2020-10-14, Boyd Woods Audubon Sanctuary, Litchfield, CT

On 2020-10-14, I visited Boyd Woods Audubon Sanctuary in Litchfield, CT.  Below is a link to my interactive map of the sanctuary.  I put in location numbers to show where the pictures below were taken.

http://arcg.is/0ziTjm

Below is a static screenshot of my interactive map.



1.  I followed an unblazed trail northerly out of Boyd Woods into another Litchfield Hills Audubon Society preserve, Wigwam Brook Wildlife Sanctuary.



2.  A beaver lodge.



3.  My first view of Wigwam Brook which runs along the western edge of Boyd Woods.



4.  An interestingly constructed bridge.



4.



4.  A large quartzite rock, I think.



4.  Another view of Wigwam Brook.



4.  I tried to identify these mushrooms which were growing at the base of a yellow birch tree.  If my identification is correct, the mushrooms are part of an infection of the tree that may kill the tree.  My tentative identification: Honey Mushroom, Armillaria mellea.



4.



4.



7.  This work of art was hanging by the side of one of several man-made ponds in the Boyd Woods.



5.  Witch-hazel, Hamamelis virginiana, in bloom.



6.  Margery's Picnic Rocks.  Lots of flat rock here to relax on.



7.  Lots of stone walls in Boyd Woods.



8.  You can see the approximate boundaries of the 2014 cut on my map.  I was surprised by how big the new trees have gotten to be in just six years.



9.  I talked with a woman who, with her husband, does a lot of work to maintain Boyd Woods.  This is a set of steps her husband built over a blow-down.



10.  Another view of Wigwam Brook.



11.  I am back near the large parking lot next to one of the man-made ponds.  You can see a new blind for viewing wildlife



12.  The sign you can see as you're going southerly on CT-254 that tells you that the parking lot entrance is about 100 feet ahead.

 












David Reik

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2022-6-5, Metacomet Trail, East Granby, CT.

Image
On 2022-6-5, I hiked a section of the Metacomet Trail in East Granby, from CT-189 to Holcomb Street. I made an interactive map of my route --- my GPS track is shown in pink.  I put in location numbers to show where the pictures below were taken.  Here is a screenshot of the southern part of the map. Here's a screenshot of the northern part of the map. Here's a link to the interactive map, where you can zoom in and out, and turn on and off various layers. https://arcg.is/1aDPiq 4.  The view of Tariffville Gorge. 6.  I don't think there was ever a structure connected with this chimney. 8.  A large Striped Maple leaf. 9.  Carolina Rose (Rosa carolina), I think.  A wild native rose. 11.  Evidence of some recent mowing of plants in the sunlit power cut. 12.  The first blow-down I came to.  This was about 100 feet south of the cemetery. 12.  The cemetery.  As I recall, the three grave stones are reproductions of the original grave stones which are now embedded in the foundation o
Read more

2022-6-3, Lake Compounce Area Trails, Southington, CT

Image
 On 2022-6-3, I hiked a loop on various Lake Compounce-area trails in the Tunxis Trail family of trails.  I made an interactive map with location numbers to show where the pictures that appear below were taken.  Here's a screenshot of the southern part of the interactive map. Here's a screenshot of the northern part of the interactive map. Here's a link to the interactive map:  https://arcg.is/0eO88G  . 3.  I wasn't going to record blow-downs, but I came to this big, double blow-down on the blue-red Steep Climb Trail and changed my mind. 4.  Now, we're on the blue-yellow Compounce Ridge Trail. 5.  Somebody cut this blow-down on the blue-yellow Compounce Ridge Trail but wasn't able to complete the job. 5.  Another blow-down on the Compounce Ridge Trail. 6.  It used to be that the best view on the Compounce trails was at Julian's Rock, but the trees below Julian's Rock have grown, and now I think the best view is from a point near where the chair lift used
Read more

2020-8-2, Highlawn Forest, Middletown, CT

Image
On 2020-8-2, I re-visited Highlawn Forest in Middletown.  Highlawn Forest is a preserve managed by the Connecticut Forest and Park Association.   I made an interactive map showing where locations I will refer to here.  You can zoom in and out, pan around, and turn off and on various layers including LIDAR, contour lines, aerial imagery, and my GPS Waypoints and GPS track.  Here's a link to the map: http://arcg.is/1yCzTf0 Here's a static screenshot of the interactive map. 1.  I turned from the Blue Trail to a network of unblazed trails.  Too bad this is not a three-dimensional picture --- you can't see here that this was a hole.  Was the hole the work of man? 2.  At first I thought that this trail, which is raised above the surrounding ground because dirt and gravel have been laboriously deposited, was the work of the Connecticut Forest and Park Association, but it seems that neighbors have constructed this raised trail and many other features along the unblazed trails. 3. 
Read more