatherolins heatherolins | 3 observations | 0 comments | Leave a comment