Webster Conservation Area/Hammond Pond, Sunday September 27, 2020

Today I went on my first Nature Walk through the Webster Conservation Area only a half hour walk from BC campus. The weather was fairly humid (about 60% humidity) and was also very warm (about 80 degrees Fahrenheit), but the clouds offered a nice reprieve from the sun and there was a great breeze for most of the walk. We (me and my two roommates who are also in the class) entered the conservation area at around 1:10 p.m. at the beginning of a trail right off the side of Hammond Pond Parkway and spent about 40-50 minutes wandering around on and between the trails. While we did not find many animals, aside from a few ants, (likely due to the sheer amount of noise we made just walking around) we were able to find many different kinds of plants and mosses. About halfway through our walk we were finally able to find some fungi in the form of the "Crowded Parchment" found growing off the side of a fallen tree branch, as well as some lichen attached to a still living tree.

One of the more interesting things that we found on our walk was a small group of ferns growing out of a rock outcrop about 20 feet up in the air. While the ferns themselves were not especially rare (we had seen several up to this point on our walk) the fact that anything was able to grow in the tiny amount of space and soil available in this crack in the rocks is incredible.

Posted on September 27, 2020 08:49 PM by thomasmg