Join Quinn, Lyme Land Trust board member, for a family friendly night hike (ages 5 and up). We focus on how our perceptions change and appreciate what night brings to the forests and ponds of Lyme. Our way will be lit by the almost full moon. We will not be using artificial light, but you are invited to bring an emergency flashlight. Dress warmly and bring a walking stick. 

Please register: ryan.p.quinn@gmail.com

Click on the poster to enlarge for more information.
Join the Eightmile Wild and Scenic Watershed Committee for three free family programs.

July 13: Wildlife Rehabilitation with Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center
July 20: Native Insects
July 29: River Exploration

Provided by the Eightmile Wild and Scenic Watershed Committee

Join author illustrator John Himmelman for a presentation followed by an outside adventure to meet moths, the fascinating and under-appreciated cousins of the butterflies. With about 2600 species of moths in CT, they play a role in pollinating our pathways! These important pollinators exhibit an amazing variety of color shape and behavior. Since most are active at night, we often overlook them. Not Himmelman, though, who has long been attracted to the moths as they are to lights.

John Himmelman is the author and illustrator of Discovering Moths, Nighttime Jewels in Your Own Backyard and other nature books for children and adults. After the program he will sign books. He will bring the moth book for purchase. 

To register: programreg@lymepl.org or Lymepollinator@gmail.com

Rain date: July 25

The program is co-sponsored by the Lyme Pollinator Pathway and the Lyme Land Trust.

Want to know what you are seeing in nature? Want to contribute to citizen science by joining the Wild Lyme Biodiversity Project? With a photograph and a few taps on your smartphone, you, too, can follow in the footsteps of great biologists like Charles Darwin by identifying different species and sharing your observations with the scientific and conservation communities. Join  Jim Arrigoni, Lyme Land Trust (LLT) environmental director ad team member of the Lyme Pollinator Pathway, for this informative program.

Learn how to use iNaturalist on your smartphone or computer and learn more about the world of plants, insects, mushrooms, birds, and trees that are all around us. This 1-hour workshop will show you how to use the app on your smartphone and desktop computer, what the best practices are for entering photos, and add hands-on practice.

Join the Wild Lyme Biodiversity project on iNaturalist and contribute to the study of the variety of life on all of the Lyme preserves owned by LLT, the Town of Lyme and The Nature Conservancy. We’ll show you how to join the project on the app, what you can contribute, and what you can learn about Lyme and the surrounding areas.

iNaturalist app is a free app that can be downloaded on both iPhone and android. We ask that you download the app on your smartphone and set up an account before coming to the workshop, or come at 6:30 pm for help to download the app.

Reservations required. Jim.arrigoni@lymelandtrust.org

Follow iNaturalist on Instagram and see a fantastic nature photo from around the world.

For the web version of iNaturalist.

Co-sponsored with Lyme Pollinator Pathway

Young or old, experienced, or totally unfamiliar, we look forward to exposing you to our uniquely dark skies here in Lyme. We have several different telescopes that are on display including a 14″ Schmidt-Cassegrain housed in a permanent observatory.

Registration required. Upon registration you will receive a link to directions and observing session guidelines.

For more information and to register: Astronomy Events

Click on the poster to enlarge for more information.
Join the Eightmile Wild and Scenic Watershed Committee for three free family programs.

July 13: Wildlife Rehabilitation with Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center
July 20: Native Insects
July 29: River Exploration

Provided by the Eightmile Wild and Scenic Watershed Committee

Take a walk to the refreshing waters of Roaring Brook where you may get your feet wet.  Map of Roaring Brook Preserve.

Join Tori and family on the 4th Sunday of every month for a “mile-ish” hike geared towards families with children under 5, but no age limit(!) Two times 9am and 11am,

Kindly email vharris1391@gmail.com to register with time preference.

Tori is a Mom of two littles – Kade, 3 yrs, and Quinn, 10 months. Hiking and wandering in the local preserves, has really given her family the safe space to let Kade run loose and has a calming effect on Quinn. Working full time, volunteering in many organizations and finding time to enjoy the outdoors with the whole family, can be tough, but it is worth it!

This session will cater to the young since we will be working in twilight rather than full darkness. We will observe before dark and look at the craters and other features on the Moon. We will learn about the Moon’s phases and how its orbit around the Earth results in the phases we see. Once fully dark, we will swing the telescope around to look at a handful of prominent objects that are visible despite the Moon’s presence.

Registration required. Upon registration you will receive a link to directions and observing session guidelines.

For more information and to register: Astronomy Events

Meet at the terrace of the Castle.

Caitlin Vickers has been a gardener most of her life, and providing local gardens through her business,  the Barefoot Gardener.

Please join the Lyme Pollinator Pathway for a tour of the gardens on the terraces at Gillette Castle. Caitlin Vickers, the Barefoot Gardener and Lyme Pollinator Pathway team member, who designed and installed the garden with Nancy Ballek of Ballek’s Garden Center, will guide the tour. The beautiful gardens are mostly native plants beneficial to pollinators and other wildlife. Caitlin will answer questions about the plants and talk about future plans for the gardens.

Join our work party for the fourth year to remove invasive knotweed and learn to control Knotweed on your own property. We will be expanding our area of removal. Last year we planted more than 100 native plants to replace the knotweed. We will tend to those, also. We are following the “method of 3s”: cut knotweed down to the ground and remove the plant material; 3 chops this growing season. Don’t cut more often or it won’t weaken the extensive root system. The cuttings must be carefully disposed of since each little piece will regrow into a new plant.

We are seeing progress! The knotweed has been highly reduced.

Bring work gloves, clippers or loppers. We’ll provide the bags! Bring your own water bottle. Snacks will be provided. 

Please register: (walk-ins welcome) trughouse@comcast.net

Sponsored by the Lyme Pollinator Pathway and Friends of Whalebone Cove.

Japanese knotweed is an invasive plant which crowds out native plants that pollinators and other wildlife depend upon for survival. For a brochure on Nix the Knotweed Method of 3s.

Join our work party for the fourth year to remove invasive knotweed and other invasive plants, and tend the natives that have been planted in their place. Learn to control Knotweed on your own property. We will tend Reed Landing gardens, and check on the 50 plants that were installed at Union Triangle on the corner of Rte 156 and Old Hamburg Rd. We are in our fourth year of tackling the knotweed using the “method of 3s”: cut knotweed down to the ground and remove the plant material; 3 chops each growing season (May, mid-July, and mid-August). The cuttings must be carefully disposed of since each little piece will regrow into a new plant. The knotweed has been highly reduced where we have used this method but we still have to cut back the ones that persist and new ones that come up from seeds.

Bring work gloves, clippers or loppers. We’ll provide the bags! Bring your own water bottle. Snacks will be provided. 

Please register: (walk-ins welcome) Openspace@townlyme.org

Sponsored by the Town of Lyme, Lyme Pollinator Pathway, and Lyme Land Trust.

Japanese knotweed is an invasive plant which crowds out native plants that pollinators and other wildlife depend upon for survival. For a brochure on Nix the Knotweed Method of 3s.

Join Quinn, Lyme Land Trust board member, for a family friendly night hike (ages 5 and up). We focus on how our perceptions change and appreciate what night brings to the forests and ponds of Lyme. Our way will be lit by the almost full moon. We will not be using artificial light, but you are invited to bring an emergency flashlight. Dress warmly and bring a walking stick. 

Please register: ryan.p.quinn@gmail.com

Young or old, experienced, or totally unfamiliar, we look forward to exposing you to our uniquely dark skies here in Lyme. We have several different telescopes that are on display including a 14″ Schmidt-Cassegrain housed in a permanent observatory.

Registration required. Upon registration you will receive a link to directions and observing session guidelines.

For more information and to register: Astronomy Events

In August, Take a walk down a long lane to visit an active beaver pond full of wildlife activity.  Map of Thach Preserve. Join Tori and family on the 4th Sunday of every month for a “mile-ish” hike geared towards families with children under 5, but no age limit(!) Two times 9am and 11am,

Kindly email vharris1391@gmail.com to register with time preference.

Tori is a Mom of two littles – Kade, 3 yrs, and Quinn, 10 months. Hiking and wandering in the local preserves, has really given her family the safe space to let Kade run loose and has a calming effect on Quinn. Working full time, volunteering in many organizations and finding time to enjoy the outdoors with the whole family, can be tough, but it is worth it!

Jim and Joe Atwater

Join us for this fascinating walk with Bill Yule, naturalist and amateur mycologist, to walk, talk, and collect mushrooms. Bill will explain about forest and watershed ecology and all things fungal. After the walk, specimens will be examined and identified and questions answered. Bring mushrooms from home for identification.

Space is limited. Register: education@lymelandtrust.org

“For those who hunger after the earthly excrescences called mushrooms.”

Bill Yule has been active in mycological education for 30 plus years and has given many education programs throughout the country. He is a retired High School Biology teacher and Environmental Educator. In addition, he taught Ecology and Environmental Education at The Connecticut River Museum for 20 years and worked on three environmental educational boats on the CT River. He is a member and educator for three local “Mushroom clubs”, Connecticut Valley Mycological Society, COMA (CT/Westchester Mycological Association) and PVMA (Pioneer Valley Mycological Association) as well as a past Board of Directors member of the North American Mycological Association. 

Visit Bill Yule’s Facebook Page

Join Joe Atwater of the Roger Tory Peterson Estuary Center for a bird walk in the young forest at Slawson.

Young or old, experienced, or totally unfamiliar, we look forward to exposing you to our uniquely dark skies here in Lyme. We have several different telescopes that are on display including a 14″ Schmidt-Cassegrain housed in a permanent observatory.

Registration required. Upon registration you will receive a link to directions and observing session guidelines.

For more information and to register: Astronomy Events

In July, search for fairies and visit the Fairy Circle. Click here to see the Faery Quest map. Join Tori and family on the 4th Sunday of every month for a “mile-ish” hike geared towards families with children under 5, but no age limit(!) Two times 9am and 11am,

Kindly email vharris1391@gmail.com to register with time preference.

Tori is a Mom of two littles – Kade, 3 yrs, and Quinn, 10 months. Hiking and wandering in the local preserves, has really given her family the safe space to let Kade run loose and has a calming effect on Quinn. Working full time, volunteering in many organizations and finding time to enjoy the outdoors with the whole family, can be tough, but it is worth it!

Submit up to three of your favorite photos to share. The Lyme Land Trust program Imagining Lyme: A Visual Exploration of Lyme’s Preserves encourages everyone to expand their visual awareness and highlight the beauty of the Lyme preserves owned by the Lyme Land Trust, the Town of Lyme, The Nature Conservancy, or the State of CT  by taking photographs prompted by inspiration from professional photographers and artists. Amateur photographers may submit photos. Photographers do not have to be residents of Lyme but all photos must be taken in Lyme in any of these places:

1. Lyme Preserves owned and/or managed by the Lyme Land Trust, Town of Lyme, The Nature Conservancy, and the State of CT.  View a map of the preserves
2. Pollinator/wildlife habitat with native plants in Lyme – May be in a backyard, local farm, preserve or in a Lyme Pollinator Pathway garden in Lyme, CT.
3. Trail 53 – The clear sky above Lyme.

For more information and to submit photos

Young or old, experienced, or totally unfamiliar, we look forward to exposing you to our uniquely dark skies here in Lyme. We have several different telescopes that are on display including a 14″ Schmidt-Cassegrain housed in a permanent observatory.

Registration required. Upon registration you will receive a link to directions and observing session guidelines.

For more information and to register: Astronomy Events

Walk along the beautful Roaring Brook and romp in Diana’s  field. Map of Banningwood Preserve. Join Tori and family on the 4th Sunday of every month for a “mile-ish” hike geared towards families with children under 5, but no age limit(!) Two times 9am and 11am,

Kindly email vharris1391@gmail.com to register with time preference.

Tori is a Mom of two littles – Kade, 3 yrs, and Quinn, 10 months. Hiking and wandering in the local preserves, has really given her family the safe space to let Kade run loose and has a calming effect on Quinn. Working full time, volunteering in many organizations and finding time to enjoy the outdoors with the whole family, can be tough, but it is worth it!

Submit up to three of your favorite photos to share. The Lyme Land Trust program Imagining Lyme: A Visual Exploration of Lyme’s Preserves encourages everyone to expand their visual awareness and highlight the beauty of the Lyme preserves owned by the Lyme Land Trust, the Town of Lyme, The Nature Conservancy, or the State of CT  by taking photographs prompted by inspiration from professional photographers and artists. Amateur photographers may submit photos. Photographers do not have to be residents of Lyme but all photos must be taken in Lyme in any of these places:

1. Lyme Preserves owned and/or managed by the Lyme Land Trust, Town of Lyme, The Nature Conservancy, and the State of CT.  View a map of the preserves
2. Pollinator/wildlife habitat with native plants in Lyme – May be in a backyard, local farm, preserve or in a Lyme Pollinator Pathway garden in Lyme, CT.
3. Trail 53 – The clear sky above Lyme.

For more information and to submit photos