Catching up

As many folks have reminded me, there was much silence on the blog for the last month. That is not the result of lack of interest or lack of time spent at the Reservoir, but just plain old busy-ness. Add to that a broken digital camera, and several weeks spent away from New Concord, and what you get is a missing month. I did managed to get a few pictures from the late May nature walk hosted by Biologists Dr. Danny Ingold and Robin Densmore. Above is a picture of a water snake we found sunning itself on the old east bridge. Below is a more remarkable sight--an Eastern Painted Turtle discovered in the middle of egg-laying. The turtes come ten yards or so up from the water , dig a hole, and lay their eggs. If you see disturbed mounds of earth not far from the water in mid- to late spring, be careful not to tromp on them. Many of these eggs are uncovered by raccoon and other varmints before they ever hatch. But given the explosion in the population of Eastern Painted Turtles in the Reservoir in the last few years, many are managing to hatch and make it safely back to the water.