In case you were not inclined to go outside in the rain on Saturday morning, you missed a great time at the first annual Colonial World Nature Conservation Day BioBlitz that we held at New Quarter Park in Williamsburg! We had a wonderful volunteer turn out, with folks present and representing Colonial Soil and Water Conservation District, the Virginia Department of Forestry, the Historic Rivers chapter of the Virginia Master Naturalists, the James City County Williamsburg Master Gardeners, the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, the Coastal Virginia Wildlife Observatory, the Williamsburg Botanical Garden and Freedom Park Arboretum, the Plant Virginia Natives Campaign, the Williamsburg Birding Club, and the Bartlett Tree Experts-Williamsburg.
Left to right by row:
The registration table with CSWCD staff Sheila Jaruseski and Amanda Whispell and CSWCD directors Philip Thompson and Charlie Morse
New Quarter Park employee Dan with CSWCD director Megan Tierney spent some time at the main CSWCD table
CSWCD also had an activity table, where people could come a paint their own biodegradable pots and then plant native pollinator seeds. CSWCD staff member Amy Walker, Robyn Woolsey, and Samantha Pereira made sure everyone who visited the table had a great time.
A few of the happy customers enjoying the opportunity to be creative.
Even though it rained intermittently many people still showed up and enjoyed learning new things from all of the knowledgeable folks who were there to educate them, talking informative walks through the park, and the kids enjoyed the scavenger hunt and the booth passport.
Most of the organization tables were in one large shelter, including (left to right by row):
The Master Naturalist table.
The Plant Virginia Natives table
Brian Taber spent all morning at the Coastal Virginia Wildlife Observation table telling folks about their organization.
Mary Sipe and Pat Murphy had folks making flowers using large leafs at the Williamsburg Botanical Gardens table. Here they were joined by Master naturalist, Jeanette Navia.
Michele Garrard gave gardening advice at the Master Gardener table.
In a shelter all on their own:
The VIMs tables were manned by Tori Nutt and Kristen Sharpe.
Here Kristen is showing one of the children who attended how runoff impacts a watershed.
In the last shelter:
There were two tables – the Bartlett Tree Services table, manned by Kyle Foster, and the Virginia Department of Forestry, where folks were offer prizes in return for correctly answering trivia questions by the either Dalton Maddox or Daniel Brooks.
We saw some fantastic wildlife, included is the photo I took of a box turtle I found crossing one of their hiking paths and I encourage others to share their favorite finds from the day. You can keep an eye on everything that we saw and that has been uploaded to the iNaturalist project by clicking here.
An Eastern Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina)
Overall, it was such an enjoyable morning full of collaboration, education, and fun!
There were heaps of fun activities for all who attended (left to right by row):
Here is Daniel Brooks for the VA DOF leading a tree walk.
This is Adrienne Frank showing some insects to children after leading an insect walk.
Adrienne teaching about even more insects.
Down by the docks we had a macroinvertebrate / intertidal tent, which was curated by Claire White and Lisa Cummings, both master naturalists.
The marine environment was rich with wildlife and they were able to catch quite a few critters to show folks.
We also had a fishing station set up on the docks, which were manned by master naturalist Robert Ambrose.
A group of master naturalists; in the back: Linda Cole, Kim Owens, Claire White, Jennifer Smith, Jeanette Navia. In front: Michele Garrard
A photo towards the end of the morning: master naturalist/gardener, Kim Owens and CSWCD outreach and education specialists, Amanda Whispell.
We do hope that people will join us at the second annual CWNCD Blitz next year!
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