The Wrack

Last week we welcomed our first campers of the summer. This camp, titled Earth Stewards, focused on ways we can appreciate and honor the earth. A highlight for campers was a boat ride/driving opportunity, around Wells Harbor with stewardship coordinator Tin Smith and environmental educator Linda Littlefield Grenfell as our guides.

On the trip, we had the opportunity to look at the harbor and beach from far offshore, navigate the twists of the river, and stick our faces just above the water where hundreds of sand lances sparkled in the sun. This boat trip truly provided campers  and myself  a new perspective on this place. On the drive back from the harbor, one camper exclaimed she would never see the harbor in the same way again.

Whos been spitting in the grass? Stick your fingers into the frothy mass and youll likely find a cool and moist tiny lime-colored creature with black eyes. This is the nymph (or immature form) of a spittlebug (Cercopidae).

Its been 7 years since we started collecting larval fish and 3 years since our last update (See Team Larval Fish at the Wells Reserve) so its time for another look at the wonderful world of larval fish! Weve had some exciting developments over that time and attended some professional meetings where we have made connections with other researchers working on early life stages of fishes.

I have volunteered at environmental centers for most of my life. The most popular question by far is some variation on "Where is everything? We didn't see anything!" They probably saw lots of things — but just didn't notice them.

Tonight's full moon is the first of two full moons this month. Modern convention will label it a blue moon.

On one of my first days here at the Wells Reserve at Laudholm, I was given a very simple task by my supervisor: familiarize yourself with the exhibit areas. ?As the sunlight illuminated the office floor and the cool breeze rushed through my window, as if beckoning me to go outside for a walk, staying indoors was the exact opposite of the interesting afternoon I had in mind. ?Reading displays and interpretive signs for hours seemed incredibly boring.

Thankfully, I was wrong.

The following was published in the Biddeford-Saco?Journal Tribune Sunday edition, 6/21/2015.

As I stood in the kitchen of my New York apartment coming to grips with the news of my fathers sudden death, something spooky happened. One of my fathers favorite tunes, Always Look on the Bright Side of Life from the Monty Python film The Life of Brian, began playing. My father had been found dead only hours before, and now a clear reminder of him was spontaneously emanating from some luggage in the corner.

I assumed it was a cell phone ringtone, but standing there, in that most alone moment of my life, I had no explanation for why someone would be phoning a suitcase, or why my fathers song was suddenly playing.

This course, launched in 2013, provides guidance in collecting, analyzing, and synthesizing qualitative data and using the results to improve the quality of meetings, foster effective project management, and facilitate collaborative research projects.

Thirteen Head Start preschools from across York County visited the Reserve on numerous occasions this past year to experience the great outdoors and make exciting wildlife discoveries. They came in the fall, winter, and spring seasons to hear a nature-based story, meet a variety of animal puppets, create a related craft to take home, and walk the trails while engaged in scavenger hunts and sensory adventures.

Last week, we wrapped up one of the busiest school program seasons to date. Beginning the last week of April, school kids and teachers from Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Vermont (!) explored the trails here at the Wells Reserve. Some came for self-guided discovery, but many more learned from our team of volunteer docents a wealth of information about estuaries, wildlife, habitats, water quality, and much more. Today we celebrated their hard work leading these students in temperatures that ranged from 45F to 85F, in drizzle and shining sun, and learned just how big their impact was with a candy guessing game during our end-of-season potluck!