Long Pasture Wildlife Sanctuary
I spent Saturday - Wednesday on the Cape. I'm going to break up my meanderings into a few posts though. First up is Saturday at Long Pasture Wildlife Sanctuary in Barnstable MA. I'm including the trail map since I like it better in color. This place wasn't too hard to find, but the directions need to be updated as the Christmas Tree Shop appears to have closed, and the Audubon signs are tiny. I was also confused for a bit about parking, as the entrance looked too small, but eventually I found the shaded parking spaces near the Visitor Center.
They had a very nice butterfly Garden, which was mostly full of bees, but quite nice on a sunny morning. The only trail I didn't hike was the Woodcock trail. Overall I enjoyed all of them, though I found the Bone Hill Trail, Lichen Trail and parts of the Beck Family Trail quite buggy. The trails also had the look of recent grooming, ie weed whacking. I believe Mass Audubon is working to restore the pasture into a pasture, apparently with goats and pigs. I saw quite a few farm animals on the edges of the trails and beware the electric fences.
Orange milkweed, I've been seeing a ton of this suddenly, though it might just be I've been going out a lot and it happens to be in bloom now.
My first spread wing damselfly, I'm not sure on species, but it was likely a female. There are some closer pics in an older post HERE. I saw plenty of monarchs, though none sat still long enough or close enough for a good picture.
I heard plenty of frogs, though didn't spot any on the actual trails. One snake spotted me and all I saw was the fleeing tail. A rabbit watched me for a time before hopping away. The goats, turkeys and chickens didn't seem to mind me much. All in all I spent about two hours there and found plenty of things to photograph before continuing on towards the upper cape.
They had a very nice butterfly Garden, which was mostly full of bees, but quite nice on a sunny morning. The only trail I didn't hike was the Woodcock trail. Overall I enjoyed all of them, though I found the Bone Hill Trail, Lichen Trail and parts of the Beck Family Trail quite buggy. The trails also had the look of recent grooming, ie weed whacking. I believe Mass Audubon is working to restore the pasture into a pasture, apparently with goats and pigs. I saw quite a few farm animals on the edges of the trails and beware the electric fences.
Orange milkweed, I've been seeing a ton of this suddenly, though it might just be I've been going out a lot and it happens to be in bloom now.
My first spread wing damselfly, I'm not sure on species, but it was likely a female. There are some closer pics in an older post HERE. I saw plenty of monarchs, though none sat still long enough or close enough for a good picture.
I heard plenty of frogs, though didn't spot any on the actual trails. One snake spotted me and all I saw was the fleeing tail. A rabbit watched me for a time before hopping away. The goats, turkeys and chickens didn't seem to mind me much. All in all I spent about two hours there and found plenty of things to photograph before continuing on towards the upper cape.
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