Diario del proyecto NRT of Easton's Sheep Pasture

Spring is in full bloom here at Sheep Pasture!

Everywhere you look, there's flowers out and about - wood anemones and other ephemeral wildflowers are covering the forest floor, and our crabapples are popping with beautiful blooms of pink and white.

We've also been seeing a lot of nest-building from our feathered friends. A pair of cardinals have taken up residence in the briars on the path to the pond, song sparrows claimed the blooming white crabapple tree nearby, and a couple of robins have prepared a nice spot in a rhododendron bush behind the Parker Building. There's also a pair of brown creepers nesting under the eaves of our workshop!

With the warming air, there's been a lot of raptors riding the currents in the sky - turkey vultures are a common sight soaring over our entire property, and a pair or red-shouldered hawks can usually be heard by the Crafter Field, close to where the field slopes down to the Queset Brook.

The NRT Education staff have their hands full this month with lots of on-site school programs. We'll be exploring butterflies and insects with Easton's kindergarteners and preschoolers, checking the health of our pond and stream with middle schoolers from Norton, and exploring the various habitats of Sheep Pasture with lots of different school groups.

This property is an incredible resource to explore so many aspects of the natural world around us. As the spring continues, we hope you'll visit and explore with us!

Tristan Hayes (he/him)
Environmental Educator
Natural Resources Trust of Easton

As we move further into spring, there's been a lot of changes happening around Sheep Pasture. The daffodils at the Carriage House have fully bloomed, buds are starting to poke out from shrubs like burning bush and barberry, and the maples have already started showing their beautiful red flowers.

One of the highlights of last month was the cacophony of the wood frogs at the pond as they mated and laid their eggs. They were so loud that you could hear them even as far away as the sheep pens - even during the middle of the day! Since then, they've slipped back into the forests and have been keeping much quieter, but their egg masses are still visible, right past the edge of the dock. Soon, they'll hatch into hundreds of little tadpoles, and they'll no doubt be joined by the next generation of leopard frogs, bullfrogs, and salamanders, too.

Just today, we had another visitor to the pond - a muskrat! I've never seen one there before, so I'll keep an eye out and see if he was just visiting, or if he's looking to move in and make a nice little cattail lodge for himself.

Our feathered friends have been active, too - every day, we're seeing some of our resident red-tailed hawks soaring over Dog Rock and the Crafter Field, and we've found a good amount of owl pellets recently. Today, I found a fresh one with mouse bones inside, clear evidence that our rodents are out and about, and keeping the raptors well-fed.

Next time you're at Sheep Pasture, make sure you keep one eye down to the ground, and one up to the sky - you never know what you'll see!

Tristan Hayes (he/him)
Environmental Educator
Natural Resources Trust of Easton

After a rather lackluster winter, spring is creeping into our lives here at Sheep Pasture - the red-winged blackbirds are calling by the stream, shrubs are starting to bud, and the rain is filling up our vernal pond. Soon, we'll start seeing wood frogs hopping through the pine needles and hearing spring peepers singing in the night, as the bluebirds and tree swallows return to us, looking for insects to eat.

Spring is a great time to see the incredible diversity of life at Sheep Pasture. The fields will be sprinkled with wildflowers and tall grass, a perfect hiding place for insects and small mammals. Hawks and owls will keep a sharp eye from the treeline, waiting to swoop down for a meal of rabbit or mouse. At the pond, painted turtles and garter snakes will search out the best spots of sunshine to bask, as frogs and salamanders lay their eggs under the water's surface.

Over February Vacation, we hosted a group of students who helped us with tracking down and looking for signs of some of the animals that live at Sheep Pasture. They saw many different types of birds, including chickadees, titmice, nuthatches, downy woodpeckers, cardinals, and blue jays - who were handsomely rewarded for visiting us with suet and birdseed! We found scat and tracks from white-tailed deer and coyotes, and even captured some prints from a white-footed mouse! Rolling over logs and lifting up rocks also provided us with plenty of pillbugs and two leopard slugs. Our amateur Animal Trackers reminded us that there's always a lot to discover, if you're willing to look!

We're excited to get out and explore all the changes that come with the spring!

As we close out the first month of 2023, we here at Sheep Pasture are looking forward to our upcoming February vacation camp! This year, our camp's theme is all about Animal Tracking - a perfect hobby for the winter months! Even though it's felt a bit more like spring than winter lately - we even have snowbells blooming outside our Carriage House offices!

With February on our doorstep, expect to see more of our wintering songbirds flying from feeder to feeder, storing up their energy reserves to brave the cold with us. We'll also be putting our animal track and sign identification skills to the test this month - we'll have to see who's visiting us here at Sheep Pasture!

Tristan Hayes (he/him)
Environmental Educator
Natural Resources Trust of Easton

Happy New Year to all! As we welcome in 2023, it's a great time to get outside and recharge in nature. Even though we have a long, cold winter ahead of us here in Massachusetts, there's still so much to see if you know where to look!

January is a great time to keep an eye out for our winter birds, who generously choose to stick out the season with us - black-capped chickadees, tufted titmice, and white-breasted nuthatches are common sights in the trees around Sheep Pasture. Cardinals and blue jays add a splash of color against the white backdrop of ice and snow, and you might still hear the scream of a hawk or the gobble of turkeys around the Crafter Field.

Snow and bare ground also mean it's the perfect season for finding animal tracks! Keep your eyes to the ground and see who's visiting our trails - I've been seeing signs of white-tailed deer and coyotes, and I'm looking forward to finding more once the snow really starts coming down.

I also find that winter is a great time to focus in on the little things that can often go unnoticed - lichens, fungi, and mosses seem to pop a little bit more, without all the bright-green leaves of big trees taking up the spotlight!

Wherever this year takes you, I hope you can take some time to appreciate the wonders of nature that surround us all!

Tristan Hayes (he/him)
Environmental Educator
Natural Resources Trust of Easton

This project hopes to document all the wonderful plant, animal, and fungi species that call Sheep Pasture Home! Sheep Pasture is a 154-acre conservation area managed by the Natural Resources Trust of Easton, located at 307 Main Street, in Easton, Massachusetts. We have a lot of different habitats here, including forests, fields, streams, and ponds, and there's always something new to see! I can't wait to see who we can find at Sheep Pasture!

This project will automatically include all observations made within the property boundary of Sheep Pasture, so be sure to post pictures of anything you find during your visit!

Tristan Hayes (he/him)
Environmental Educator
Natural Resources Trust of Easton