My dog Teah (pronounced Tee-yah) and I have been taking a lot of early morning walks lately. One of our favorite places to go is Hammonasset State Park in beautiful Madison, CT! This is the first of a three-part series on the trails and nature we discover there.
MEIGS POINT
Meigs Point is situated at the easternmost section of Hammonasset. There you will find marshes, a shell-filled beach overlooking Long Island Sound, and trails that lead to areas filled with an incredible diversity of birds, insects, mollusks, crustaceans, plants, and even seals at certain times of the year. Glacial rocks make the topography around the beach areas really interesting!
On this day in April, Teah and I walked the Willard’s Island Nature trail which extends all the way to the marsh facing Madison’s Salt Meadow Park and the waterways that lead to and from Clinton Harbor. We chose one of three paths and followed to the end, stopping to hear the red-winged blackbirds, cardinals, and saltmarsh sharp-tailed sparrows. Listen!
The video at the top of this post was filmed at the very end of the Willard’s Island trail. There, Teah and I were surrounded by marsh grasses including Phragmites and Saltmarsh Cordgrass (click on the links there to learn more!).
Marshes are incredible areas of growth and rebirth. They serve as nutrient sources for the creatures who live in Long Island Sound (gotta love that low-tide marshy smell!), nurseries (tons of organisms start their lives in the marsh), and filters (sieving and straining all of those nasty pollutants humans create in this world).
Hammonasset’s marshes are teeming with fiddler crabs, mud snails, barnacles, birds, and fish. All of these creatures and plants must adapt to the rising and ebbing tides. It’s an incredible place!
We also walked along Cedar Island Trail to a beautiful overlook of the marsh facing Long Island Sound. The expansive views there are magnificent. During warmer months lots of unusual birds make their homes in this area.
On the platform at the end of the Cedar Island Trail, you will find these really cool graphics describing the plants and seals you might see out there!
Before we go, I’m going to leave you and your kids a couple of links:
- First, are Facebook videos made by Ranger Russ of the Meigs Point Nature Center. He’s been creating lots of these live videos and they’re great!
- Meigs Point Nature Center has its own web page with videos and activities you can do at home.
- Finally, you can click on and print out this Salt Marsh Activity Book that contains lots of coloring pages and activities about the salt marsh from SeaGrant.Org. Even though the booklet is about the southeastern United States marshlands, many of the plants and animals are the same.
Well, that’s it for today! Be on the lookout for posts about Shell Beach, the trail beyond it, and the gorgeous main beach at Hammonasset State Park! Oh, and here’s my noisy video. Stay well and enjoy!
