We're very fortunate to live in a residential community with stately oaks and other trees providing shade for us and habitat for wildlife. We border on a park that rewards visitors with a pleasant walk by picturesque Four Mile Run. It's hard to believe that the US Capitol is only ten minutes away by car. Foxes are now well established here, and deer are increasingly seen. The occasional hawk swoops in for dinner, and a woodpecker may decide to confuse your gutter for a tree limb and give you a wakeup call. Goldfinches perch on your coneflowers, hummingbirds feed on your hibiscus, chipmunks scamper across your lawn, and of course those annoying squirrels are everywhere you don't want them. (I didn't say it was all positive.) There are psychological rewards to the relationship we have with nature in Barcroft.
The Northern Virginia Conservation Trust will be giving a presentation at our next meeting (November 2) at the Community House surrounded by its wonderfully verdant grounds to discuss the recent Bioblitz conducted in Arlington to record species diversity, to answer questions about the plants, animals, and geology of our area, and to suggest ways of preserving our environment for ourselves and future generations. I'm sure it will be interesting. Whether or not you can come, I hope you will long enjoy the green space all around us.