NEABSCO CREEK BOARDWALK - FIVE YEARS SINCE OUR LAST VISIT - PART 3

I found this post I had been working on, and forgotten until now. The last few photos from Neabsco a few weeks ago, and of a town we drive through on the way home. I have links and if you would like to know more, you can click on their names.

Common Elderberry

Chinese Bush Clover

Allegheny Blackberry

Common Ragweed

Red Clover

That's all for the plants from that day. The others I took on our way home.

We drove through the town of Clifton. There are historical signs outside of many of the homes. The place was quite crowded as there had been a race that day and everyone was finishing up. Cars were parked all up and down the main road. I took a couple of photos of what I could between cars. The photo above is of the Wright House, built in 1941 by a gangster(?) Gangster’s name was not mentioned on the sign and I got my information from this website. Local craftsmen used stone mined from a quarry near Robey's Farm on Chapel road. the house featured the first full indoor bathroom in town.  

I remember one of the homes had a connection to The Titanic. I mentioned it in a Halloween post here. It will show you the picture of their house with information.  It said: "Huckbill 1902 - built by H. Longley.  Oscar Woody, who was a member of the railroad and sea postal services, bought the house in 1910. He was on duty on board the Titanic when she went down on his 41st birthday. He was buried at sea on April 24th, 1912."  His is quite a story and you can read it at this link.

You can see my other posts on Clifton as we have driven through it and visited many times. It is a fun place to take visitors too. You can click here to weave through them. I took photos of the historical markers in front of several homes.

Thanks for looking, and 

enjoy your day.

NEABSCO CREEK BOARDWALK - FIVE YEARS SINCE OUR LAST VISIT - PART 2

These are the signs in the parking lot and we looked at them before we began our walk.

I was curious about the name 'Neabsco', and we thought it was probably from the language of the indigenous people who lived in the area before the first English colonists arrived.  'Neabsco’ is derived from a Doeg village recorded as Niopsco by those early English colonists.

What I like about this boardwalk is that it is wider than most I have walked along, at 10 feet wide and 3,300 feet long. It has a two-level observation deck, a single-level observation deck and three overlooks. The decks and overlooks provide opportunities for outdoor classroom use, so that's nice to know.  I am assuming, however, that these classes are to do with nature and learning about the area, offered by the park authority. Or perhaps there are schools who take students on outings. Whatever the reason I would much rather be outside learning something than surrounded by walls.Weather permitting of course and couldn't see it happening with rain, snow or extreme heat and heavy humidity (speaking as not a stalwart). 

The following plant is a Wineberry, botanical name Rubus phoenicolasius. It is native to northeast Asia but has been naturalized both in Europe and North America as an ornamental plant, introduced to the eastern shores of the U.S. in the late 1800s, as a breeding stock for cultivating new varieties of berries. 

It is edible and the berries have been mistaken for blackberries and raspberries as these berries are also made up of clusters of small bright red berries. On closer inspection you will notice the plant's stem is covered in thick, stiff, red hairs, and these identify it as a wineberry, along with the reddish appearance of its stems caused by those dense red hairs. It also has silvery underleaf surfaces. And there you have it, a Wineberry. It is also found throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey and the Delaware Valley. Not only for humans but deer, chipmunks, box turtles and birds all enjoy. Bears will gorge on them, as will many other mammals no doubt. 

We are approaching the entrance to the boardwalk.

Since we were here the first time, these designs have been added to each gate.

As soon as we entered we noticed on our right there were a group of friends who were fishing. They seemed to be quietly enjoying themselves.  No fishing is allowed from the boardwalk.

Just beyond the fishermen was the scene in the photo below, a cropped version. There seem to be beavers here as on the left of the above photo, we could make out a beaver dam. 

On the other side of the boardwalk is this scene.

That evening when I was looking at the photos on my laptop, I was just saying that we couldn't get a photo of any of the birds. We saw them flitting from tree to tree, even hopping around in the undergrowth, but we were not able to get a photo of any feathered friend.  As I looked at the photo above I saw a splash of red, and cropped it to get a clearer look. It was a male cardinal. It is something at least.

We did get our doggy fix for the day. This little pup was heading towards us. As soon as they got close, pup started pulling on his leash, tugging hard and eager to say hello. The lady kept a tight hold as I suspect she was afraid he would jump all over us and she was trying to calm him down.  (He looks like an Australian Shepherd.) 

We tried to allay her fears by letting her know we didn't mind at all. We would have interacted with pup, but we could see the lady was concerned he might be too much for us. We smiled, said hello and left them so that pup would stop tugging so hard.  But I ask you, would you look at that face? So adorable! I'm sure he will eventually be much calmer when meeting other humans. I think this was perhaps part of his training session. He was learning how to explore the world around him.

Dear little pup! They were leaving the boardwalk, training session over with.  We continued our walking.

Here's Gregg and you can see how nice this boardwalk is.  It is very well maintained. 

A photo of the two of us. This is where we had decided the humidity was too much and turned back. We had quite a long way to go before getting back to our car.

It was a lovely walk and I hope it won't be another five years before we get back. In our last photo we were heading home.

Thanks for coming along with us 

and I hope your day is a great one!

NEABSCO REGIONAL PARK - WE FOUND A NEW PLACE TO WALK

We had heard about Neabsco Regional Park in Woodbridge a few weeks ago. It is another place we found not too far from home, a 40 to 45-minute car ride.  I had read about it in one of my online magazines.  Last Sunday we decided that this would be a fun place to take a walk.  You can also read an article in the Prince William Times if you click on this link.

The park is practically brand new, having only been open since June 1st of this year.  It is a work in progress but a wonderful place for a walk, and includes the Julie J. Ketz Wetlands, the Rippon Lodge historic property and the Rippon Landing Neighborhood Park. The boardwalk itself is three-quarters of a mile long, ten feet wide and is elevated well above the marsh.  There is also a two-story observation deck.I noticed something hovering as soon as I stepped on the boardwalk.  My first thought was that it must have been a bird.  It was way up here and hard to make out.  After looking for a few minutes I realized it was a drone.  This was the first I had actually seen.  I recognized it thanks to looking at them on sale in the camera section of several shops, and all the advertising they get elsewhere.  Other people were in the area but none seemed to be holding a remote control device, or even interested in what was above them.  So the owner was a mystery and it left me wondering what range they have.

At the beginning of the boardwalk I looked to my left down a waterway, and could see several Egrets and at least one Great Blue Heron.  Too far for a decent photo but it was fun to look for a while.We saw a large flock of Red-wing Blackbirds flying low in the distance, about a hundred of them, recognized by lightning flashes of red on the wing.  I have never seen so many of these birds in one place.  A safe haven for them obviously, and I didn't even attempt a photo as I knew they would be too far away.  Tiny specks if they showed up in frame at all, but still fun to see that many tiny specks swarm across the wetlands and disappear into the rushes.

We were impressed with how well made the boardwalk was.  Gregg inspected it pretty thoroughly, right down to the rail where it had been smoothed and rounded off.

We passed other people, and noticed that dogs were allowed also.  Not sure how long this will last, wondering about the well-being of surrounding wildlife, but it was nice to see them.  Dogs aren't allowed onto the boardwalk at Huntley Meadows, but there would be a safety issue as the boardwalk there is much narrower, and also there are no safety railings (well I almost got that cute dog in full frame).   

As this place is brand new, and there are those safety issues taken care of that I mentioned, and if the owner's are responsible, it would be nice to see a dog or two.  But then I am a dog person. I could see no rules posted but may have missed them.  We are also in another county, so perhaps things are done differently here.  We'll have to see as time goes on.

The boardwalk connects to the area's tidal wetlands and wildlife habitats such as fox, deer, muskrat, beaver, herons, egrets, ospreys, eagles, hawks, snakes, as well as fish and other birds, like those Red-wing blackbirds that we saw.  Also critters like the one in the photo below.  I spotted it when I looked over that nice, smooth rail. I thought perhaps a Handsome Meadow Katydid and the closest to its ID was here.  What confused me was the touch of red on its head, back and legs.  I haven't seen one like it before.  Any help with a correct identification would be appreciated.

There were also lots of butterflies and some actually stayed long enough for a photo.

A female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail and the pink flowering plant they are enjoying is Swamp Milkweed.

Gregg took this photo of a Great Blue Skimmer.

Other wildflowers seen, plenty of these Green-headed Coneflowers, with the added bonus of a tiny Skipper on the left-hand side of my photo.  Thanks to blogging and reading my plant books, I know quite a few but I sometimes forget what I have learned and need a refresher.  I am getting a lot of help with identifying plants thanks to a new app called Picture This - Plant Identifier.  My next step is to compare what they tell me on Google, and I also go back to my nature books.

The following photo shows a purple plant that is called New York Ironweed (also called Tall Ironweed).  It has lots of medicinal uses, and for centuries it was used to treat many health issues by the Native Americans, particularly the Cherokee.  They brewed teas from the leaves.  The roots from the plant were often used to treat mouth and stomach related problems.  You can read a lot more information if you go to this link.  I know many plants were used for medicinal purposes, but am no authority on such things.  Interesting to read about though.

This lovely blooming plant is called the Swamp Rose Mallow (Hibiscus moscheutos).  I also found four of my favorite things on one blog (yes I know I have a lot of favorites), a Great Blue Heron, Swamp Mallow and the Handsome Meadow Katydid.  They are outstanding photographs, all taken at one of those favorite places, Huntley Meadows, by its host Michael Q. Powell.  Love checking things out online and fun to discover new blogs.  The Swamp Mallow has an interesting seed pod.

Behind me in the distance you can just make out the boardwalk where we were a few minutes before.  It was hot and humid so I had to wear my sunhat.  I was very glad I had carried a flask of water for us in my backpack.

We looped around and made our way back to the car.

 It was a fun walk and well worth the visit.

We are both looking forward to going again sometime.

A collage of photos shown below.  Not all of my family and friends read my blog, so I make these to include in an e-mail, or print out for snail mail as we lovingly call it these days.