A group of around 40 kids and adults pretending they were kids explored a vernal pool on Greensboro Ridge Saturday with Craig Layne. The hike was sponsored by the Hanover Conservancy.
We followed Oli’s Eagle Trail north a short distance before turning west and crossing a small stream.
When we reached the vernal pool, Craig put some water in a plastic tray, retrieved a trap he had previously set, and dumped the contents of the trap into the tray.
The tray was immediately surrounded by gleeful kids.
The kids had no qualms about holding the slimy wood frogs and spotted salamanders.
Meanwhile, some of the adults surrounded the pool.
We learned that the most basic characteristic of a vernal pool is the absence of fish.
After a while Craig asked the kids to return all but one of each species to the pool.
The Hanover Conservancy had a few laminated cards to hand out. I did not get one, but I took a photo of one.
Craig spotted a cadisfly feeding on some spotted salamander eggs. He extracted it from the pool so we could examine it.
Craig put the cadisfly and some insect larvae in plastic containers so they could be studied with a small magnifier.
While taking the photos I made a number of loops around the pool. Here is my track.
Here are some of the other photos I took during this interesting and exciting hike.
