Nature & Science
Ospreys or fish hawks used to be very common along the shores of the mainland. Matter of fact, I recently heard that Buzzard’s Bay was so named due to the large number of ospreys found there. It appears that the less ornithologically inclined colonialists called ospreys buzzards in the 1600s. Probably several thousand ospreys summered along the south coast of Massachusetts when the first settlers arrived. The Birds of Massachusetts (Veit and Petersen) states that there were one thousand pair counted along the shore from Connecticut and Long Island to the Cape and Islands in 1940.
Polly Hill Arboretum hosts an apple grafting workshop next Saturday, April 10, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. John Bunker of Fedco Trees, known in some circles as an “apple whisperer” for his natural gift for working with apple trees, will lead the workshop. A valuable tool for the propagation of plant cultivars, grafting is a technique of joining two plants to continue their growth as one on a single plant. Grafting is particularly useful in the preservation of heirloom apple varieties.
Tides will be extreme this weekend. Tides will be highest around noon and midnight. Tides will be lowest in the early morning and late afternoon. One can expect to see sandbars that are normally hidden at low tide and at high tide find wracklines settling farther up the beach than normal. Mariners should be prepared, as it will be not the usual tides. If a storm is to coincide, then the chance for tides to be even more extreme may be cause for concern.
Summer shellfishermen will have access to Sengekontacket Pond for the first time in several years, so long as there isn’t a big rainstorm.
The State Division of Marine Fisheries has lifted the pond from a routine seasonal closure.
Sengekontacket Pond is overseen by the Edgartown and Oak Bluffs shellfish departments under the watchful eye of the state.
Temperature: Precip.
Day Max. Min. Inches.
Fº Fº
March 19 64 35 .00
March 20 68 42 .00
March 21 60 39 .00
March 22 53 43 Trace
March 23 59 47 .74
March 24 51 42 1.36
March 25 54 37 .01
Water temperature in Edgartown harbor: 50º F.
Invasive Plant Removal
Under the direction of environmental biologist Dick Johnson and the Eastville Beach committee, Martha’s Vineyard Girl Scout troops and volunteers will be removing Japanese black pine, oriental bittersweet, Japanese knotweed and autumn olive that threaten the environmental health of Eastville Beach (located by the new bridge near the hospital). The cleanup begins at noon and runs to 3 p.m. on Saturday, March 27. Raindate is Sunday, March 28.
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.