Wild Nantucket: June

Coming and going to an island makes the seasons of the spring seem more defined than they might be if I were in one place. Returning to Nantucket after a three week absence, we have moved beyond the lime green/reddish hues of early spring to the time of white and yellow: white multiflora Wild roses blooming profusely and lazily draped on anything green they can find, wild cherry bloom-candles lit, ox-eye daisies sprightly waving, Scotch broom shining out. The white waxy coating of the cedar berries dapple the dark cedars.

The semester has ended and it seems like a vacation time. The hazy smoke from the Canadian wildfires arrived but doesn't seem to have settled. I injured myself gardening and have somewhat restricted mobility, but Sconset is my place to heal.

The wild iris is blooming in the Windswept Cranberry bog and the blue-eyed grass continues. A few remnant Quaker Ladies remain, but the canada mayflower and the starflowers in Squam Swamp are complete. Soon we will have the arrowwood viburnum, rosa virginica and the colicroot. The spring has been cool and very dry. My weather station recorded only 1.08 inches of rain , compared to 3.65 inches in May of 2022. The mean temperature for May was 52.1 degrees, compared to 53.7 in May 2022. With a third of the month gone, June has had .24 inches of rain, compared to 2.03 inches last year. Temperatures have mostly been in the fifties, compared to 62.2 last June.

The sun rises at 5:07, but first light is close to 4:30 am. By the Solstice, it will be even earlier.

This is the time of year when the common yellowthroats "wichety wichity" songs fill the air as they defend their territories. The oystercatchers at the northwest point of Polpis Harbor have chicks; the osprey are fishing and the kingfisher is rattling. I head out at 9:30pm to hear the chuck-will's-widows singing in the Sesachacha Heathlands and am rewarded by their calls and the starry skies and no wind.