Käyttäjän poppch päiväkirja

For this weeks nature walk, I decided to venture down to Hammond Pond Parkway conservation which was about a 10 minute walk from campus. It took a while to actually get to the conservation because of the distance to the trailhead. However, once I found the trailhead I enjoyed my time walking through the conservation. I could hear the birds chirping and the rumbling of the train in the near distance. The trail was covered in mud from the rain and it was pretty gloomy and cloudy outside. While walking along the trail I noticed that there was a large number of fallen and dead trees. I also noticed how many rock formations surrounded the trail. I wanted to explore the features but I thought against it because of how wet and dangerous they were. The ground was covered with red and yellow leaves signifying the changes of the seasons. The theme of this week was plants and I think I was able to observe all four kinds of plants in nature. Funny enough I also observed a lot of fungi too. Overall, I enjoyed this weeks nature walk and I'll be sure to make my way back to the Hammond Pond Parkway Conservation.

For this week's nature walk, I decided to walk around the natural space that can be found on campus right next to the Connell Recreation Center. The spaces has a couple of asphalt paths for people to walk around and a bunch of benches scattered around to to sit and take in the environment. It was pretty gloomy and cold when I was walking around today, however, the space was very quiet and calming. There weren't a lot of people walking around to disturb me from observing the nature around me. I spent some time sitting on a bench relaxing and listening to music. I enjoyed just being outside under the canopy of the trees around me. This week's theme of fungi was somewhat difficult to observe in the area I chose. I was only able to make 2 observations pertaining to fungi. I found it difficult spotting them along the paths and even in the thick brush found off the path. I think this might have been because the area surrounding this natural space is well maintained making it difficult for fungi to grow and decompose dead organisms around it. Overall, I enjoyed this weeks nature walk even though it started to rain at the tail end of my walk.

I also added an observation taken a couple of weeks ago from a weeping widow (fungi) that I observed in the same space.

For my first nature walk, I decided to take a walk around the Chestnut Hill Reservoir. I went late in the afternoon as the sun was just starting to set. it was cool in the shade but surprisingly hot when out in the sun. As I walked closer toward Cleveland Circle, I could hear the sound of cars driving through intersections and the sound of the green line chime as it went along. On the other side of the reservoir, however, I could hear the sounds of Mallard ducks quacking at each other (which became one of my observations). Unfortunately, I noticed a lot of trash on my walk. It was particularly gathered on the edge near the water. It makes sense that there was a noticeable amount of trash since there were a lot of people walking along the track around the reservoir. Many people were jogging, walking their dogs, or even sitting on a bench. It was a high traffic area to say the least. I bet a lot of the people walking the revveroir wouldn't be if the city charged people to use the space. Then again, it difficult to put a price on all the wildlife and scenery that is present at the reservoir. I don't take walks (especially nature walks) all too often, but I really enjoyed this one and I'll definitely start to utilize this space more often.