Nature & Science
Friday, June 18: Sunny and summer-like. Rosa rugosa in full bloom along the Beach Road in Edgartown. Youngsters splash water at the State Beach, under the guarded eye of parents wading nearby. Children jump from the Big Bridge. Temperature reaches the 80s.
Shorebirds nest on our beaches every year. As of June 23, The Trustees of Reservations were monitoring three piping plover nests on the Elbow, three pairs of recently hatched piping plover chicks on Leland Beach, and two large colonies of least, common and roseate terns on Norton Point Beach Edgartown.
As required by state and federal regulation, The Trustees are monitoring these nests and chicks and are providing the birds with adequate habitat to feed their young. The chicks can move around the property and are difficult to see.
All the best quips contain a core oftruth. British biologist J.B.S. Haldane, who spent a lifetime studying the diversity of nature, had this classic answer when someone asked him what he had learned over his long years of study: “God has an inordinate fondness for beetles.”
Peek Behind Fences in Edgartown
Get green with garden envy at the Garden Conservancy’s Edgartown tour. Six private gardens will become open to the public on Monday, June 28 from 10 a.m to 4 p.m. This is a self guided tour so take your time walking or biking around town while stopping to explore a flag garden representing the Union Jack, a hillside garden with the Edgartown Harbor as a backdrop, or a small cottage compound filled with seven unique gardens.
The current in the Edgartown harbor has changed again.
It has been three years since the Norton Point opening connected Katama Bay to the sea, and the water movement through the harbor has gained another measure of unpredictability: currents running through Edgartown harbor are far greater than tidal.
Plus, the three years of increased current has changed the way boaters use the harbor and the way bathers use the beaches.
Tonight’s full moon, the Summer Moon, resides in the zodiacal constellation Sagittarius. This moon is the southern-most full moon of the year.
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.