Just before noon on Thursday, the Gay Head Light departed the spot where it has stood for 159 years. The Island’s oldest lighthouse is now slowly headed for its new home about 175 feet from the eroding clay cliffs.

You can see wintercress, known also as yellow rocket, rocket cress and wound rocket, flowering now.

The first young birds born this year are leaving their nests and making their appearance.

The Gay Head Light move is now expected to begin around mid-day Thursday, project managers for the relocation project said today. Favorable soil and weather conditions and the fine-tuned coordination of contractors working at the site has put the project well ahead of schedule.

Aquinnah and Chilmark selectmen are taking steps to reestablish the town line that runs through Menemsha Pond. Ice floes this winter wiped out four pilings in the pond, including two that marked the town line.

Less than four months after voters approved a major restoration plan for Squibnocket Beach, the Chilmark selectmen have acquired two properties near the beach, where the plan calls for a new parking lot and a new access road to the homes at Squibnocket Farm.