This week’s heat wave doesn’t seem to have bothered one group of feathered friends, the gulls. We had quite a show of rare and unusual gulls on the Vineyard’s South shore this week. The first gull to catch birders’ attention was created by a blurry photo of a bird with a strong black/white and gray wing pattern and a dirty looking head taken on July 14. The gull had a fine bill with a yellow tip. Sarah Mayhew took the original photo at Quansoo which was used to identify the bird.

‘Head to the hills’ is what I want the huge ferocious flies to do.

Tides will run higher and lower than normal this weekend and well into next week and it is tied mostly to two astronomical events.

Friday, July 12: Gray and muggy morning. Temperature rises to the 70s. Threat of rain but none arrives. Little sailboats decorate the waters near the Edgartown Lighthouse. A fleet of sailing dinghies zigzag in the outer Edgartown Harbor, passing around bright floating orange buoys. Farland Square in Oak Bluffs is bustling with pedestrian traffic in the late afternoon.

In an effort to protect a rare and pristine groundwater resource, the Island Grown Initiative will buy the Dunkl family property off Old Farm Road in Chilmark, leaders at the nonprofit announced Wednesday.

The 23-acre property sits at the head of the Mill Brook watershed and abuts the Roth Woodlands and Waskosim’s Rock Reservation.

Sarah McKay, president of IGI, said protecting the water source struck home with the sustainability aspect of the nonprofit’s mission.