April 19, 2017

Notes and Changes since last report

• It was 53°F and cloudy with light breezes at 2:30 PM on April 19, 2017.
• Occasional sprinkles turned into a fairly steady light rain.
• This week's trail report covers the Wappinger Creek Trail side of the trail system.
• Things were getting noticeably greener and some plants were starting to bloom.

The Trails

• The view across the Old Hayfield at Gifford House was still bleak except for a puff of white in the distance.
• It was shad bush.
• On the Sedge Meadow Trail, honeysuckle leaves were getting bigger and the grass was taller than last week.
• Down at the boardwalk the trend continued with skunk cabbage leaves unfurling.
• Out in the Old Pasture, the bench was wet; I did not stop.
• A dot of yellow was barely visible on the other side of the Wappinger Creek.
• That was a patch of escaped daffodils.
• At the bottom of the hill, trout-lily was beginning to bloom.
• There was a little bit of yellow amongst the greenery along a feeder to the Creek.
• Garden escapee, lesser celandine, is similar to our native marsh marigold.
• Around my feet, Pennsylvania sedge was blooming.
• It only grows 6" tall, deer don't eat it, and the flower is interesting. I think it would make a great no-mow lawn.
• Wow, a moth on this cold, rainy day! It was the common oak moth.
• Farther along the trail, wood duck could be just barely heard past the greening Japanese barberry.
• Right at the base was bloodroot, with the clasping leaves that I find so interesting.
• A surprise was two more. They must be one of the shortest lasting flowers; the cool will help them linger.
• What? Even more! How cold I resist another photo?
• By the foot bridge below the "Appendix" was a cloud of yellow.
• Smell the flower, scratch-n-sniff the bark, and later - taste the berry.
• To the other side was a clump of unmistakeable stinging nettles... unmistakeable if you've ever brushed against them.
• I had to double back, but I knew it would be there: cut-leaved toothwort not quite in bloom yet.
• Not bad for a rainy day.
• Next week: the Cary Pines Trail side of the trail system.