gus nature trail

8/9/2019 GUS Nature Trail

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Our Nature TrailBy The Fith Grade at Glen Urquhart School


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The AlleeBy Shauna and Ben

The Allee has a sign in the very beginning talking about

the nature trail. Then theres trees planted to make a path-way, which passes a large tree, that is un to climb on.

These trees are red cedars and were planted 100 years

ago. Ater the tree pathway stops on the let and the right

is the stream.

The Allee is very natural. It looks like it was a public

nature trail some time ago. The ground has a lot o soil.

There are a couple plants we ound in The Allee. We ound

a Wild Lily o the Valley. We also ound a Blackberry Lily in

The Allee. We also ound a bamboo stick in The Allee, but

we are assuming it was brought here because we could

not see any other bamboo in the nature trail.

Grass

Wild ginger

Inchworms

We ound 13 inchworms in The Allee. But in the picture you see

14 because Jacob gave us 1 to change the unlucky number. We

ound all o them in a pile o leaves. Inchworms are green, they

spend their whole lie as an inchworm. They are commonly

mistakenly thought to change into butteries, but they dont.

They can be harmul to plants because they eat leaves.


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We ound a piece o

bamboo

Here is the soil rom our

ground

Wild lily o the valley

Shaunas drawing o leaves,

owers and a ladybug

Bens drawing o bamboo

pine cone

We ound two little mouse

holes in the ground

Wild Lily o the Valley is also called

Canada Mayower. This ower covers

large areas. The plant usually has two

leaves with heart-shaped bases and

little white owers. The plant usually

grows two to eight inches in length.

Blackberry lily is not a lily but an iris. It

grows to a height o one to two eet in

the open woods. The Blackberry lily was

given its name rom its leaves that have

very small black berries in it.


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The Old Rose GardenBy Sabrina and Molly

The structure in the Old Rose Garden is rusty and old.

Maple trees grow through the structure. There are two oldconcrete benches, and one o them is broken. There are

rocks, pinecones and cut or allen trees in the area. The

structure is near a stream. There are many dierent types

o plants, like the tall grass in ront o the bench. There are

also a lot o erns. Right outside the area there are small

purple owers. There are other maple trees growing out-

side the structure.

This is a ern. Ferns such as this

grow in and outside o the Old

Rose Garden.

This spider is a Daddy Long

Legs. I caught it by getting the

two Petri dishes and moving

the spider in the other dish.

Sabrinas drawing o a plant

This is an upright yellow wood sorrel,

which also grows in and out o the Old

Rose Garden


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This is ground ivy, which grows

in and out on the ground o the

Old Rose Garden Mollys drawing o the ence

Rust rom old iron ence

Inchworms

pine cone

The Pergola

A pergola is a garden eature orming a shady passage.

It has pillars that support cross beams with an open

lattice. Plants grow up upon the lattice making the

path shady. A hundred years ago this old rose garden

was flled with bright colors. The garden was called the

Spaulding Gardens. Now a hundred years latter it still

stands but it has been weathered and is now covered

with a layer o red rust.


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The StreamBy Gabby and Shane

Our area is the stream. The stream is re-

ally interesting because it has lots o rocksand plants. There are also lots o animals

like scuds, rogs and tadpoles, and snakes.

The water comes in rom one side and

goes through a pipe to another side. The

water will eventually end up in the ocean.

The stream is shaped like a y and its really

pretty.

A stream is a very small river. Its dierent

rom a pond because a pond doesnt have a

current and a

stream does. The

creatures that live

in the stream are

rogs tadpoles,

water striders, and

scuds. There is a small

pipe connecting the

two streams so you can

walk by and go on

through the nature trail.

Rocks

Eastern garter snake


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American Toad

Mud

Earthworm

Gabbys drawing o thestream

Scud

Scuds are small crustaceans. They are very small and brown

grey and a little bit see through. They are very ast and hard to

catch. Most scuds live under or around rocks.

We ound a tadpole under a rock. A tadpole is a young

rog. He was way to ast or us to catch. He had legs!


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Flower

pine cone

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Bracket ungus on the allen tree

Flower petal

Inchworm

Moss

Jewel weed

What Lives in the Tree?

Living in and on the allen tree are moss, ants, slugs, and other

plants and bugs. The tree itsel is covered with ungus that

looks similar to elephant trunks. Surrounding it are smaller

logs, sticks, and poison ivy. The trunk is really thick and the

rings are huge, which means that it is really old.


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Between the RocksBy Nick and Chelsea

I you look closely at the rocks and maybe even lit

a ew you will notice some black tarp underneaththem. This tarp doesnt stop some creatures rom

lying on the rocks or hiding under them or protec-

tion. When we were observing this area there were

snakes, rogs, and even mice. The rocks looks just like

a bridge made up o big rocks and stones. I you look

closely at this neat area you can tell that it really is

like a bridge, and a nice warm spot or the animals. It

acts like a bridge because water ows underneath it.

Most o the things growing on the rocks are weeds

or types o grass.

Nick ound an American bullrog

This place was built or a way to walk to the big

feld rom the Nature Trail. It may have been built

there to serve as a dam to keep the stream or

pool rom expanding. The rocks consist o rock

(granite) to look like a small hill the water ows

through it or mostly under it. The small hill was

made in 2005 to 2007 (around that time). It is

very clean but at the bottom o it is a muddy pool

with rogs and small fsh. There are a ew types o

animals there like snakes and mice. Plants grow

there but there is a tarp under a layer o rocks soyou cant really fnd many plants there but you

have buttercups and little plants.


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Buttercup

Chelseas drawing o a plant

Nicks drawing o a plant

Dead wood

Bug on the Rocks

While on the rocks we ound a bug that lookedlike a little black and white mosquito. This bug

played dead or a little while. We sketched the

bug and then let it alone.

In our area we ound three garter snakes.

They were warming themselves in the sun


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The SwampBy Jacob and Julia

The swamp is a muggy, wet place. A small little stream

runs through it that has a muddy bottom and dark butclear water. The land around it has green plants and

rocks. Underneath the rocks are colonies o dierent

kinds o insects. The swamp has plants that you might

not know about like the Stinging Nettle. There are a

couple o allen trees crossing the stream. Some o the

trees are very rail and will all

down in the next ew years.

The swamp may not look alive

but it hides many lives.

Bullrog tadpoles turning into rogs

Tadpoles

Tadpoles are small creatures who live in

the water. The frst stage o their lives

is in an egg; the second stage is a small

little tadpole, the third stage is growing

legs and losing their tail. The last stage otheir lie is being a rog.

Lie cycle o a rog

American bullrog


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Stinging nettle

Tiger slug

Jacobs drawing o a leaStinging Nettles are plants that live around swampsand in orests. When you touch it you get a painul

stinging eeling wherever you touched it. It leaves a

red rash and a dot the looks like a bug bite on your

skin. The leaves have little hairs sticking out all over.

These are the hairs that sting you.

Dead y

Spring salamander

Drawing o salamander by Julia

Salamanders

Salamanders live in the swamp. They are mostly slimy. Theyare slimy because they stay in the water a lot o their lives.

They live in resh water and love to be under rocks and

even sunning themselves sometimes. I they stay out o the

water or too long they could dry up and die. You can fnd

salamanders under rocks, in streams, lakes and swamps.

Salamanders have our legs and a lot o them have very long

tails. Salamanders look a lot like lizards but there is actually

a big dierence.


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The PondBy Cristina and Elise

The pond is one o the eatures on the GUS Nature

Trail. The pond is surrounded by a lot o rocks. It haslittle plants growing at the edge. When it is not rain-

ing, the pond is about seven inches in depth. When

it is raining it is probably about nine inches in depth.

Usually the pond is a light blue color. Ater it rains it

is a dark and spooky blue color. The pond has little

critters swimming around.

Plants

Soil rom pond


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Cristinas drawing

Elises drawing

The beore picture which is on the top shows

the pond as a lighter blue color and without a

dam. The ater picture, sketched a day ater

rain shows the pond as a darker blue which

is on the bottom, and there was no dam built

rom the water ow.

Water Spider

Water spiders oat on top o the water.

They oat belly side down. You can see up

to fve on a sunny day, but possibly none

when it is cold and rainy. They are very

ast and hard to catch because they hop

around quickly.

What is a Pond?

A pond is a body o water smaller than a lake.

Some ponds are man-made whereas others

are ormed naturally. A pond diers rom a

stream simply because a stream is moving

liquid whereas a pond is more or less just

a large puddle. At our pond at GUS there

are mainly just water spiders. In addition, o

course, there are probably tons o microscopic

animals supplying ood or larger animals.


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The Maple TreeBy Margaret and Bailey

Sam is a big sugar maple tree. Every winter, our

school collects sap rom the maple tree to beturned into GUS Maple Syrup. The frst step in

collecting sap is fnding the perect place or

drilling your hole. The next step is drilling a hole.

The hole has to be about 1-1 inches deep and

over three eet o the

ground. Next, you

insert the spile, which

is a round object with

an opening rom the

sap to pour into the

bucket. Next, you

hang the bucket onto

the hook attached to

the spile. Ater you

have fnished setting

up, check your bucket

daily to see how much

your antastic project is growing!

Sugar maple leaves

Margarets drawing o a salamander

This amazing creature is called a Mud Salamander.

This amphibian ranges rom 3-8 inches in

length. It has black spots but can sometimes

grow without spots. The Mud Salamander

has brown eyes.

drilling hole to collect maple sap sap buckets

This is a Wild Lily o the

Valley lea that grows

everywhere in the spring.

The Latin name or this

plant is Maianthemum

Canadense.


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Sugar maple tree lea

changing color

Time ater time, Sams leaves start to all to the ground.

The leaves turn brown and start to get very delicate andcan easily be torn.

Sams bark has rough edges.

Moss grows on the bark.

The area around Sam has dierent plants and many animals. We

ound slugs, worms, beetles, and many other animals. Poison Ivy

grows near Sam as well as many other plants. Humans use Sam or

maple sugaring in the winter. Sam is near a tiny stream. There are

holes in Sam and thats rom maple sugaring.

Sam the maple trees leaves change all

year round. In the all the leaves all o,

and are green or some time. In the spring

and summer theyre green. In the winter

they use Sam or Maple sugaring and Sam

has no leaves in the winter.

The alse Solomons seal

is rom the Lily amily.

This amazing plant has six

leaves on it and is green.


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The CliBy Amanda, Hannah and Nicky

The area that weve been studying is the Cli. The Cli

is the largest area on the Nature Trail. The ace o theCli is rocky and steep. There are very ew live trees

surrounding the cli due to the Woolly Adelgid beetle.

There are also many allen rocks on the ground. You

will see several trees and plants growing out o the cli.

Plants on the Rocks

Large, strong plants such as trees push their way through the

rock, usually making a big crack in the process. Trees are usually

leaning outward rom their crack in the rock, sometimes almostcompletely horizontally, or the tree grows out horizontally and

then curves upwards. Smaller plants, such as erns, use their roots

to latch onto the rock and dirt on the cli. The roots are longer

than they normally would be so that they can reach the moisture

beneath the rock. The plants roots weather, or break down, the

rock over time.

Nuts

Birds Nest

This is a birds nest. It is probably

or a small bird like a robin. The bird

made it by weaving sticks, twigs, and

grass together.

Black capped

chickadee

American robin


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Mosquito

Inchworms

Spider

Wild lily o the valley

Gray squirrel

Moss

Hannahs drawing

o a ern

Amandas drawing o a

ern

Ferns by the cliff

On the cli there are many erns. Ferns normally grow in groups

in the orest and by rocks. Ferns vary rom many dierent sizes.

There are several thousand ern species ound all around the

world. Ferns are the most primitive plants to have developed a

true vascular system. A vascular system carries the sap or blood

through the animal or plant.


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Eastern HemlocksBy Nicholas and Brooks

The Eastern Hemlocks lie near The Cli. They are

tall and thin. Like all evergreens they are around allseason. One could identiy a hemlock by looking at

the underside o the needles. They have

a white stripe on the bottom that is unique

to hemlocks. The Wooly Adelgid Beetle has

inected most o the hemlocks in

the north.

Hemlock needles, ater

inection, are

totally white.

Hemlocks on the Nature Trail

Dead branch

Inchworm

Inchworms are a thriving species

o insects. They are all over New

England


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Infected

This branch is inected by

the Wooly Adelgid Beetle,

and i the beetle does not

get eaten or killed by a

spray, the tree it will diewithin 5 years

Healthy branch

Wooly Adelgid Beetle on

Eastern Hemlock branch

Microscopic view o

Wooly Adelgid Beetle

Wooly Adelgid Beetle

You have arrived at the hemlock section o the wood.

Now come look at the bottom o the needles. What do

you see? Are the needles all white (not with some green

poking through)? That white is caused by the Wooly

Adelgid Beetle, which is a beetle that is attacking the

hemlocks o the north. When the Wooly Adelgid Beetle

attacks a tree, the attacked tree will die within 5 years.

Now look again a little more closely. Do you see thewhite u on the bottom o the needles? Well, i you

do that is the beetle! Do you see the tiny black spots?

Those are the predators.

Nicholas sketch o inected and healthy hemlock


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The SwampBy Jacob and Julia

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Bullrog tadpoles turning into rogs

Lie cycle o a rog

The Rock WallBy Luke and David

Rock walls were used during the colonial era as

borders or cemeteries, pastures, vegetable felds,and animal pens. The usual height o a stone wall

was 4 t. It was usually 4 t. high to hold large

animals. A lot o states made it so that the armers

had to make a standard height because neighbors

were mad that animals were escaping. Beverly

Farms once had many arms and perhaps

this stone wall 100 years ago

was an animal pen.

The rock wall is a unique

place on the nature trail.

Though it may have been

previously used by armers,

it is now a shelter or many

small animals.Plants growing on rocks

Some o the animals we collected were slugs. We

ound the slugs under a loose rock in the wall.

When we caught them, we put the slugs in a

Petri dish. One tried to escape because we didnt

have a lid. Later, two slugs escaped and one evenmade it out o the bin. Then we put the slugs in

jars. The slugs ate the leaves we

got or them, and attempted to

drown a centipede and mite

we caught. When it was time

or the photo shoot, one o

the slugs wouldnt come

out. Ater the photo shoot,

when we were releasing

them, another slug wasstuck to the side. Eventually,

I got the slug out. The slugs

were the most un animals

we collected.


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Salamander

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Dry stone wall

Plants

Pillbug

Davids drawing

o a plant

Lea rubbing

Whats on the Rock Wall?

Over time, lichen, and other plants have grown

on the rock wall. The moss and lichen that have

grown on it help it blend in with its surround-

ings. Under the rocks there are centipedes, slugs,

mites, inchworms, and some pieces o hay. The

rock wall is also short and at. These things make

the rock wall unique.

Pill Bugs are a type o woodlice. They usually

eat decaying vegetation. You can fnd these

bugs around the world.


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Using natural materials gathered rom thenature trail on our schools campus, fth

graders at Glen Urquhart with their teach-

er Lindsey Kravitz, designed this book to

showcase their fndings.

gus nature trail

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