Valley Garden Park is located on the Wissahickon formation of the Delaware Piedmont- an area of sediment deposition from the Appalachian mountains. The earliest record of land use history I could find was the account of the property being owned by the most prominent family in Delaware- the DuPonts. According to a plaque in the park, the land was partially forested and partially cleared for agriculture while under the ownership of Ellen DuPont in the early twentieth century, she later enlisted the help of a landscape designer to transform the area into a recreational space. There are remnants of stone structures and parts of equipment in the park that indicates a history of agriculture, however, many of the trees are several hundred years old which indicates that the area was not entirely cleared. Compared to my phenology site in Burlington, this site is far more homogenous in terms of tree species. Besides the decaying trees, which are far too decomposed to accurately identify, every tree on my site is an American Beech. One only needs to look at the golden brown forest floor to recognize the domination of the Beech species. Beyond the trees, I was able to identify a wild privet bush that was producing some black berries, ivy and two species of moss growing in the rock formation: Rhytidium rugosum moss and sheet moss. The complete absence of leafy plants growing on the forest floor directly contrasts my phenological site in Burlington. This is likely the case because this site is on a steep, and therefore dry, hillside while the site with more ground cover is located on the basin of a brook which supplies a greater amount of water and nutrients. In terms of animal species, I noticed that while I’ve observed both mammal and bird species in my Burlington site, I only observed bird species on this site. This likely occurs due to the fact that my site in Delaware, unlike my site in Burlington, is not close to a body of water and is located on a very steep hill which may be difficult for some mammals to climb. The birds I did observe, however, were in greater abundance than those I witnessed in Burlington. I spotted many robins, song sparrows, and even a red cardinal. There were no animal tracks to record, given that the snow was completely melted and there was no exposed mud, but I did notice that some of the berries appear to have been missing from the bush: a possible sign of bird visitations. Some cool observations: tons of lichen growing on rocks, beeches sprouting from the rocks, and tree growing around a metal sign!
Beeches, Beeches, Beeches
March 14, 2019 by kalantz