Emily and I had a wonderful mini-retreat weekend at the Witchwood!
Socially distanced camping works pretty well - just keep to opposite sides of the fire pit!
I established the first of the forest plots I'll be tracking closely through next year. This one is an approximately 10ft by 10ft area in one of the forest seeps. It's the only spot on my land with a significant amount of poison ivy. I'm so curious why that is. Is the soil different here than in other seeps? Or is it pure chance - some poison ivy seeds were deposited here and found their niche?
While I was sitting on a rock closely examining the vegetation for any species I missed, I saw my first vole!
It was also great weekend for frogs. In addition to the ubiquitous green frogs, I saw:
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| American Toad |
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| Spring Peeper |
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| Pickerel Frog |
And I caught a goldenrod crab spider that had captured a moth!
And a new-to-me insect species:
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| Pale Green Assassin Bug (Zelus luridus) |
And a new plant species for my land!
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| Pearly Everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea) |