This event has been cancelled due to Coronavirus concerns. Avalonia trails remain open, but visitors need to use caution, avoid large groups, and use good judgement when meeting other hikers. While winter has hardly lived up to its name, an amazing variety of frogs, salamanders, and aquatic invertebrates have spent the colder season in hiding.…
Join us at the Hoffman Preserve on Saturday, October 17 as Hull forester Chris Casadei leads a woods walk "For the Birds: A Forest Tour of Avalonia Conservancy's Hoffman Preserve." This is an easy 2-mile walk and participants will view and discuss recent forest management activity designed to improve forest health and wildlife habitat. This…
photo credit: Bruce Fellman Celebrate Spring, Earth Day, and Clean Water at the Benedict Benson Preserve One of the critical precursors of the passage of the Clean Water Act, the landmark federal legislation whose 50 years of making a difference we celebrate throughout 2022, is Earth Day, the consciousness-raising holiday for the planet that began…
CELEBRATE ARBOR DAY 2022 BY WITH A TREESURE HUNT ON MOORE WOODLANDS PRESERVE IN MYSTIC, CT Jim Luce, retired Connecticut College Supervisor of Grounds, will lead a tree walk on Avalonia’s Moore Woodlands Preserve (located at the southerly end of Capstan Avenue in Mystic) on Saturday, April 30, 2022, from 1-3pm. After receiving your ‘Treesure’ Hunt…
The Donald R. Henne Memorial Preserve in North Stonington is a case study of the benefits of the Clean Water Act, which is celebrating a half-century of safeguarding the nation’s water resources. On Saturday, May 14th, from 10 a.m. to 12 noon, we’ll explore Henne and its wetlands, which have become a haven for fish,…
Explore the human and natural history of the Tefftweald at Birchenturn Nature Preserve where we’ll enjoy the migrating birds, emerging butterflies and other insects, a variety of blooming wildflowers, and the exquisite twists and turns of Wyassup Brook, an artist’s, writer’s, and photographer’s delight. Don’t hesitate to call or email: 860-599-4867, or fellnature@sbcglobal.net. Photo credit: Bruce…
At first glance, a natural meadow may look like nothing more than an unkempt lawn that a lazy homeowner has taken a holiday from mowing. But look closer and you’ll discover an amazing and often fascinating array of biological diversity. The Preston Nature Preserve (PNP) offers explorers a pathway through several interconnected meadows that are…
Join Avalonia on Sunday morning, October 9th, from 10 to 11:30, for an Autumn Adventure Walk at Knox Preserve with naturalist Bruce Fellman and sign language interpreter Joy Valenti. We’ll explore the shoreline of Quiambaug Cove, hike through an upland forest, and see fields of goldenrods and other fall wildflowers that are magnets to pollinators,…
There’s no better way to celebrate the arrival of spring than to visit a woodland pond alive with the sounds and sights of newly awakened amphibians and invertebrates—and there’s no more exciting time to do so than at dusk, when the local vernal pools are a noisy chorus of quacking wood frogs and bell-ringing spring…
CT TRAILS DAY EVENT: This year, Avalonia’s is hosting three events during the annual Connecticut Trails Day event. This hike is at one of Avalonia’s newest acquisitions and only Norwich property, Cedar Wood Preserve —47 acres of field, woods, and water. This 1.4-mile hike goes through an upper trail with open fields and good birding opportunities and through a lower forested trail. This will be a moderate hike with some hills/slopes…