Pratt Farm and the Drought..

     I visited Pratt Farm at 4:00 PM today (Sunday, August 28th) and became aware of what our severe drought is doing.
     The first awareness was the absence of insects.  No insect availed itself of the meal at hand.  I saw two Dragonflies, and one Damselfly in an area two months before where there were hundreds.  I saw a grand total of two butterflies. All of the hardwoods have not regenerated their leaves, and was it my imagination, or were all the paths so much brighter than usual.  The large lake has become heavily infested with growth, probably 4/5 of it covered.  Three places on the trail, you can normally hear water, but only one had that wonderful sound.  I saw no Pink Lady Slippers, which were so numerous last year, but I may have been too late in the season.  And a lack of bird calls, one Chickadee, one Downy.  
      I fear we will lose an enormous amount of deciduous trees, and it may take years to regenerate what we have lost. 
      Here are some pictures from the walk.

The field before the pond.  Very small leafage, already beginning to change for the fall.

The growth on the pond.  

Looking up above the pond, the thinned leaves that won't grow back

without water.

Algae at one end

Some water flowing into the pond, but not much.

And a lot of leaves on the trail like this.

And, it seems so much brighter on the trail

You look up, and you see why.

Nice to capture one insect.

All most all the color seen on the hike

The Poison Ivy seems the exception!