Nature & Science
Temperature: Precip.
Day Max. Min. Inches.
Fº Fº
April 8 50 28 .00
April 9 50 28 .00
April 10 53 32 .00
April 11 58 39 .01
April 12 52 46 .01
April 13 62 44 1.45
April 14 56 43 1.40
Water temperature in Edgartown harbor: 50º F.
The Polly Hill Arboretum has appointed Alyssa Janilla as their 2011 collections management intern. This nine-month internship is intended as an opportunity for interns to gain valuable hands-on experience as they embark on their horticultural careers.
Peat and re-peat.
This spring, many gardeners will be doing just that to prepare their garden beds and landscaped areas for the season. However, one might want to ask whether this treatment is advantageous or even necessary.
I brought a package of the ubiquitous, plastic-wrapped square of peat last weekend to add to my garden. In retrospect and after a bit of research, it appears that I might not have needed it.
T. S. Eliot wrote that “April is the cruelest month,” and he was right about the first part of April if you are a birder. In short, lots of winter birds have begun to leave or have left, and few of our summer residents have arrived. In part, the slow arrival of many breeding species has to do with the ocean. Its water is still colder than the land, in the low 40s. Thus any breeze flowing over it drops the temperature on the Island, whereas 40 miles inland the first leaves are beginning to come out in sheltered spots. Out here there are frost bottoms in the state forest where leaves do not appear until mid-June, and occasionally some rhododendrons are still in bloom for the Fourth of July.
Caitlin Borck has joined Mass Audubon at Felix Neck as the new seasonal coastal waterbird and citizen science coordinator.
She earned her master’s of science degree in biology with an emphasis in applied ecology at eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, Ky., and her bachelor of science degree in biology from the University of Findlay with an emphasis in wildlife management. She worked for two summers on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers in western Kentucky studying endangered interior least terns.
The moon has appeared higher in our western sky over the last few days. Tonight, the crescent moon appears in the zodiacal constellation Taurus, a constellation we associate with winter but now only appears for a short time at the end of the day and the start of night.
Almanac
A comprehensive guide to weather and tides on the Island.
Vineyard Gardener
I guess this past week weather-wise is called a January thaw. We did not really experience it the last several years as December was unseasonably warm.
Farm & Field
Beige and brown and tan and black, with horns spiraled or semicircular or in undulating waves, a legion of goats marched up the hill toward us, bleating in anticipation of fresh grass and leaves.