Atlantic White Cedars, Southwire

The Avalonia Land Conservancy, a group I do a lot of volunteering for, brought me along for an assessment trip through an Atlantic White Cedar area to look at a parcel that might be available for adding to a refuge known as Southwire. I'd never been there before, but my love of wetlands of all varieties is well known and folks seem to believe that I have useful knowledge of such places. Or maybe they bring me along for comic relief. In any event, I came hoping to spot either or both of the State-endangered cedar swamp obligates—the Banded Boghaunter dragonfly and the Hessel's Hairstreak butterfly—or just to have a great trek through a fine wetland. I saw neither insect, but documented all manner of other interesting fauna and flora, from newly emerged odonates to perfect stands of photogenic cedars.