Shooting Star.
Photo by Kelly Nguyen
Led by Emily Southgate, the April 6 walk at Ball’s Bluff Battlefield Regional Park gave participants the opportunity to enjoy beautiful spring wildflowers. The group took the red trail from the end of the parking lot. Although this is not the shortest way to see Virginia Bluebells, it is the trail that goes by the greatest diversity of other spring ephemerals, ending at a large floodplain of bluebells as the reward for the occasionally steep and slippery trail. We identified 19 species of wildflowers blooming, including Twinleaf, Shooting Stars and the state-rare White Trout Lily. Spring Beauty sparkled over the forest floor.
On the return walk several hardy souls stayed for a few minutes to pull some Garlic Mustard, which is spreading near the top of the trail. That might be a project for another day. (Read about the ongoing Garlic Mustard pull project.) We also heard an early spring arrival, a Louisiana Waterthrush, down near the river.