Nature & Science
By MARK ALAN LOVEWELL
Rick Karney, director of the Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group, returned last week from an international conference on invasive sea squirts, where he and one of his staff were both speakers and participants.
There has been plenty of discussion on the Vineyard about invasive foreign plants in the Island landscape; offshore, the ocean bottom and the water column are also in a state of change. New plants and animals are taking up residence in coastal waters that may have a long-term impact.
Friday, Oct. 5: Warm and mostly sunny. Temperature rises to the high 70s. Southwest wind picks up in the afternoon. Steady breeze by sunset. A thick bank of fog rolls in over Aquinnah and Chilmark in the early evening. Maritime damp, an evening of sipping hot cider.
A Maine naturalist named Norm Famous, whom I mentioned in this past week’s column, recently sent me another e-mail about birds. This one contained a report from a researcher named Ron Pittaway up in Ontario, who issues an annual prediction for what various species of North American finches and some other non-finch species will be doing this coming winter.
Following are some much-edited excerpts from this forecast concerning northern species for the winter of 2007-2008:
By LYNNE IRONS
I use a typewriter to write this column. I really like the sound and feel of the old-fashioned typewriter. People make fun of me endlessly but that has never stopped me in any other of my pursuits. Granted I use gallons of white correction fluid and the reliable Webster’s for spell-check.
The lead foreman of Vineyard Gardens, Jeremiah Brown, doesn’t mince words about his expertise.
“What I know is pruning,” he said.
He shared his experience with members of the Martha’s Vineyard Garden Club at its September meeting by combining a talk and hands-on demonstration on the grounds of the Old Mill in West Tisbury.
Mr. Brown admitted to starting out his career in horticulture by “knocking out false bamboo in his mother’s garden with a golf club.”
Show Up, Winners
Martha Smith, major domo of the derby weigh-in stations, has issued a call to winners to show up at the weigh-in. “We need to remind daily and weekly winners to come in and pick up their prizes,” she said, noting that prizes are available immediately at the end of competition each week.
Almanac
A comprehensive guide to weather and tides on the Island.
Vineyard Gardener
I guess this past week weather-wise is called a January thaw. We did not really experience it the last several years as December was unseasonably warm.
Farm & Field
Beige and brown and tan and black, with horns spiraled or semicircular or in undulating waves, a legion of goats marched up the hill toward us, bleating in anticipation of fresh grass and leaves.