A SPRING MORNING ALONG A TRAIL AT MEDFORD LEAS

This morning Ralph sent four new photos.    They aren't from his photo journal, so there's no text.

March 26 - After the Burn

Liz K and Barbara H and I went for an "After the Burn" walk to the RR bank and to the meadow.   The big surprise -- actually the big shock was seeing what looked to me like mugwort.   I'm not possitive, but I'm afraid that's what this is.   

The bench is in the foreground so you know where to look

Here's a closeup

There's a lot of it 

We also discovered that it's somewhat dangerous to walk through the meadow.  

It's been burned and mowed but there are short stiff sticks throughout the meadow

that are hard to see and easy to trip on.   

The next two photos show greenbrier growing on  trees in front of two large beautiful oaks --  This is alongside Trail 16.   Bob Wells pointed this out on an earlier walk -- that the vines are obstructing the view of the oaks. 

The next photo shows vines covering the ground -- in a few weeks they will be covering the small trees nearby.   These trees are in the meadow close to trail 16.   My guess is that both the vines and the trees should be removed.

The bank above the RR trail has many burned branches and trees.    Barbara H says she saw the men with the flame throwers working along this bank.  So apparently the fire did not jump Trail 16, the burn of the RR Trail bank was deliberate.   I'm no expert, but it seems to me that there's no need to remove any of the burned trees or limbs.        I did not photograph the singed trees in the meadow.  They are so obvious, there's no need to point them out.   Some of them might require pruning.  Here's a shot of the RR bank.

Spring on the Medford Campus

Today Ralph Berglund posted a number of beautiful photographs of the Medford Campus on his photo journal. 
http://bergiesplace.wordpress.com/2012/03/22/springs-blouse-slips-alluringly-off-of-her-shoulder/


These photos and the text have been copied from the post linked above.   The title of Ralph's post is
Spring's blouse slips alluringly off of her shoulder. 

"Of course I’m writing about spring flowers gradually appearing.   Whatever were you thinking? 
As I raised the blinds yesterday morning this  tree called to me in the slight fog.  Where did all of those white blossoms come from so suddenly?

Then, on the adjacent trail I came across this night’s work showing the effects of the fog.  It looks as though all that work yielded only a few bits of wet chaff.   

Elsewhere on the campus there are lots of splashes of naturalized Narcissi which please the eye and anchor other pleasant woodland scenes. 

Not much farther afield was this lovely tree, its blossoms so pretty and so short-lived.  I’ve always known these as Tulip trees but our arboretum sign calls them Magnolias.  Indeed, they’re closer to Magnolias than to the Lily (tulips) family.

A few days earlier I interrupted these two taking in a morning on the south branch of the Rancocas. 



Yes, clearly spring is movin’ in and isn’t that a nice thing to know each morning? 

March 17 - Wildflower Walk

Maggie substituted for Jane who couldn't make it due to a death in the family.   Nancy, Barbara, Millie, and Shigeko came for the walk.

We started by studying the dead nettles by the Nature Center and then had no trouble identifying this invasive throughout the rest of the walk -- lots and lots of it.  The flowers are pretty, and it's okay if you want it for a ground cover.   The photo shows a plant between two fingers of my glove.  That's how small the lovely blooms are.

We then went down the fire road to see the Herb Robert.   There is quite of lot of it in bloom.

Again, this is a very attractive invasive.  which can thrive in forested communities as the dominant ground cover, replacing native and beneficial plants.    We saw a lot of it and it's quite lovely.    There's more about it on this "noxious weeds"  site.

We walked across to meditation garden where the whatever was in bloom then down toward the dock where we saw Bloodroot in bloom - at last a wildflower that isn't considered a pest.   Lesser Celendine was in bloom and plentiful.  Another beautiful invasive. Millie has it in her lawn and it the lawn still thrives.  But in general it's a big problem - an "ecological threat."

Orange Trail

There were seven of us and the weather was perfect – sunny skies and a comfortable temperature.  We measured some big trees – two oak, two beech, and the “Rancocas Tree” – the tree that Hurricane Irene took down last summer.   “Big Trees” and “Rancocas Tree” are ongoing topics, discussed in the links provided.  We checked on the beaver damage at Yellow Trail 7 – another ongoing topic which will be photographed over time.   Ralph Berglund walked on past the end of Trail 7 in order to take these two lovely photographs across the Rancocas.  Earlier in the walk he had taken pictures of the walkers and of herb and Maggie measuring a 34-inch beech.

Two geese stand at the point where Sandy Run enters Rancocas Creek

The reflected trees are at Camp Dark Waters

l to r:  Maggie (hidden), John, Judy, Herb, Barbara, Vince

Maggie and Herb measure a big beech

Sunrise on Bridlington Woods

A Little Fog Before Breakfast

[copied from http://bergiesplace.wordpress.com/2011/12/05/a-little-fog-before-breakfast/]

A LITTLE FOG BEFORE BREAKFAST

December 5, 2011 — Ralph Berglund

Yes, I’m a fog fanatic.  My clock radio went off and I heard the announcer warn of fog.  I raised the blind and there it was so out I went.

 

There is a so quiet, enveloping mystery to fog.  

 

A damp bench waits to give rest and a moment of contemplation.   

 

I was early enough that they hadn’t yet turned off the campus lights.  This one’s at the entrance.

Clouds were nestled in amongst the trees. 

Meandering at Medford Leas

[copied from http://bergiesplace.wordpress.com/2011/11/27/meandering-at-medford-leas/]

MEANDERING AT MEDFORD LEAS

November 27, 2011 — Ralph Berglund

There are about five miles of woodland trails on our 165+ acre campus and I thought I’d better get started.  Saturday was a beautiful day so I tried a one mile section.  I flushed three white tail deer and encountered squishy reminders that there is an adjacent flood plain.

 

Sharp’s Run borders the south edge of the campus on its way to the southwest branch of Rancocas Creek.  During last week’s rain the Run had risen enough to flood the entrance from Route 70, closing it  for a while.  The bridge above was undoubtedly under water. 

For part of the trail I found myself on a steep-sided  embankment well above the flood plain.  Well, says the railroader, this is not a natural formation;  there must have been a railroad through here.  Sure enough, the 5.95 mile Mount Holly, Lumberton, and Medford Railroad served these communities and interchanged at Medford with the Camden and Atlantic (City) Railroad, ca 1870. 

Anyway, the leaves above are one of the few spots of color remaining in the woods as we enter the unsaturated gray-brown, bare branch season. But, returning on a campus paved road there was an attractive colorful planting of winter pansies in front of drying grass plumes. 

The unusual black-stemmed plant is a night-blooming globus electricus. 

And a campus cluster of red berry provided a bright spot.

 

http://bergiesplace.wordpress.com/2012/01/24/frigid-forsythe/

Big Trees at Medford leas

This post will be the location for data on the big trees of Medford Leas.  First we provide two links that are relevant to the topic. 


http://www.nj.gov/dep/parksandforests/forest/community/bigtree.html 
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Division of Parks and Forests provides this  page about New Jersey Big Trees.  It includes info on how to measure a tree in order to nominate it as the Chamption Tree of its species.   It also provides a registry of champion trees in New Jersey.  It is interesting to compare the Medford Leas Big Trees. to the state Champtions.


http://mdc.mo.gov/landwater-care/homeowners/how-old-tree 
The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) provides this page with information on how to estimate the age of a tree based on its diameter 4 1/2 feet above ground times the "growth factor" for the species.   For example the growth factor for American Beech is 6 so a beech that is 30 inches in diameter at that height would be approximately  180 years old. 


On "The Island"  there is a sign in front of the stump of the Bitternut Hickory that reads, "This tree, once considered the New Jersey State Champion, suffered a lightning strike in the fall of 1997.   The sign does not give the size of the former champion. The NJ Big Tree Registry says that the current champion Bitternut History has a circumfereance of 12'6"  - thats a diameter of 48 inches.

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March6-CleanupDay

March 6 was cleanup day.   I took my camera.   First is  a series of photos of the cleanup workers, both staff and residents.   Next, a photo of the "dog lady"  walking her six dogs.  I found out that she's from the  Puppies and More Rescue in Marlton.  She has adopted six dogs, and she fosters dogs that are waiting for adoption.   In the last two weeks the shelter has placed about 20 dogs.  They receive quite a few dogs from Ohio which does not have any no-kill shelters.  This week they've been receiving dogs from Kansas where there have been some terrible tornadoes.   Then I went to The Island and took some photos of emerging Skunk Cabbage.  I'd seen photos of the the spadix of flowers inside the spathe, but this is the first time I'd looked inside the spathes to see the spadices.    Walking back  through the berm I saw Craig Gower dumping the trash into the Waste Management dumpster.  He uses a back hoe to pick up the trash from the wind-protected cinder-block  "cage"  (my word), where trash is placed by maintenance crews.   Craig has worked at Medford Leas for 30 years.  He collects trash from Bridlington, Rushmore, and Lumberton Community Center; Kevin Crain collects trash from the courts.

Bill Conte and Bob Costigan

Ila Jane and Ruth

Holger

John

Herb Minkus

Dog lady -- and six dogs 

Skunk cabbage --

Craig Gower moving trash -

Wildflower Walk March 3, 2012

At the bottom of this post there's an embedded video about edible weeds including wintercress which we were looking at this morning and which is abundant thoughout Medford Leas.   

It was drizzling this morning and Jane Bourquin, the walk leader, and Maggie Heineman (that's me) were the only ones who showed up.   Jane had scouted during the week and neither the skunk cabbage nor the bloodroot were in bloom.   However Jane had seen Herb Robert in bloom.  This page on Wikipedia has a short explanation and a photo. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geranium_robertianum    A website in King County Washington has this to say on it's "noxious weeds"  site.

Herb Robert
Geranium robertianum

Herb Robert escaped from ornamental plantings and thrives in forested communities as the dominant ground cover, displacing native and beneficial plants.

Herb Robert's 5-petaled flowers are in all shades of pink and sometimes white. Overall the plant is covered with short glandular hairs, giving the plant a sticky feel and a distinct odor (sometimes this plant is known as "stinky Bob"). Shallow, weak roots make this plant easy to pull although large infestations can be highly labor-intensive to remove.

I took a couple of photos.  For size the closeup includes Jane's thumbnail, but one of the five petals had dropped off.

The Herb Robert was quite abundant down the firelane just a little past Parking Lot C.  

Weeds were coming up through the mulch around the trees - there was a lot around the flowering crababble.  Without flowers we had to do some studying to determine that the weed we were looking at was not chickweed but wintercress.



Chickweed flowers (Stella media) are easy to identify and now we know the difference between the leaves of chickweed and wintercress.   Follow the link to mlra wildflowers site to see chickweed.  Wintercress isn't on our site.  It should be.  Wintercress has a rosette of basal leaves which are unmistakable -- look at the base of the crabapple.

http://mlra.org/wildflowers/flowers/Stellaria_media.htm

Jane had brought a bowl of weeds with her -- along with the wintercress there was some Gill on the Ground. http://mlra.org/wildflowers/flowers/Glechoma_hederacea.htm   

I took some photos of Jane's poster of edible weeds and while writing this blog, googling for wintercress, I came up with an interesting video of edible weeds -- including wintercress.  This video is one of a series on edible weeds.