Wednesday, July 30, 2025

Blocked off paths at Willow Lake

I'm glad the lake is open, the gate for the bridge over the highway wasn't locked again today, but then when I got in, they had the path blocked off. Seems kind of absurd to me and I walked down the path to the bridge. The path is a bit difficult to get through to Forest Hills, and the Forest Hills side is locked, last time I checked, I didn't walk that for today. 



Beggars can’t be choosers.

Saturday, July 26, 2025

7/26/2025






Purple-loosestrife







Went down to check to see if it was open, and it was open on the Kew Garden Hills side, but when I got. to the Forest Hills side, it was locked!

Thursday, July 24, 2025

Closed for the second time in a row

Trying to go to Willow Lake and the gates are locked is really annoying. I went a week prior and it was locked too, so it's been locked for a while. No explanation. Quite annoying. It was closed for a few months this winter.

So I walked down the off ramp, and looked to see if there was a break in the fence of where to break into the reeds. The traffic was so heavy, I was too impatient to cross. Anyway, I think the place to go in is to walk down the on ramp from Jewel. I didn't do that, but I did explore to see if there were any other path, and I couldn't really find them. There's so much garbage dumped there, it's quite disgusting. 

I take exception that they don't say when they will reopen (NYC).

Wednesday, June 25, 2025

Misconceptions about the environment

This is a post by an ecology PHD student on Reddit:


"Ecology" is such a huge field that covers a lot of different systems and scales, so I don't know if it's possible to identify the biggest misconception, but a few come to mind:

  • People not understanding that honeybees are (at least in North America) basically livestock, not native pollinators. And that if you want to "save the bees", focusing on honeybees is one of the worst ways to do it

  • Thinking that "forest" is the default healthiest ecosystem and that we should plant trees everywhere to save the planet

  • The impact of cats on small bird and mammal populations. Cats kill BILLIONS of animals every year, mostly just for fun. But many people seem to think that it's "natural" to let their cat roam outdoors and hunt whatever it comes across.

Other small and more specific misconceptions include:

  • Being upset about culling overabundant deer populations and thinking that we should just "relocate" them

  • Extremes of opinion on non-native plant species; either that all non-native plants are invasive and have to be removed, or that there's no such thing as an invasive plant and that we should just leave them all alone

Monday, June 16, 2025

Teasel


Dipsacus fullonum, syn. Dipsacus sylvestris, is a species of flowering plant known by the common names wild teasel or fuller's teasel, although the latter name is usually applied to the cultivated variety D. fullonum var. sativus.[2] It is native to Eurasia and North Africa, but it is known in the Americas, southern Africa, Australia and New Zealand as an introduced species.

Two mallards walked the path with me until there was a turnoff. On the way back they flew away eventually. There was also a mourning dove. 

It's an overcast, drizzly day.