Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Tuesday afternoon proved nice for a trash patrol on the lower Assabet River from Egg Rock to Nashoba Brook and back. I did not see one piece of ice! The recent flooding provided a new crop of floatable trash stuck behind a good many snags. It's funny how anything that makes you stop and take a closer look reveals things you never would have seen. Approaching the mouth of Spencer Brook, I spied a plastic bottle in amongst the branches. As I paddled in closer, I saw a lone turtle that looked different than the usual painted turtles. Unlike the painted turtles this one didn't plop into the water when I approached. It actually let me get very close. It had a humped carapace, was a little larger than the painted turtles and had a reddish tint on the top of its head. My hope is that what I was looking at was my first Blandings Turtle.
Saw quite a few wood ducks today as well.
After passing under route 2, I needed to land my boat and store the surprisingly large amount of trash I had collected below deck. Once again, I recovered a quart container filled with used motor oil. I had 55 empty containers on board when I re-launched and paddled to just downstream of Nashoba Brook. There I encountered an 8-gallon white trash bag filled with styrofoam shipping peanuts, snagged on a branch. This bag had to remain on deck all the way back which made it a little awkward paddling.
Reaching my take-out, I had 59 empty containers plus the full containers of motor oil and shipping peanuts. A nice little haul and brings my YTD total to 527 mts.

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