Menhaden were back in Cuttyhunk harbor this summer, and that was good news to Capt. Bruce Borges. Pogies, as they are called, make great bait for catching striped bass. As a lobsterman, Captain Borges, 74, hasn’t seen much good news along the waterfront in recent years. There are fish out there but it’s a different story for lobsters, and that has made this summer especially challenging for Mr. Borges, who calls himself the last lobsterman on Cuttyhunk.

The Vineyard birders predicted storm driven birds to land on our shores. Our wish came true. Hurricane Irene brought the Vineyard a group of unusual birds, two vagrants and a few that we expect sooner or later in the fall.

“Going to the beach and ignoring the wrack line is like going to Disney World and looking only at the parking lot.” So said Ed Perry — naturalist, park ranger, writer and lover of sea beans — in Cathie Katz’ book, The Nature of Florida’s Beaches.

The sun streamed into the horse barn at the Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Hall yesterday morning, with a crisp blue sky in the background and the trees only moving slightly in a light breeze. It was a far departure from the day before when intense winds lashed across the Vineyard as tropical storm Irene passed over the Island.

Martha’s Vineyard lost a lot of sand from its beaches, a lot of limbs from its trees, and electricity for varying periods, but otherwise came through Hurricane Irene largely unscathed.

The exception was along the south shore, where erosion brought several homes disturbingly closer to the ocean. Chilmark building inspector Leonard Jason confirmed that one house has become precarious.