Trapping Experience in Gilman

As the thaw arrives, the Exeter river begins to flow again. The dormant plants are sprouting all over the Gilman Park, signaling the arrival of the Spring. For this last three months with the woods, I decide to carry out a trapping project in the Exeter river.

My goal is to catch a crayfish. I did online research and found that crayfish is abundant in NH and it should be found in almost every pond. I began by constructing my own traps from bottles, but they failed. So, I bought a simple net trap from eBay instead. The first bait I used was D-Hall bread. Nothing happened and the bread rapidly dissolved away, so I changed my strategy.

According to many websites, the best crayfish bait is fresh fish, so I bought real preserved minnow (fish). After a few day, I got a small turtle. Then in the next day, I got a small fish. They did not seem to interest in the bait, so I suspect that they accidentally got stuck there by the current.

After a week of no crayfish, I biked around the woods to find a better spot. I found a stagnant area at one end of the river and placed the trap there instead. Three newts (aquatic salamander) was trapped on the first day.

I keep two and release one. For a week, I still could not get any crayfish, so I moved again. The next place (not shown in the map) is on the left of the second trap, in the same stagnant water area. So far, I do not get again crayfish (all I get are newts and more newts!), but I still check the trap everyday, hoping to get a better result.

22˚ Halo

Today I've experienced a new phenomenon: 22˚ Halo. It is an optical phenomenon that occurs because of ice crystal in the atmosphere diffract the moon light. (for more information http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_(optical_phenomenon))

The sky is clear tonight after being covered by grey clouds for days. This phenomenon is a brief relief after being stressed by the 332 History paper in the evening.

[Please note that both photographs are edited by iPhoto. My camera is incapable of capturing a high quality image at night.]

Woolly Adelgid Hunt!!

During the winter thaw weekend, after my skiing plan had failed, I have an opportunity to participate in Woolly Adelgid Hunt Trip with Dr. Goddard.

Winter Thaw

Woolly Adelgid is an alien insect from China that feeds on Hemlocks, native winter trees. Our goal is to mark the area that is heavily infested.

Woolly Adelgid

We went to Charles Hodges Conservation Area where Dr. Goddard had already investigated with other foresters. We found many Hemlocks infested. It took us about 2 hours to mark the trees for future investigation.

After that Dr. Goddard led us to a beaver dam. Unfortunately, the dam had already been dismantled.

It was a fun trip that I gained interesting experience in the New England forest.

Deer's Manure

 A Trace of a deer sharpened its antlers

Red Squirrel's Nest

Winter Glimpse

The winter has fully arrived when it actually snowed. The accumulation of the first day is approximately 5 cm.

Apart from the snow, the river and ponds are also beginning to freeze. On some chilly day, I can actually walk on a frozen pond.

 The water freezes at night and melts in the morning since the day temperature is still above 0˙ C.

 The ducks in the Gilman Park do not flee to the south. They still stay here and experience the winter with us.

Happy New Year 2012!!

Happy New Year 2012!

It's been a long time since the previous post. I was very busy with the college application, so I don't have time to update my blog. Now the application is done and the fun time is about to begin!

Fall Term Ends

Finally, the first trimester in PEA has ended. This trimester passed more quickly than I had anticipated. I hadn't thought that it would be this fun, and I also began to feel that it has passed too fast. After this term, I have to do my college application more seriously and the courses for next trimester are also more intense. More work is coming in the following winter trimester!

Gilman Expedition I

The last project for this Fall that I intended to do is the Gilman Expedition. Last Sunday, I've found that there is a huge park at the back of the school known as the Gilman Park. I've already walked around the small track of this park on Sunday, but I found out later that there is another big track.

I had only one exam period today, so I decided to begin my expedition. I began with the left side of the big track, which is smaller. This part is quite dry, so there was nothing much except the dried leaves. However, I could still find some mosses diversity here. I also found a few houses at the edge of the track.

Then I moved on into the Gilman Park main part. I noticed  mosses diversity in the forest was very interesting. There were some Polytrichun (possibly commune) presented. 

Also I ended part I of my expedition with the discovery of a large sphagnum bog. The sphagnum grows near a flowing stream in the forest in wide range. The species that I found has similar traits to those on the Bear Island. They are usually green, but turn red when gets a certain amount of sunlight. The sphagnum track is quite long, so I haven't completed it yet today. I may continue this track again very soon.

EA Games!!!

Today is the last day for Fall season sport, which means that it is also EA (Exeter/andover) Game. The season of EA began since Friday. Exonians tried to psyche each other up by holding many events including EA Assembly, Bonfire and PEP Rally. 

Then on Saturday, the real EA Game began. This year Exeter hosted the game. Phillipians arrived at 10AM. Chris and I went to meet Sarah and Ben at the Facility management building. Then Ben went to cheer soccer game. Chris, Sarah and I went to tour the school until half past eleven when we decided to have lunch at Pad Thai.

In the afternoon, we gave another tour to Ben and then headed to the football game, which was the highlight of the day. The game ended with Exeter's victory by 39 - 6. 

Beach Clean Up: November 2011

This is the third time that I participate in Adopt the beach program. I already posted about the first time, but the second time there was rain, so I couldn't take any pictures and decided to skip it.

This time there was a big difference from the first time: it was ebb tide. The ebb tide revealed some submerged rocks that I could not reach in previous trips. The rocks contained little ponds and many creatures.

The ponds were only about 10 cm in depth, so I could easily reach the bottom to take some pictures. There were many colorful algae: both red and green that survived the dryness inside the ponds.

 

This is the last fall trip and I think that it will be much more different during the winter. Hope that it won't be too cold at the beach during the winter.