The First Annual Middleborough-Lakeville Herring Run Festival

This is the weekend of the Middleborough-Lakeville Herring Run Festival at Oliver Mills Park. On Saturday it ran from 10 AM to 4 PM and on Sunday it will be open from 11 AM to 4 PM. At the town hall in Middleborough tonight from 7 o'clock on their will be a magic show and music at a cost of $10 per adult and $25 per family up to six.

I arrived in the morning while I was setting up and got to talk with a number of the vendors and exhibitors which included community and government vendors and exhibitors, food vendors, and all of the mill business vendors and exhibitors. There was something for everyone. There was music in talks for the adults, face painting for the children and of course the herring running up the Nemasket River. The children were having a great time trying to capture a herring.

Nature Conservatory

Town of Middleborough

Jellies for sale

Natural Dough

Facepainting

watching the herring

Children trying to catch herring

Children trying to catch herring

Children trying to catch herring

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Lecture about the history of Oliver Mill

Paul and Judy singers

If you get a chance tomorrow go and visit the festival and have a great time. The weather should be great in the food and drinks that are available wonderful.

Spring and the Herring Have Arrived

Oliver Mills Park at the junction of Route 44 and Nemansket St., Middleborough, MA

On the second day of Spring the herring finally showed up at Oliver Mill Park in Middleboro Massachusetts. Talking with a member of the Lakeville-Middleboro Fisheries Commission, he told me that he saw one herring down at the fish ladder yesterday.  The problem will be starting on Sunday 3/23 the temperature will be in the 30's degrees or lower and the herring will wait in the deep holes of the Taunton river  until the temperature rises and the water gets warmer. .

Oliver Mill Park is a great place to visit. There are picnic tables so you can enjoy a lunch or a snack. There are remnants of the old mill and for you photographers, when the herring start running you can photograph gulls and great blue herons feeding plus photograph the herring jumping to get over the dam to make their way up to their breeding area in Assawompsett. If you are into macro photography, Ebony Jewelwing Damselflies and other interesting subjects are present when the weather gets warmer.

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To photograph the herring you can use a polarizing filter on your lens to cut down the glare from the water or use a underwater camera and place it down into the water and fire away.

At the end of the second bridge on the right if you look down there is a pool where the herring congregate prior to them trying to jump up over the dam and is a good place to photograph the having

Herring in the pool

This is the easier way for the herring to make it up the Nemansket River

 On April 11-13 the commission's have in the first annual Herring Run Festival. More information can be found at facebook.com/herringfriends. Hope to see you there

Ebony Jewelwing - Caloptryx maculata

Ebony Jewelwing - male, notice how the body color seems mainly green

Ebony Jewelwing - Caloptryx maculata is unique in that it is the only damselfly in the Northeast are entirely black wings.  Ebony Jewelwing are one of the hundred and 66 North American damselflies and dragonflies that are found in Massachusetts.  Starting in June every year, I find the Ebony Jewelwing hovering around the waters of the Nemasket River at Oliver Mill Park in Middleborough, Massachusetts.  Ebony Jewelwings flutter like a butterfly and show brilliant flashes of colors.  It size ranges between 1.5 to 2.5 inches.  The male of the species has a brilliant blue-green color and black wings with the female being a dull, a Brown body and smokey wings, which have glistening white spots near the tip of the wings.  They are normally found near wooded streams and rivers, though occasionally they can be found in the middle of the woods.  Ebony Jewelwings will prey on many species mosquitoes, Beatles, and even of the dragonflies and damselflies, and they in turn are prey to other types insects, frogs fish and birds.  The males are territorial, driving other males away, and there will flutter in a courtship display for females.

So the next time you are out, keep your eyes open for this easily identified damselfly.

Ebony Jewelwing - male, notice how the body color as it is back lit seems mainly blue

Ebony Jewelwing - female, fluttering her wings, noticed the white spots at the tip of the wings

Ebony Jewelwing - female, notice that the wings are wings, not black as in the male

Snow, Ice and Water

Water, Snow and Ice

Tuesday, after I left Plymouth on the way home I stopped at Oliver Mills Park in Middleborough Massachusetts to observe how the area was looking after the snow and freeze that we have had. One of the nicest things of the day, was that the sky was brightly overcast and I did not have to worry about harsh shadows since I was arriving close to midday. There was ice where the waters of the Nemasket River were flowing over the dams, which lent those areas to various photographic interpretations. Here are mine.

Close-up of water drops as the water rushes through a narrow opening. This photograph was obtained by leaning over the railing and utilizing my 70 to 200 lens for the close-up

Black and White processed photograph of water flowing over the dam with snow and ice

Water rushing through ice and snow

Panoramic View

 Video showing the force of the water