Wareham sites on Buzzards Bay and the Wareham River, east of the Cape Cod Canal.
Reserve we have visited in Wareham:
Confusingly, there are two reserves in Wareham with the name Great Neck. One (not yet visited at the time of this writing) is an Audubon wildlife sanctuary in the southeast corner of Wareham. The other, Great Neck Conservation Area, is in the central-south section, just off the Wareham River, and is managed by Wildland Trust. The Conservation Area is the subject of these photographs. The site is fairly large, particularly combined with the adjacent woods called Weld Memorial Forest (managed by New England Forestry Foundation).
Near the start of the walk, at a bend in the trail, is this marvelous sign:
In case you can't read it (the sign is slightly worn), it says "wanna get into yoga? start by bending over and picking up after your dog (known as the 'downward dog' position). CLEAN UP AFTER YOUR DOG - IT'S GOOD FOR YOU!!!!!!"
There is a bench at Swan Pond, where someone had left this cheerful painted rock. That seems to be a Brockton zip code on the side, so this rock has done some travelling.
The trail bends around a farm that was clearly once a cranberry bog, then goes through the woods again. If you go far enough you get to the marshy area on Little Harbor.
Sure enough, there was an Osprey there:
Here are a few random pictures that we took at this reserve:
Marks Cove Conservation Area is tucked away at the end of a subdivision street. This visit was in July of 2021. One of the first things you see is the Marks Cove Sea Serpent.
This serpent is an artwork made from an invasive plant, Autumn Olive. The nearby sign explains that as part of an Earth Day event to remove invasive plants, a local artist and farmer (Justin Cifello) took some of the removed vines and led a workshop on how to create a sculpture from the vines. The workshop seems to have been very successful!
The preserve has 2 large loops. The eastern one goes through pleasant woods to a small outlook. There was once a cranberry bog in this section, and because of that the paths are slightly raised. We did not see any cranberry plants, but in one section grape vines have gone wild; we could not tell if they are native plants or not.
To get to the western loop, you first walk along a power-line easement (which shows as a straight line on the trail map). This ends in a wetland area that has a bit of a creek in it. The grasses are lush!
There is a bench at a small look-out point on this loop. Here is Paul with his camera backpack, and Anne with her photo vest. The backpack and the vest are so that we can carry essentials like lens cleaners and alternate lenses.
While limited, the view is nice.
When looking at the marshy area that was between us and the open water, there are sand, water, and:
fiddler crabs! There were a lot of fiddler crabs. Did you know that if they lose the large claw, the other one grows large while they regrow an alternate small claw?
In summary, this is a nice location for a walk through the woods with little glimpses of the bay water. We saw a few people walking, particularly in the eastern loop, so it seems to be popular with nearby residents.
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Updated November 2021