Yesterday we went out to collect some larch cones for our colleague and while we were at the Perryvale fen, this big fellow above (a Darner of some sort) found us and visited for a while. You would be surprised at how difficult it is to find larch cones with seeds still in them. Or more likely, this is not something that enters your thoughts at all. Smaller easier-to-get-to trees aren't producing very many cones, while the big trees produce their cones closer to the top. We spent a few hours man-handling and pulling trees over trying to get enough and then finally I took a bow saw to a big one.... from the looks of the rings, it was definitely over 60 years old. Success.
That particular fen was surprisingly dry and stressed even with all this rain of late, and it is a site where we study the effects of drought. We stopped measuring carbon fluxes from there a few years ago as it seemed to be recovering from the prolonged droughts, but from the looks of it, we might want to revisit. It was definitely stressed and the mosses were decidedly unhappy.
And so with that final send off trip out to an old site, I am now Homeward Bound! Hoping for smooth travels and comfortable temps back home. It will be good to be back.
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