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By BILL DANIELSON

For the final week of my summer vacation I decided to make a bold move and pay a visit to one of the wonderful coastal areas that we have in the state of Massachusetts. Earlier in the summer I went to First Encounter Beach, in Eastham, and to round...

By BILL DANIELSON

There was an absolutely wonderful change in the weather last week. Gone were the days with oppressive humidity and scorching temperatures. In their place came days with highs near 80 degrees Fahrenheit, lower humidity levels and a reliable breeze that...

By BILL DANIELSON

It was the middle of July and I was spending yet another morning in my beloved Thinking Chair. I had just returned from my trip to Cape Cod, where I had secured enough photos to give me columns until the end of the month and I had already committed to...

By EMILEE KLEIN

SOUTH HADLEY — On a woody hillside in a 100-plus-acre private parcel, Phoebe Weinberg, her face blocked by a shield attached to her hard helmet, begins dismantling an autumn olive growing over a red oak sapling. The roar of the chainsaw covers the...

By BILL DANIELSON

Those of you who are familiar with my writing will know of my great admiration for a 19th-century naturalist named John Burroughs. Born in 1837, Burroughs lived in a time when the steam locomotive was still a new and wondrous thing in America. The...

By BILL DANIELSON

My second visit to First Encounter Beach came on a Monday. The hustle and bustle of moving day was a thing of the past, but I am generally immune to routine traffic issues because of the early hours that I keep. There was no one on the road at 5:45...

By BILL DANIELSON

It was a Saturday morning on Cape Cod, which is usually a problematic day because it is moving day. All of the weekly renters start heading off the Cape to make room for the next wave of renters and traffic can be a bear. However, I had the advantage...

By BILL DANIELSON

I think it is safe to say that most everyone is familiar with the notion of something called “No Mow May.” Basically, the concept promotes the idea that all mowing be put on hold during the month of May in order to allow our pollinators to get the...

By BILL DANIELSON

Sometime back in the 1980s, in response to increased urbanization and technological development, the government of Japan decided that it was a good idea for people to turn off their electronics and get back to nature. Thus it was that the concept of...

By BILL DANIELSON

This week I have the rare pleasure of introducing you to a new species for the first time. After 27 years of reporting on my observations, I have finally acquired a photograph that I think is worthy of such an introduction. I have been exploring the...

By BILL DANIELSON

I first saw this curious little animal on June 1. It was a beautiful day outside, but the cottonwood tree that grows next to my deck was in full seed-dispersal mode and sitting outside was not really an option. Imagine a snowstorm, but the flakes of...

By TOM LITWIN

There is a stretch of road that runs north along the Connecticut River from the Whately/Hatfield line to the foot of Sugarloaf. It is no surprise its name is River Road. Leaving Northampton I often take “the river road,” the long way home. Over the...