A Walk at Bell's Neck

In our continuing efforts to walk all the beautiful conservation areas in LM's town, we set out last Saturday and began to explore the huge Bell's Neck area. We feel so fortunate to live in a town which cherishes these lands. Cranberry bogs and in their brilliant burgundy beauty, cover many acres, some still working and others fallow. This bog was a very short distance from where we parked the car to begin walking. We set out along the Cape Cod Rail Trail, a biking and walking path made on the footprint of a railroad system which ran the Cape until the 50's or 60's.

Within a short distance we came to the Herring River....a river which becomes brackish, then salt as it flows out to Nantucket Sound on the south of the Cape. This is the view to the south.
View to the north. We were looking for birds but only found a pair of Canada geese
Shortly after the river, we veered off the bike path to uplands and wandered through the wooded paths for about an hour. Guess who?? The wind was biting......hands in pockets...LOL
The river became a reservoir...
Sunlit trail....we were out there very alone and loved it.
Looking down toward a very marshy area. Spring is visible in a slight reddening of the budding trees.
I loved this hollowed out tree and the brilliant green moss.

As we looked out over the reservoir, we witnessed a black backed gull chasing an osprey. Distinctive cries gave away the chase.
LM spotted this sweet nest in a tree just along the path and right above our eye level. No one was home. Beautiful buds on the branches.

Looking up at the glorious sky!
As we were on the return side, we were alongside a brackish marsh and these phragmites were bending in the wind.

When we returned to the car, we looked at each other and realized we'd not thought of anything but nature and beauty for the entire walk. Our objective was met without a thought, by the power of nature.
We walked the next day, too....more later.
Happy almost weekend. We are having snow tonight.....there is a mystery date this Sunday!!