Nature Preserve Trail
Over the past few weeks I've explored some familiar areas while back home. I visited one of my favorite spots the Ipswich River Nature Preserve! This is one of my favorite places to relax and be out in nature because its one of the closest and biggest nature preserves near me. The Nature preserve sits on Teal Pond which stretches across most of it. My girlfriend and I went on Sunday morning and the weather was beautiful. We were welcomed by all sorts of birds that were colorful against the green grass. I saw a lot of tracks in the snow, some were small others were big, I wondered what made them. As we were walking down the trail I saw many types of mushrooms, some were on trees others were coming out the ground and varied in color. I could tell the leaves beneath our feet were starting to decompose into soil. The trees for the most part were begining to look bare, there was little shade as we walked. The last time I was here the trees had all their leaves and the forest was darker and thicker. This nature reserve is perfect for dog walkers and anyone who enjoys the outdoors. If you don't mind the cold and enjoy a cool landscape I would recommend you try this spot. Its filled with species and is a perfect example of what a natural ecosystem looks like. When the weather warms up I would like to take a closer look at the species in the water.
The leaves on the trail reminded me of the activity where we went outside and Professor Burchsted explained that everything is made of carbon including leaves. When the leaves decompose, they return into the soil. we did this is class by picking up a leaf and feeling it knowing it will turn into something completely different. Seeing the partially decomposed leaves and other material on the ground as we walked reinforced the topics we learned outside with the class. It made me wonder what other materials make up the soil other than leaves. My favorite part of this assignment was actually going outside, most of my classes are inside so it was nice to get out.
I feel like I never have noticed that true beauty of the area that I am from because I am never looking for it. The thing that I took away from this post is to take a walk in the nature surrounding my house and look for all the little things that I've never noticed. It sounds like you and your girlfriend chose the perfect time to take a walk, being that the grass was still green, but there was a nice contrast of snow. The time that we learned in class that all leaves are made of carbon was one of the most interesting parts of the class to me this semester. After reading your question about what other materials make up the soil in addition to the decomposing leaves, I decided to look it up and learned that it is mostly made up of minerals, soil organic matter, living organisms, gas, and water. I enjoyed the photos that you took while you were out on your walk, they do a nice job portraying the descriptive words you used in your writing. This post makes me think of a walk that I took with my friend in Plymouth, New Hampshire around a lake that I forget the name of. There is a trail that takes you around a small lake, and all around the lake are different checkpoints where they tell you information about different trees and species of animals you can find in the area.
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