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| Branford
Meadows by Carol Lemmon (Summer 1999) |
| Meadows
are a valuable and highly diverse habitat, with a huge variety of plants
and wildlife to be found in them. The Land Trust's Van Wie and Partnership
meadows are no exception. These meadows, just now, are alive with dragonflies,
grasshoppers, katydids, crickets, tiger beetles, and butterflies. Rabbits,
woodchucks, fox, deer, coyotes, raccoons, skunks, opossums and a myriad
of shrews, mice and voles utilize these meadows for food and shelter. Wildflowers
follow each other, creating a spectacular show. Milkweeds, daisy fleabanes,
black-eyed Susans, and Canada and bull thistles succeed riotous displays
of daisies. Early goldenrods are now teasing us with a glimpse of what will
later be a striking array of golden fields. Rushes, sedges and sensational
flowering grasses capture the sunlight and remind us of the tales that spoke
of spinning straw into gold. The cacophony of bird song surrounding the
meadows blends with the rhythmic buzz of cicadas.
Meadows are also vanishing from Connecticut as old farms are sold for development or allowed to revert to forest. In 1998, the Land Trust applied for and received a WHIP (Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program) contract to maintain our fields for the plants and animals that depend on them. The contract will pay for most of the cost of mowing and other maintenance of the Hammer, Partnership and Van Wie meadows for the next 10 years. Land Trust members and high school and middle school students volunteered at work parties last fall to remove non-native invasive plant species on the Partnership and Hammer meadows, and more are planned for later this year. To make the Partnership meadow better able to support butterflies, three types of nectar plants (butterfly weed, swamp milkweed and flat-topped white aster) were planted. These attract many species of butterfly to their flowers, and are the larval food source for the Monarch butterfly. The flat-topped aster is the sole larval food source for the Harris' Checkerspot butterfly, a rare species whose requirement for this specific plant contributes to its endangered status. The Partnership meadow has also received both a blue bird house and kestrel house. Three additional kestrel houses have been built and will be erected soon in other Land Trust meadows. Four bluebird houses were erected at the Van Wie meadow. Within just one day, blue birds laid claim to one of them. Chicks did hatch from the eggs, but lack of monitoring only leaves us hoping they fledged safely. Currently this house contains bluebird eggs for a second brood. Two of the other houses have fledged tree swallow chicks. Their aerial acrobats are a joy to watch as they swoop through the air eating deerfly, mosquitoes and other pests. The fourth house has a nest of heavy wood twigs that is built right up to the entrance hole. The door used for cleaning out old nesting material isn't flexible enough for us to get a look at what bird might be currently nesting there. We'll have to visit more often to try and catch a parent at the nest. We hope you too will visit these wonderful meadows. But remember that ticks are among the wildlife that abound in these fields, so dress appropriately and check yourself when you get home. |