Island Science

Fragrant sweet pepperbush
Island Science

The Nature of August

We’re halfway into August, and it starts to feel a touch like fall. There’s a slight crispness to the air in the early mornings, and the humidity of July has waned. The August Blues Fishing Tournament, which I love to participate in, has me thinking about August blues—I mean the kind of feeling that has less to do with bluefish and more to do with disappointment at the end of something. Of course, I’m reading way too much into the name of a fishing tournament, but there is an element of sadness that summer might soon be coming to a close.

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Island Science

Summer Visitors in Nantucket Waters

They don’t sip CRUcumbers at CRU or wait in line at Juice Bar, but they’re back every summer. A month ago, on Friday July 18, just in time to kick off Shark Week, a 1,653 pound great white shark pinged 50 miles east of Nantucket. Named “Contender,” he is the largest male white shark ever tagged by research group OCEARCH in the Western North Atlantic. While well offshore, his appearance is a timely reminder that sharks, too, summer on Nantucket.

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Island Science

Our Cuspate Spits Protecting the Harbor

For many of us, Coatue is the sandy stretch we seek out to get away from the rest of Nantucket. Whether by boating across the harbor, kayaking, or traversing the over-sand paths by vehicle, many of us recognize that this place is special. Wild landscapes, nesting bird life, great fishing…it’s a wild place that brings us back in time. Even so, it might also be a place we sometimes take for granted. We might enjoy it for the escape, but how often do you think about how vital this barrier beach is to our island way of life?

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Hammerhead sharks Nantucket
Island Science

It’s Hammer Time

Great white sharks get all the publicity. Especially this summer with the 50th Anniversary of Jaws, great whites are having a moment. But there are other sharks in the sea, and we’re starting to see more of them than ever. One group in particular— hammerhead sharks—are becoming more of a regular summer visitor than an anomaly.

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Jimsonweed on Nantucket
Island Science

Pioneers Species You Don’t Want Colonizing

In our society we tend to idealize and idolize pioneers. Think of those intrepid travelers who went west in the mid-1800s. Or those who explored somewhere for the first time. It takes a certain character to be the first to do something: not only spunk, but grit and determination. If you’re the first to settle in a new area, you have to figure out space, resources, safety. How are you going to survive? We admire these qualities in people who start from scratch, find new territory, put a flag on the moon.

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common lowbush blueberry fruits
Island Science

July on Nantucket Is a Forager’s Paradise

I am spoiled this time of year, lucky to be working out on the Linda Loring Nature Foundation landscape or going out for walks with my dog on one of the various conservation trails around the island. This time of year, mid- to late-July is when the berries are at their peak, and I can easily find a snack while out in the hot summer sun. It’s a fun time to start foraging for your snacks.

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Men in a dory fishing for herring in Madaket (NHA, 1900s)
Island Science, Nantucket History & People

Secrets of the Ditch

The Madaket Ditch…it doesn’t have a very sexy name, but it is one of the most fascinating and vital parts of the western end of our island. For something so essential to the water quality of Long Pond, it is an often-missed feature of the landscape. Most islanders and visitors have never even seen it.

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Nantucket drought water conservation
Exploring Nantucket, Island Science

Water, Water, Everywhere, But…

Last week, Nantucket was placed under a Level 1 drought by the Massachusetts Drought Management Task Force, prompting mandatory restrictions on outdoor water use. Then, over last weekend, we learned that the town’s primary water pump suffered a mechanical failure, leaving the island’s water storage tank at “critically low” levels. The ensuing water use ban has included all non-essential water use, and applies only to properties connected to the municipal water system.

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