Pond Meadow Park
New Phenology Location:
For my new location while I am home, I chose Pond Meadow Park in Braintree, Massachusetts since it is a short drive from where I live in Weymouth.
Vegetation and Wildlife at Pond Meadow:
While I visited my new location, I noticed a lot of similarities between my two locations. One of them being that the tree species were the same at Pond Meadow as the quarry. I saw an abundance of Eastern White Pine, Red and White Oak, Sugar Maple and Paper Birch. However Pond Meadow has a large pond in the middle of it that is home to a lot of wildlife including the North Atlantic Water Snake, Chipmunks, Squirrels, Rabbits, Bullfrogs, Canadian Geese and a variety of duck species. The wildlife here is very different compared to the Redstone Quarry because although it included a small body of water, I was not able to see any other wildlife besides Monarch Butterflies and some small birds. Pond Meadow also includes a wide range of walking/biking trails, unlike Redstone Quarry which only had one or two small paths.
In the spring, summer and fall months, Pond Meadow welcomes many visitors from around the neighboring towns that go there to have picnic, walk their dogs, exercise or just to enjoy the scenery. Pond Meadow is an especially popular place for people to go on small hikes during the warm weather. Most of the areas around where I live are pretty urbanized since I live close to Boston, which is very different from the abundance of natural areas in Burlington. However it is nice to be able to visit a natural area that is so close to me to reconnect with nature.