Here are some salamanders that the boys and I have discovered in the area near Woodglen Lake.
Here are some finds from earlier in March.
On our recent walks of the lake, we were sad to see a large number of dead fish that had clearly been 'stacked' by someone. On April 11, when we went out to the lake to do the clean up, we took this photo. If you look closely the 'logs' are actually fish. I think that they must be some kind of large carp that didn't survive when they lowered the water levels of the lake for the dredge. It wasn't all bad though, the deer seemed to not be bothered by our presence during the clean up and even stopped to pose for a picture. Though I love to see deer, it seems that their numbers are increasing as the woods around the lake are getting smaller and smaller with development in all directions from George Mason to University Mall. I wonder how many more deer our tiny park can hold?
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We went out to the lake again in May to check the progress of the dredge. The lake is now almost fully drained. here is a picture from May 13.
While we were walking we noticed another little dusky salamander resting near the stream. Here he is:
We have noticed some changes in the water below the lake, the pond that was once clear is now full of pollen, but that's to be expected during this season, however there is a stream that seems to have a build up of bacteria that is turning the water a murky orange color. Apparently the bacteria feeds on iron that is dissolved in ground water. It means that the stream is fed by an underground stream. To learn more visit: http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/dpwes/stormwater/stuffinstream.htm