Spring Pond Woods: Nature: Photos

Showing posts with label Nature: Photos. Show all posts

Spring Pond in Autumn

These beautiful photos of Spring Pond in Autumn are shared by Leslie Courtemanche.

The second photo is of a Great Blue Heron.

Deer and baby fawn

This is a sighting on video, caught by Leslie Courtemanche, of a female deer nursing her baby fawn in Spring Pond Woods.

Sketch, letter and a photo of Egret, by Brian

Brian Joyce shares another one of his lovely sketches from Spring Pond. This one is a view looking north, on the north side of upper Spring Pond.

Brian writes: "As I was leaving the drawing location I saw something that attracted my photographic attention. I had my small camera in hand. Then looked across the lake and saw what I thought was an Egret on a rock. Zooming in to capture the shot the Egret took flight. The zoom was extended and I was lucky to capture the rest of the pictures. I think the Egret might have been pointing out a turtle perched on a rock." Brian Joyce

Sketch of upper Spring Pond by Brian Joyce

Tales without words

Following the power lines through Spring Pond, on a hill 300'± above sea level, a natural wild corridor opens to the view on both sides. North through here is the proposed DiBiasi subdivision, to the south is Camp Lion (site of controversial rezoning and formerly proposed development). In Salem and Peabody is City of Peabody property. To the west the wildlife corridor runs through Boulderwoods (threatened for 110 new homesites, and beyond there, is the sight of Stone Tower in Lynn Woods. From Lynn Woods to Salem Woods including all forests in between (Spring Pond, Boulderwoods and other habitat islands in threat), connect as one wildlife corridor region.

Without much help in protecting the area from public agencies, the 'silent alert' of our disappearing landscape will continue. The Boulderwoods subdivision might begin initial blasting within days, and has received an Environmental Impact Report waiver, without requiring an accurate environmental study. The neighbors opposed in Peabody and Lynn should be aware a state representative spoke on the developers behalf, stating "Solomine satisfied city and neighborhood concerns", and that an Environmental Impact Report be WAIVED. (News article: Fennell intervened with state agency on Solomine's behalf, by Chris Stevens for the Daily Item, June 14, 2012) Note, this is not the district of the politician to speak for constituents here, and I am not a lawyer to ask if this could substantiate another lawsuit. It is very important the neighbors along Boulderwoods in Peabody are also aware: Because of pending litigation (2x), the project will likely never be approved on the Lynn side, hence the approval for a second access to the subdivision does not seam realistic. This means: If the conditions for approval with the City of Peabody were to require a second access to the subdivision because the narrow path on Bartholomew Street in Peabody could not handle the traffic of 110 homesites, the condition will likely not be met. The abutters in Peabody should be alerted that they may receive all future traffic from the 100± home sites.

A species on the Natural Heritage of Endangered Species Program has been heard around Spring Pond, an area adjacent to Boulderwoods. Given the habitat conditions in Boulderwoods where the power lines run through, this leads the search for the same species in this area as well. If interested in helping listen for this species at the edge of a street or your own property, or along the power lines, please feel free to contact us for further information: peace@springpondwoods.com

Another concern is that Phaeton/ Cannon Rock is adjacent to Boulderwoods, and there could be other archeological sites here to discover. In the proposed DiBiasi subdivision area, there are recognized archeological sites, and the state ordered to conduct an extensive site investigation. Without a full environmental impact review for Boulderwoods, we will not know.

Feel free to contact us, if you wish to help in some way save the remaining greenbelt corridor. peace@springpondwoods.com

More photos of walking through the power lines, through the wetlands in the valleys. There were thousands of tiny tadpoles swimming in the pool of water.

To the south, two Turkey Vultures perched on the branches of a cell tower.

Looking for protected species to protect, we found various butterflies, moths, dragonflies, damselflies and amphibians. Many of these were too fast to photograph, and one or two are questionable species if protected. (Click on images to enlarge.)