Avalonia picnic wine and cheese Avalonia picnic grapes Avalonia picnic donuts

I don't normally include more than one picture in each post, but I had to make an exception here, a story about a walk I more or less led today for the Avalonia Land Conservancy, the region's largest land trust and an organization that I've been volunteering with for more than a year. The event was a members-only guided tour of two local preserves, Babcock Ridge and Erisman Woodlands, two areas I've come to know very well. In the course of our trekking, I talked informally about and pointed out lots of natural history things, from the presence of Two-lined Salamanders in the bone-dry vernal pools to the likely identification of a perplexing species of oak (certainly a member of the Red Oak group and probably a hybrid of some sort). We looked at a variety of mushrooms, talked about whether comets were the source of water on Earth, and discussed how the land had been shaped by glaciers. But mostly, we just had a good time together on a warm afternoon in the mid-autumn woods. The wine, cheese and crackers, cider, grapes, and, of course, donuts made the day that much more spectacular. Membership has its privileges.