Relieve Stress through Nature in these Difficult Times

Walking our beautiful Land Trust properties will help with your stress level! While we all must be practicing social distancing, getting out in nature has wonderful benefits. Fresh air and exercise won’t cure a virus, but it will help improve one’s mental health and provide much needed exercise for those of us feeling “cabin fever.”

Whether exploring the trails of Ephraim Hunt Ministerial Land, Mason Street, or Reynolds Ave conservation lands, you will find much to see and hear around you. Woodland wildflowers bloom in April on the forest floor before the trees leaf out. Look for skunk cabbage growing taller along the edges of ponds. Red maples, common along our swamps, will have brilliant crimson flowers to brighten the landscape.

Watch for painted turtles basking on sunny logs in the many wetlands. Listen for the long trill of American toads mixed in with the loud sleigh-bell chorus of spring peepers. Many birds are back in April such as the eastern towhee often seen scratching for food in the leaf litter. Listen for its “drink your tea” song. House wrens singing their musical chattering songs might be observed exploring old woodpecker holes for nesting sites. Pine warblers and yellow-rumped warblers will be heard singing in April. Be sure to bring binoculars to observe the colorful parade of birds migrating through the wonderful green spaces of Rehoboth. Preserving green spaces is an important mission of the Land Trust. We hope we will gain your support to preserve what so many of us need and cherish in these difficult times.