sherlome's Journal

For my third nature walk, I walked around the Pine Tree Reservation. It was a clear day, with little to no clouds, and the temperature was cool. There was not much wind outside. Most of the leaves on deciduous trees were yellow and red, and not many remained on branches. There were groups of small ferns mostly of the outskirts of the reservation. I expected to see more moss on this walk, but I only observed moss at the base of the occasional pine tree. There were very few angiosperms as well, outside of asters, which is not surprising considering this is a pine tree reservation.

I did my second nature walk at the Pine Reservation at around 5:30pm. It was cloudy outside with a bit of rain. There was some wind present which nocked water droplets off the tree leaves (it felt like it was steadily raining underneath the trees). The trees themselves were visibly wet, with the bark being much darker brown. There were a few chipmunks and squirrels running through the forest floor. Lots of lichen could be seen on rocks and trees. All of the fungi I found on this walk were on the forest floor.

I walked for about 40 minutes in the Hammond Pond Reservation. It was partially cloudy and cool with a strong breeze. The leaves on the trees were mainly green, with some turning shades of yellow and orange. There were many fallen leaves scattered across the forest floor. There were numerous squirrels and chipmunks rummaging through the leaves on the floor. I noticed a significant amount of smaller trees that appeared to be dead, with no leaves and few branches. As I walked through the forest and got closer to the pond, the trees had more foliage and the floor grew more dense with greenery. The sound of birds was also noticeably louder closest to the pond. In Hammond Pond, I saw two swans closest to the shore opposite to me.