taking it all in

I was so inspired by hearing Barbara's account of sitting and experiencing nature, I tried it. I realized that, altho I'm outdoors a lot and noticing the nature around me, I'm infrequently still. I'm exercising, walking the dog, weeding, looking for a specific bird... I've seen a lot, but it is different than watching the world unfold. I've been collecting photographs (literally on inaturalist) and having nature moments.

I sat at least 10 minutes midmorning on a bench I'd set up in the middle of the almost quarter acre area of our backyard that we've let grow away from from being a suburban lawn. The bench is on a 10X10 black plastic covered area I plan to plant with native plants after 1 year. It is facing a willow tree and the wetland portion of the yard. The area is slightly raised and faces another slightly raised area with a strip of flatter ground in between. I noticed a red tail hawk followed by a much smaller bird high in the sky, song sparrows, heard house sparrows, noted a great blue heron flying over, heard goldfinches. There was a female wild turkey walking in the tall grass and I wondered if she was nesting since I'd seen baby turkeys and a mom here in previous years. I saw what looked like a moth and a bee interact around a plant. The willow had a huge branch fall off recently, reducing it's size in half. We have tried re rooting some of the branches in a few places hoping one or two will take. There is some new green activity on two of them. According to our arborist, planted willow branches will easily take root. Close by is a gray birch, tall and thin, maybe 10-12 years old. The fallen branch shaded this tree. I wonder if it will get secondary growth (get wider) now that it has a bigger share of the sun. I notice that the raised area between the bench and the willow slopes down to the right and left of me. To the right is a grouping of ferns (sensitive ferns mostly) and over the top there are goldenrods, mostly canada goldenrod. The soil to the left is moist with lots of clay and I planted a few native plants that advertised 'tolerates boggy conditions'. In the last week we have seen a red fox trotting across our property at least 4 times. I've identified coyote scat on the property, so it has it's predators. We live across the street from a national wildlife refuge and at the start of a small stream that empties into a large pond and more conservation land less than 1 mile away. It seemed part of our yard could serve as a wildlife corridor for these areas. The road I live on has been present since the late 1600's, so no shortage of human influence on this land. It has been lawn since at least the 1960's. At the end of last summer I covered the area where I sat and another area 10X25 ft to plan and plant with natives, but in addition I have continuously planted natives here and there and made progress managing invasives. There is no bare earth. I hope that at some point the native seed bank will take over. On inaturalist I have identified 86 different species of mostly plants, but also insects and fungi on this little plot of land. There are more to be identified. Yes, there are invasives, but most species are not invasive. So, it has biodiversity. I have to think that this little area is healthier than it was as a lawn. If I sat longer I might see some of the insect and other life others see. maybe I'll try that...

Publicado el junio 7, 2020 08:44 TARDE por maryjb maryjb

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