I paid my first visit to the UVLT Lyme Hill Conservation Area yesterday afternoon. I wasn’t expecting to see much so I just carried a camera with a “walk-around” lens—no tripod. I mostly wanted to take a quick look at this relatively new area that I knew connected to the wonderful trails along Grant Brook near the Connecticut River.
I studied the trail map at the kiosk and decided I only had time to hike to the wetland area. Lyme Hill itself and the trails to Grant Brook would have to wait for another visit. A short distance down the trail I could see a small brook well below me. It obviously drained with wetland and was a tributary of Grant Brook. I made a mental note to come back with a tripod when the slope wasn’t so slippery—there were some nice small falls that needed their picture taken.
Entering the woods I crossed the brook on a well-built bridge and climbed a hill. As I headed down the trail to the wetland, still slippery with the remains of the snow that our extensive January thaw hadn’t fully melted, a group of polypody ferns were glowing backlit on top of a large rock. These are one of the few ferns that grow in thin soil on rocks. In summer their spores are fun to photograph with a macro lens.
I love shooting into the sun, and these ferns were is an ideal situation. The background was far away and dark. Thus contrast was naturally very high, and shooting wide open the background would be blurred. Plus there was a handy young tree just to the left behind the ferns that I could use to keep the sun from hitting my lens and causing flare if I positioned my lens just right. When I see such a situation I grab the opportunity that is presented to me.
Farther down the trail a pair of large rocks (glacial erratics?) caught my attention. One glistened white while its neighbor was dark with interesting textures. I photographed the front one and then used it to brace my camera for a photo of the darker boulder.
I finally reached the wetland and surveyed the scene quickly. Nothing was moving. I made a few photos of the reflections in the water that had pooled on the rapidly softening ice.
I scanned with my camera. A beaver lodge on the far shore. Then a very long beaver dam. Then a “beaver” sitting on the ice looking at me! My first thought was actually “otter”, but with the lodge and dam I figured beaver. I squeezed off quite a few shots in 8 seconds before it slid out of sight though a small hole in the ice right in front of it. I figured it swam for the lodge because I never saw it again. It took a while but after getting some ID help I now realize I was fooled by its surroundings and I actually photographed a river otter.
The photos below show the otter with the beaver dam in the background and the beaver lodge.
I plan to go back many more times. Hopefully winter will return and snowshoes or xc-skis will be my mode of travel. I need to make it to the top of Lyme Hill and down to Grant Brook sometime soon. In spring the brook with its series of small falls should definitely be worth exploring.