Sudbury River - Weir Hill to Route 27 and Return

Under today’s cloudy skies I enjoyed trash patrolling the Sudbury River between Weir Hill and the Route 27 bridge. I launched my kayak at Sherman's Bridge and headed upstream. There was little wind to speak of and air temperatures were quite comfortable but something was definitely different. Coming around a bend in the river I saw the first hints of autumn foliage. Yes, summer is on the wane. The grass plants have reached as far towards the sky as they can and the still showy purple loosestrife will soon be fading...


As a trash patrol it was either a success for there being little trash or a bust for the same reason. Actually, this section of river has little trash due to there being a large buffer zone between the river’s channel and solid ground. There’s nearly half a mile of marsh to either side of the river. The only place for litter to enter is at the bridges and boat launch areas. Being out in the middle of this wide marsh it soon becomes apparent that this neighborhood belongs to the herons, ducks, birds, turtles, and fish. In addition to the many blue herons were quite a few small green-backed herons. Wood ducks were the duck of the day. Birds observed were kingbirds, red-winged blackbirds, goldfinches, and tree swallows. Other small birds were present but I am yet to learn their identity.
Upon reaching Route 27 and the River Road launch area, I turned around and headed downriver passing my original launch site and continuing further on downriver to the Weir Hill boat ramp. After a second turnaround I returned to Sherman’s Bridge where my modest haul for the day posed for this photo...

My count for the day was only 12 pieces of trash. Of these 5 were recyclable (2 redeemable) and 7 were misc. rubbish such as plastic bags and styrofoam packing peanuts. The styrofaom peanuts would seem to be little more than just "peanuts" yet they, most likely, pose the greatest threat to wildlife if ingested. One wad of monofilament fishing line was deposited in the repository provided by US Fish & Wildlife. My YTD total stands at 3221.