Here we are in a new year, but you’d never know it from the weather. As you can see from the thumbnails below, we’ve continued to have some sunny days, some rainy days, and some foggy days. Today it’s been rainy and foggy, but I got out for a ramble when it was just sprinkling.
Most of the trees lost their leaves a while ago, but leaves on the American beech (Fagus grandifolia) and the red oaks hang on, and the many pines, few surviving Eastern hemlocks, and this red cedar (Juniperus silicicola) that I brought when I moved almost nine years ago from Alabama (and it was two feet tall) provide green along the way. The lichen-covered bare trees and the pink-purple canes of the native black raspberries stand out on cloudy days.
The ferns, mosses, lichen, and—surprisingly—mushrooms also add color and different textures. I found one puttyroot orchid (Aplectrum hyemale) and am on the lookout for more.
Of course, the deer continue to come to feed, waiting at the basement door (and sometimes at the front door!) for breakfast and returning in the afternoons. They nap on the path near the house when they arrive too early. I haven’t seen much buck activity lately, although this big fellow was in the meadow a few days after Christmas.
And the local flock of eight tom turkeys often joins the deer in the afternoon.
Like where most of you readers live, we have coyotes in the Hollow. Only a few solitary ones have been captured by my trail camera, and I don’t think they’re a problem in my little part of the Hollow. However, I sometimes see their scat on my rambles; it usually seems to reflect a diet of rabbits and other wild animals. About a month ago I found the skull of a domestic cat (probably feral), and this week I found a spine that also seems to be from a cat. I suspect this/these to be the victim/s of coyotes, too.
One never knows what will turn up on a ramble, but I’ll let you know if I find something interesting next time!
French Broad Hollow Ramble 