Nature of Delaware Blog

Delaware Nature Society started the summer iNaturalist contest on June 1 to encourage folks to visit Ashland Nature Center and use the iNaturalist app or website to record their observations. These observations are automatically pulled into the Ashland Nature Center Biodiversity iNaturalist project, where we catalogue plants and animals that observers report. Congratulations to the…

“Delaware Nature Society’s mission is to connect people with the natural world to improve our environment through education, conservation, and advocacy.” We have been following this mission statement since our founding in 1964. Every year we connect over a thousand people with nature through our adult, family and youth programs, summer camps, ecotours, and social…

After ensuring the plants and flowers in the Ashland Butterfly House were in good order, it was time to start stocking it with local butterflies. Armed with the tools of the trade, a butterfly net and a big plastic jar with a screw top lid, I set out early one hot August morning at Ashland…

Raptor photography by David Brown, Ashland Hawk Watch Coordinator You’ve probably read the headline: 3-Billion Birds Lost Since 1970. In the U.S. and Canada, many bird species in every biome have significantly declined in the last 50 years. It isn’t just obscure species in distant remote places. Common birds like the Dark-eyed Junco, White-throated Sparrow,…

Delaware Nature Society started the summer Ashland Nature Center Biodiversity iNaturalist Project contest on June 1 to encourage folks to visit Ashland Nature Center and use the iNaturalist app or website to record their observations. These observations are automatically pulled into the Biodiversity iNaturalist Project, where we catalogue plants and animals that observers report. For…

The COVID pandemic has impacted many, many aspects of our lives, but it has also impacted our environment in unexpected ways. Our state parks and preserves experienced a huge increase in visitation from people looking for safe and healthy activities outside of the home during lockdown. Ashland Nature Center was one of these welcome respites…