Today’s blog is going to be a break in my main phenology spot. I had the chance to go back home over Thanksgiving break and I was excited to explore the nature close to my house. I live in the suburbs of Pennsylvania about 45 minutes outside of the city. There are many nature spots in my area that the community has access to. I decided to take a closer look at the woods next to my house.

About one summer ago the woods officially became apart of the Upper Moreland Township Park Systems. The name of the wood is Pioneer Woods. There is a small half mile trail that runs through the area. This natural area is surrounded by a mix of forested and impervious surfaces.

Immediately when I walked into the woods I noticed how baren and open it looked. The trees had mostly lost all of their leaves and I was able to see through to the houses that surround the area. In the summer and spring these houses normally aren’t visible which makes the woods appear bigger than it actually is.

I noticed that there wasn’t a lot of species covering the ground. The main floor species I noticed were a bunch of thorn bushes. I wasn’t able to identify exactly what species they were but the woods were covered in these. There were also wineberry bushes on the ground too.

There were many old growth trees in the area. I did not see too many sapping’s on the ground. I know that the area where my house used to be was a farm, so these species could have been planted after the farm was established. There were three amin species that I observed. The most dominate tree in the area was American Beech. These trees were very mature. These trees were very easy to identify. The sad part was that there was a lot of graffiti on the bark of the beeches.

So what I did next was look on the ground to see what leaves I could identify. I noticed white and red oak leaves. Then I found where the white oaks were located. These trees appeared to be in a healthy condition. The main difference between pioneer woods and my centennial woods location was the species of trees that live there. There were no coniferous trees in the Pennsylvania spot I visited, but just outside of the park there are pines and spruce that shoulder the road. An animal species that I saw more in my area was deer. Since being home I have seen large packs of about 6 deer each roaming around my neighborhood everyday. Here is a photo of the deer that I caught.

I love where I live in PA and I am so lucky to have a nature area that I can walk to. I have gained a deeper appreciation for this spot now that I know how to identify the patterns, pieces, and processes that happen within these areas. I can’t wait to visit again in the winter to see how the place has changes 🙂