Sandy Bottom is a natural area in Hampton, VA. For this project, I looked at the wooded area of the park to compare to the meadow in Centennial Woods. One of the first things I noticed here was the amount of sound pollution from the nearby highway. While this was present in the meadow, it was much more prominent in Sandy Bottom. Even though this spot was composed of mostly over-story as opposed to the vegetation in the meadow, a lot of the tree species were similar to those in the surrounding Centennial Woods. I was able to identify White Oaks, Red Oaks, Eastern White Pines, American Beeches, Striped Maples, and Sugar Maples. I noticed that the oak leaves are much bigger than in Vermont (see below). The logs here were also covered in moss, something that I noticed was abundant in Centennial as well. Similar to the meadow, there were waterways in the area. I did not notice much wildlife other than a few squirrels. Regarding the phenology, the fall season is not quite as advanced as it is in Vermont. It was about 60ºF and many of the trees were still in their peak fall colors. Nonetheless, there was no shortage of leaf litter covering the ground. One other seasonal aspect that I noticed was that the sun did not set quite as early as it did up north.
Sandy Bottom Photo Gallery
