By a Swamp
November 30, 2019 by New Hampshire Garden Solutions
Last Sunday was a beautiful but chilly day at about 30 degrees F. After almost two weeks of cold weather I thought I’d visit a local beaver swamp to see how they were doing. If beavers haven’t stored enough food underwater before their ponds freeze they can be in serious trouble, and this year the ponds have frozen earlier than average.
What might look like water is actually ice; very smooth ice, but also thin. I walked out on it and didn’t get too far before it started creaking and cracking, so I quickly returned to shore.
There is a trail of sorts that leads a little way around the swamp. There were lots of fallen trees out here but they were caused by wind and old age, not beavers.
This one broke off about 10 feet up, making it a challenge for a chainsaw. Widow makers they call these, and for good reason.
Stone walls tell me someone used to live out here and farm this land before the beavers took it over. Nobody did the back breaking labor of clearing stones from the land unless it was absolutely necessary, so this wall wasn’t built here for the fun of it. I’m guessing it probably dates from the late 1700s to early 1800s. Many farmers went off to work in factories in the mid-1800s after the industrial revolution and gave up farming, and their pastures slowly returned to forest.
Vinca (Vinca minor) is one of the plants you often find near old stone walls and cellar holes. Others are wild roses, lilacs and peonies. All were passed from one neighbor to another. This colony is one of the largest stands of vinca I’ve seen and it still grows and blooms beautifully after hundreds of years. The word vinca means “to bind” in Latin, and that’s what the plant’s wiry stems do.
I was going to say that there wasn’t a cloud in the sky but there was one shy one hiding behind some trees.
Not all the water here was frozen. This is a seep, which happens when ground water reaches the surface. They are like puddles that never dry up and they don’t flow like a stream or brook. In my experience they don’t freeze either, even in the coldest weather. They are always good to look at closely, because many unusual aquatic fungi like eyelash fungi and swamp candles call them home. They’re also an important water source for many small animals and birds.
Stilted trees grow from seeds that fall on a rotted log or stump and grow their roots around the stump or log. Once the stump or log rots away what is left is a tree that looks like it’s standing on stilts. The strange thing about this stilted tree though, is how it grew over a stone. I don’t see them do that very often. I’m guessing that, probably over centuries, enough leaves fell on that stone to eventually turn into humus. Enough at least for a tree seed to sprout.
This is more what I’d expect from a stilted tree. Whatever it grew on has rotted into the soil and now it looks like it’s running away.
This beaver pond has two beaver lodges in it and this is one of them. I don’t know if that means there are two families of beavers or if one family uses both lodges. Beavers will move into a place, dam a stream to make a pond, and cut all the nearby trees and then move on. Their pond will eventually drain and new trees will start to grow, and then they will move back again to repeat the cycle. I’ve read that it takes about thirty years to go once around the cycle. I’m not sure what stage of the cycle this pond is in but I’ve never seen freshly cut trees here.
There are lots of standing deadwood here and that usually means it’s a good place for great blue herons to nest. I’ve seen the big birds fishing here but I’ve never seen one of their huge nests in any of the trees. What struck me most about this place was the quiet. I heard a bird or two but for the most part it was absolutely still, and that’s a rare and wonderful thing.
Here was a sign of beavers. I think that dark line of ice was made by beavers trying to keep their channel from freezing. But freeze it did, later than the rest of the pond, and that means thinner, darker ice.
Much of the ice was made up of large crystals.
Leaves were frozen into the ice in places and they were white with rime.
Scratches on a tree were too small for a bear. I’d guess it was a bobcat because I found wild turkey wings very close to this spot one day. Bobcats are one of the most common predators of wild turkeys. According to the New Hampshire Department of Fish and Game “Based on observation reports occurring over the previous 20 years, bobcat numbers appear to have increased in New Hampshire. They take advantage of environmental conditions, such as winter snow depth, to kill large prey, such as deer and turkey.”
Seeing green goldthread leaves was enough to have me longing for spring, even though winter hasn’t yet arrived. Goldthread (Coptis trifolia) gets its common name from its bright yellow, thread like roots. Native Americans showed early colonists how to chew the roots to relieve the pain of canker sores and that led to the plant being called canker root. It became such a popular medicine that the Shakers were paying 37 cents per pound for dried roots in 1785 and people dug up all they could find. At one time more goldthread was sold in Boston than any other plant, and of course that meant the plant came close to being lost. Two centuries of being left alone have brought healing to Goldthread though, and today I see the tiny but beautiful white flowers quite regularly in April.
Many mosses will grow on wood, stone or soil and delicate fern moss (Thuidium delicatulum) is one of them. Delicate fern moss is a beautiful little thing that isn’t as delicate as its name implies, but it certainly is fern like. The leaves of this moss are often bright yellow green in fall and are dull rather than shiny. It is fairly common and easy to find because it often forms very large mats. It grew on many of the logs here.
American wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens,) is also called teaberry or checkerberry and it is the first wild plant that I learned to identify, with the help of my grandmother. We used to love to eat the bright red minty tasting berries. It’s probably the easiest of all wintergreens to identify because of the strong, minty scent that comes from its crushed leaves. If you have ever tasted teaberry gum then you know exactly what it smells and tastes like. The plant contains compounds that are very similar to those found in aspirin and Native Americans used it much like we use aspirin. Its leaves often turn purple as the nights get colder, as these plants show. The name teaberry comes from a pleasing tea that can be made from the leaves. Squirrels, chipmunks, mice, grouse, partridges, bobwhites, turkeys, fox, deer and bears eat the berries.
There is a much studied phenomenon called the Red Bark Phenomenon, and scientists have devoted much time studying trees with colored bark all over New England. It isn’t always red; it can be orange as well. It affects all kinds of trees, both conifers and deciduous, and many different species. I’ve seen it here and there on tree bark and after a lot of research a few years ago I found that it was caused by the algae Trentepohlia, which is a genus of filamentous chlorophyte green algae in the family Trentepohliaceae It appears on tree trunks, stones and is even present in many lichens. So if you see a tree with red bark there isn’t anything wrong. It’s just algae looking for a place to perch.
Hope and the future for me are not in lawns and cultivated fields, not in towns and cities, but in the impervious and quaking swamps. ~Henry David Thoreau
Thanks for stopping in.
Posted in Nature, Scenery / Landscapes, Things I've Seen | Tagged American Wintergreen, Beaver Lodge, Beaver Swamp, Canon EOS Rebel T6, Checkerberry, Delicate Fern Moss, Dry Stone Walls, Goldthread, Ice Crystals, Keene, Native Plants, Nature, New Hampshire, NH, Olympus Stylus TG-870, Red Bark Phenomenon, Stilted Tree, Swanzey New Hampshire, Tree Scratches, Vinca Minor, Widow Makers, Winter Hiking, Winter Woods | 25 Comments
I can admire Vinca as a ground cover but it does seem to be fairly invasive.
It can be. If it finds a place it likes it can grow into huge colonies over a century or so.
It looks cold, but beautiful there in your area. Always an educational post!
Winter has arrived early here, too. We have had a number of mornings in the low 20s now, and it did not get above the mid 30s today. Birds are feeding on any apples left behind on the trees, drilling conical holes that fill with water. There are beaver in the area, but what might be a nutria based on the description was sighted recently by a neighbor. I haven’t seen signs of nutria scat, yet. Some years they wander in for the fallen apples.
Thank you Lavinia. They say we might see a foot of snow by Tuesday so winter will be full on.
I didn’t know you had nutria there. They must really play havoc with the ecosystem.
Depends on where one is. We are up in the Cascade foothills at 800 feet. Winter can get cold, but doesn’t necessarily stop them, I have read. I do remember the year we had a few youngsters take up residence that they ate the grass around my rose bushes, and left the roses alone, which surprised me. The main problem for us on our farm was their copious scat, urinating in, and chewing on the shed.
It is interesting to read your thoughts on the beaver swamp and to see the beaver lodge. It is strange that you haven’t seen freshly cut trees but that the beavers are still in residence.
I like the stalked trees, especially the one that is running away!
Thank you Clare. I think the beavers are eating the trees on the other side of the pond. This is a big pond with plenty of shoreline that borders on protected forest.
I see! Thanks, Allen.
Interesting information about the stained bark.
It seems odd that it took so many scientists so long to find out what was its cause.
Look the swamp!
Yes!
Should have been; Love the swamp!
I thought maybe that’s what you meant but I wasn’t sure.
FYI, Clark’s recently discontinued production of its teaberry gum. 😦 https://www.oldtimecandy.com/pages/teaberry-gum
That’s too bad. Now there will be even more competition for the berries.
I don’t remember the teaberry shuffle!
Beautiful and interesting Allen! What a fun place to explore and enjoy. As kids we use to eat the red berries of the winterberry, such a treat. I think I might have delicate fern moss growing at the edge of our lawn. I haven’t identified it, it looks much like your photo. Thanks.
Thanks Chris! Just so other people won’t eat the berries of winterberry, which is a native holly and is toxic, I’ll point out that you meant wintergreen. And they are a treat!
Delicate fern moss loves growing in lawns and at this time of year it turns bright, lime green and shines like a beacon.
I introduced this site to my husband and now we both enjoy and appreciate it very much –both for what we learn about things we have noticed but not identified or researched and for the beautiful sentiments expressed.
Thank you Doreen, and welcome to you both. I’m glad you’re enjoying what you see here!
Wow, so much interesting information! Thanks, Allen. I look forward to your next post.
On Sat, Nov 30, 2019, 6:09 AM New Hampshire Garden Solutions New Hampshire Garden Solutions posted: ” Last Sunday was a beautiful but > chilly day at about 30 degrees F. After almost two weeks of cold weather I > thought I’d visit a local beaver swamp to see how they were doing. If > beavers haven’t stored enough food underwater before their ponds freeze > they” >
Thank you Ron!
You’re welcome!
Loved your picture of that delicate fern moss, thanks for documenting your outing.
Thank you Susan. That moss isn’t as delicate as it sounds!