Low Beach

Josh and I hiked out Low Beach to Tom Nevers.  A major ferry-stopping storm last weekend has eliminated part of the scarp.   The sand is brown in many spots.  There is a huge wetland in front of all the homes on Low Beach Road beyond the Coast Guard Station. We had to hike along deer trails  for some time before we could get to the road.

  We had fun watching a peregrine falcon.

..and a red-tail hawk mobbed by crows

Winter 2020

February 24, 2020

It is a beautiful, sunny winter weekend.  Josh and I are training for hiking in Scotland,  so we hiked into town on the Moors and back home- 15 miles,  on Saturday.  We did a figure eight loop around Norwood Farm and Stump Pond on Sunday.  I  hiked the beach on Friday and Monday.  Enjoyed our Birding Group on Sunday.   All good except that the Sankaty Head Lighthouse is not rotating.  Despite the amazing stars:  Big Dipper on its handle and Orion in the South,  we miss the Lighthouse's rotating light.  

Pout Pond Road flood

Norwood Farm Tree 

Almanac Pond flooded to road;  ponds very high

Long tailed ducks and surf scoter out front

Seal down front

Tree Swallow off the bluff

Windswept Bog

Bufflehead off the bluff

Holly  at Stump Pond

November 2019

Pout Ponds November 3

Clark's Cove Nov 2

Oct 26 

 Love October in Nantucket. From the golden goldenrod to the goldenrod "ghosts"  From the sprawling clematis paniculata to its veins.  The color goes to the white groundsel (also called high tide bush-Baccharis Halimnifolia) and the red winterberries,  and the last vestiges of red on the moors.

After-bloom of the Clematis Paniculata - Oct26 on the Bluff Walk

Scalloping at Polpis! Oct 6

Golden Rod in early fall

Groundsel- Oct 6

Sankaty Light- Oct 5

Liatris,  Blazing Star,  Oct 5

Fall 2019

Harvest Moon Rise on September 13

Squam Farm Sept 13

Tupelos  Squam Farm Sept 13

Squam farm

Lezpedesa, Bush clover at Squam Farm Sept 13 

Sweet Everlasting,  Squam Farm,  Sept 13
Gnapalium obtusifolia

Blazing Star at Squam Farm

Blazing Star in Sankaty Golf club grass

Goldenrod and the bluff October 5

Pout Ponds Sept 22

Sept 22 Blazing Stars, Liatris Spicata

Sept 22 Blazing Star

Roses Rebloom, October 5

Gerardia at Pout Ponds on Sept 22, Agalinis purpurea,  also called Slender False Foxglove.  Also seen at Windswept Bog

Autumn Clematis and Goldrenrod on the bluff on Sept 14

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Clematis Paniculata on the bluff

Asters

Lots of Monarchs this weekend

Aromatic August

It's August,  and the amazing aroma of sweet pepper (Clethra Alnifolnia)  fills the air as I bike and hike.  There is nothing like filling my lung with this sasparilla-like smell.  

It is a time of bouncing bett and Queen Ann's Lace along the roadside, along with some  yarrow and the last of the St.Johnswort. 

Starting at Windswept Cranberry Bog,  I sought to hike around Stump Pond,  but wound up going farther than planned...coming out at the man-made swamp on the Polpis Road.  A black and white warbler near the swamp area near Almanac Pond Road was a treat.

Josh and I are out here recovering from his open heart surgery,  which was necessary after the endocarditis of May and the heart block of July 8.  

The lagoon at Sesachacha is larger than past years,  it is not possible to jump over the inlet to get to the other side.  I was searching for rose mallow,  which is now blooming by the Consue Spring.  The ponds are also high;  I visited Jewel Pond and it is as high as I have seen it in August after the rainiest spring in many years.  My weather station shows over 10 inches of rain since May (and the station only came back on line on May 6).

Pickerel Weed t  Jewel Pond

Pickerel weed

Blue Darning Needle at Jewel Pond

Jewel Pond

Great Egret at Sesachacha

Stump Pond  and Sweet Pepper

Lilies at Windswept Bog

Sickle Leaved Asters

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