sjalkut's Journal

This week was fairly hectic for me and I was worried I was not going to have time to hike through my normal route. But yesterday afternoon I was feeling a need for free air so I walked the short distance and entered the Webster Conversation Area. The last few weeks I was here, I was specifically looking for fungi or curious inhabitants of the forest. This week since the theme was plants I finally got a chance to appreciate the huge diversity around me. Since most of the leaves on angiosperms are falling it was difficult at times to differentiate species but it magnified the gymnosperms that would normally be out shined by their flowering, leaved cousins. By the end of the walk I had noted trees and bushes of various heights, mosses, ferns and even turkeys! Overall a very successful nature walk!

Yesterday I went back to the Webster Conservation and spent some time walking around as it began to rain. Thankfully, the tree cover shielded me from most of the rain and the hike was actually very lovely. The majority of my walk was atop the cliff which provided a beautiful view. I could see the squirrels, chipmunks, birds and the gentle swaying of golden trees. The forest was peaceful except for the occasional car that drove by. The theme of this week was fungi so among my observations I found a variety of fungi along the forest floor, on dying trees and along the cliff tops. Of all the fungi that I saw my favorite was the bracket fungus on the trees. On first glance it looked like oysters growing out of bark but when looking closer it has the texture of a mushroom.

Today, I set off to walk through the trail Hammond Pond and Webster East, but as I was getting there, I noticed a trail in the Webster Conservation Area, both a hiking and rock climbing park. So I decided to explore the trail and spent about an hour both on and off-trail. It has been a long time since I explored a wooded area leisurely, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The colors have just started to change, so the ground speckled with yellows and reds. The weather was perfect for walking in the woods - breezy and not humid. Since this week we were asked to focus on fungi, I specifically sought out dying trees and particularly moist areas. I also took pictures of plants that I noticed growing in unusual places, like the side of a cliff. I did my best to try and determine the species for the fungi and plants but I was not very successful.