The Sunday Walk in the Park

This week's Sunday walk in the Dykeman Spring Nature Park features some more blooms, a pair of turtles sunning, and my friend Wade Asper heading off to start the season's first haying.

The Arrowwood Viburnum along the Dykeman Walking Trail is in full bloom

More Blackberry blossoms in the wetland

Two Painted Turtles sunning in the bog pool

Wade heads off to start the season's first haying

© 2020 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Up One Creek and Down the Other

I decided to follow the local creeks today, out into farm country along Burd Run via Fogelsonger Rd. and back into town along Middle Spring/Branch Creek. And along the way there were definitely things to see.

I started in the Burd Run Riparian Restoration park in hopes of getting another shot at that Green Heron, and sure enough there it was, fishing in the collection pond. It caught one frog and ate it right there, and then caught another and flew up to eat it on a tree branch over the creek, which allowed me to get much closer. I spent about a half hour with that bird and took close to 30 shots, and ended up using the last one.

Of course I also found cows along Fogelsonger Rd. And I got surprised going back down North Earl St., where a very large Pileated Woodpecker flew into a tree right in front of me and proceeded to pry bark off in search of tasty bugs. He completely ignored me, so I got pretty close and shot another 20 or so photos. This ended up being a very productive hike!

The Green Heron strikes a pose

Burd Run at Fogelsonger Rd.

Holsteins on Fogelsonger Rd.

Daisy Fleabane by Middle Spring Creek

The Pileated Woodpecker digging for lunch

A Yellow Poplar, also known as Tulip Poplar

The flowery, and shady, banks of Branch Creek

© 2020 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Today's Walk

I decided to walk out into farm country on Possum Hollow Rd., out past my brother's house and up to I-81, and came back into town on Olde Scotland Rd., where I cut over to the woods on the other side of the railroad tracks to visit the old filling pool along Gum Run. The filling pool is a leftover from the days when trains ran by steam power and periodically had to stop to fill their water tanks. The old tracks ran along Gum Run; they're gone now, but the old pool is still there, way back in the woods and very picturesque.

Stripes and swirls of color in a field along Possum Hollow Rd.

The Mennonite farm across Possum Hollow Rd. from my brother's house

A Mourning Dove in a front yard along Possum Hollow Rd.

Wenger Feeds' grain silos along the RR tracks off Mt. Rock Rd.

A path in the woods near the filling pool

The old filling pool

© 2020 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Wandering Aimlessly

"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to." — Bilbo warning Frodo about taking walks, from The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

 

I had to go to CVS to pick up a prescription refill, and I decided to use it as a jumping-off point for a bit of a camera shoot/wander afterwards. I had no idea where I was going, I just decided at various points which way I would turn. So I ended up on a brief stretch of the Rail Trail and then a brief foray into farm country north of town. It was a cold walk (temps in the 40s with something between a breeze and a wind) but an enjoyable one, and I got some good shots along the way.

A chilly Mockingbird on the Shippensburg University campus

My favorite mother-daughter pair of Jerseys on a farm by the Rail Trail

Walking on the Rail Trail

An Old Order Mennonite buggy on Britton Rd.

A farm along Britton Rd.

A pair of cows on Mud Level Rd.

Burd Run and spring house at Newburg Rd.

© 2020 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Visiting Cows

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic I'm on leave from work because I've been deemed too vulnerable because of my age and pre-existing health issues. So I've been sidelined until this finally runs its course and they lift the stay at home order. Luckily, I'm not confined indoors; taking walks outdoors is allowed according to the guidelines, so for the foreseeable future I'll have plenty of time to wander the country and take pictures. Today I decided to go up to Fogelsanger Rd. and the Rail Trail to visit some of my favorite cows, in the course of which I also captured some other Spring scenes.

Part of a big herd of Holsteins on Fogelsanger Rd.

Burd Run where it crosses Fogelsanger Rd.

One of a pair of Squirrels busily foraging along the Rail Trail

Spring Beauty growing along the Rail Trail

A mother (in back) and daughter pair of Jerseys on a farm by the Rail Trail

Corn Speedwell growing along the Rail Trail

© 2020 by A. Roy Hilbinger

On the Rail Trail

Today I went on a leisurely stroll on the Cumberland Valley Rail Trail. It was another beautiful, almost Spring day, and while there were scenic landscape opportunities, you've already seen those views several times here over the years, so I concentrated on critters and one English Ivy-draped boulder. Come and see!

Mama Gaia seems to have festooned this boulder with English Ivy draperies

This Gray Squirrel was having his brunch on the balcony

A Bluejay peeking out from deep in the forest clutter

A Chipmunk keeping a wary eye on me as I pass by

A trio of Guineas on the Sensenig's farm at Duncan Rd.

An Appenzeller Hobenfitzer rooster on the Sensenig's farm. I suspect this Swiss species came over with the Amish and Mennonite immigrants to the area

One of three Nuthatches who were playing in a tree near where I ate my lunch

Another Bluebird, this time on the Rail Trail

© 2020 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Revisiting Burnt Mill Road

Today is the meteorological first day of Spring, and the second day of my vacation. I decided to revisit Burnt Mill Rd. because the trestle bridge over Conodoguinet Creek and the Burnt Mill Veterinary Center fascinate me, and there are lots of cows along the way (and I need cows!). On this hike I discovered a lot of things: the heronry off Earl St./Newburg Rd. is hopping with the start of Spring; a Turkey wandering around on Fish Hatchery Rd.; the cows I thought I remembered on Burnt Mill Rd. are long-horned, but not long-haired (I guess I got two herds confused); and the Eastern Bluebirds are back. Here are some scenes from today's hike.

The heronry is hopping!

A big ol' Tom Turkey on Fish Hatchery Rd.

Cows on Burnt Mill Rd.

My favorite springhouse, on Burnt Mill Rd.

The wood-deck trestle bridge over Conodoguinet Creek on Burnt Mill Rd.

Llamas! At the Burnt Mill Veterinary Center

More cows, this time on McClay's Mill Rd.

An Eastern Bluebird on Fish Hatchery Rd.

© 2020 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Ralph Vaughan Williams

Today is the birthday of Ralph (pronounced Rafe) Vaughan Williams, 1872 - 1958, a British composer best known as the central figure in what is informally known as the Pastoral Movement in British music, which also included such composers as George Butterworth and Gustav Holst. Vaughan Williams often hiked through the English countryside gathering folk songs of the region, usually accompanied by Butterworth, which he then adapted and used in his symphonic works. He's one of my all-time favorite composers, and I figured I'd celebrate by going for a walk through some nearby farm country to take photos in the spirit of his music, and then post one of his compositions, in this case the Romance movement of his Serenade in A minor. So lets take a serene walk in the country with Mr. Vaughan Williams and celebrate his birthday!

© 2019 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Tucked Away

A couple of years ago I stumbled across a little family cemetery in the middle of a cornfield out in the farming country between Shippensburg and Newville, not far from the Rail Trail. I went back last Wednesday to get some better shots than I got when I first found the place; here they are.

The Smith family plot on Smithdale Road, smack in the middle of a corn field

A well-carved stone

An interesting stone. Unfortunately the first name is weathered beyond legibility

The farm across the road from the cemetery

And finally, on the Rail Trail heading home

© 2019 by A. Roy Hilbinger