News and Events for Nantucket Island
Years ago, my husband and I eloped at a Nantucket conservation property. When we got to the location, we couldn’t decide exactly which spot to say our “I Do’s.” As we weighed the pros and cons of beach versus grassland, a female Northern Harrier flew low overhead. She landed on a post by one of the beach entrances and projectile pooped into the path. “That looks like the way,” I said to my betrothed. Seventeen years later the harrier blessing is still strong.
There once was a plant from Nantucket
Purple flowers so gorge they would pluck it
Blue-eyed grass is her name
A rare species they claim
So please don’t put in your bucket
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.
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.
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.
You may have been hearing some buzzzzz about cicadas in our regional news outlets lately. Throughout the state, people are preparing for an onslaught of insects. Why, when, and where?
As spring weather finally begins to grace us here on Nantucket, we begin to look for our favorite signs of spring; cherry blossoms, daffodil blooms, spring peeper chorus, osprey returning, and…eels! That’s right, the annual spring migration of young eels is upon us, heralding the start of spring for the island.
