December 8th, 2022 at 3 o’clock PM. Today’s weather was cloudy and cold, with a temperature around 38°F, but felt like 31°. The foliage of my site has dramatically changed since my initial visit to this location. All of the nearby trees are deciduous and have lost all of their leaves. (The fallen leaves in shades of red and brown are decomposing on the ground or caught in the branches of bushes). However, the coniferous trees in the distance have retained their needles. There are no persistent fruits anywhere and the grass remains on lone green vegetation on this site. While there is little evidence of wild animals in this area, there are dog tracks left in the mud alongside the brook. Speaking of, the brook’s flow has grow steadily stronger since my last visit, possibly due to the recent rain the past two days. This has allowed the bank to become muddy and the impression of the prints to hold. As this is my final phenology post of the semester and the year 2022, my favorite aspects of my phenology site have been the brook and the proximity to my friend’s site. The brook has been so cool to document throughout the seasons as it changed in speed and size, and brought many visitors to my site (human and animal included). It added an element of beauty to my site as well although the pictures don’t always do it justice. My friend’s site is down stream around a corner just out of sight, which I have also enjoyed because we have the ability to work separately on visits we schedule together. My least favorite thing about this assignment would be dealing with the weather, as I feel everything I have a plan to go a certain day to do my observations and take notes, that day ends up being uncharacteristically cold or rainy.
I noticed some oil possibly? gathering in indentations in the mud. This evidence of human activity and pollution was disheartening and made me wonder what could have caused it to be so deep into the woods.
