What’s going on out on the land?
Highlights of Tracking in the Boyne Valley
I have been thinking a lot this Winter about how amazing it is that all of the various species we track can survive such apparent hardships of freezing temperatures, labourious snow depths, and drastically reduced vegetal forage. It’s like turning off the heat in your house, wading through 60 - 90 odd cm (2 - 3 ft) carpet pile, while constantly engaging all your senses to find the perpetually vigilant and furtive refrigerator. Tough times indeed.
Exploring Some Staghorn Sumac Galls
A few years ago my partner and I were leading a walk at a nearby nature reserve when one of the participants looked up at a Staghorn Sumac and asked “what is this?”. I answered, Staghorn Sumac, but they clarified that they didn’t mean the shrub, but instead globular fleshy piece which sort of half dangled from the bottom of the long leaf stalk. As we looked at the soft roundish growth I realized that I had never noticed this before.
Sure, it has taken a few years of passive wonder, but this Summer I finally looked it up.
Fruit and Seeds pt. 1
I wanted to compile a small collection of images and notes about seeds of the summer which might be found in some scat of common birds and mammals in my area. This is part one of a series.