A Determined Master Naturalist
Before CRLC could be the recipient of a conservation easement from a donor on its own, Catharine Tucker was determined to protect her family property of 70+ acres in Hanover County from future development! CRLC, therefore partnered with The Land Trust of Virginia to co-hold Catharine’s easement. Tucker’s faith in CRLC opened the opportunity for CRLC to learn from an accredited land trust on best practices, securing for staff the hard-to-come-by experience of directing a conservation easement donation from start to finish.
This lovely land is all forested except for a modest home, in Upper Coastal Plain mesic hardwoods of oak, hickory, tulip poplar, and beech with holly, dogwood and sweet pepper-bush. The extensive drainages and wetland bottoms across the property flow to the southern property boundary and are part of the headwaters of the Pamunkey River, “a priority freshwater conservation area for Ms. Tucker and a freshwater river system largely unaltered by impediments. This river and its tributaries support extensive and diverse freshwater wetlands, marshes, and forests, including globally rare plant species.
Ms. Tucker is a Certified Master Naturalist who enjoys observing and recording the natural world on her property. She has observed myriad of species resident on or using this property:
Birds:
- Pileated woodpecker
- Red-bellied woodpecker
- Downy woodpecker
- Hairy woodpecker
- Yellow-bellied sapsucker
- Flicker
- Northern cardinal
- Tufted titmouse
- Carolina chickadee
- Carolina wren
- Winter wren
- Great crested flycatcher
- Wood thrush
- Catbird
- Red-eyed vireo
- Scarlet tanager
- Goldfinch
- Indigo bunting
- Ruby-throated hummingbird
- Red-breasted nuthatch
- White-throated sparrow
- Junco
- Hermit thrush
- Multiple warbler species
- Swainson’s thrush
- Northern waterthrush
- Wild turkey
- Turkey vulture
- Black vulture
- Great horned owl
- Barred owl
- Red-shouldered hawk
- Red-tailed hawk
- Cooper’s hawk
Mammals:
- Fox
- Raccoon
- Gray squirrel
- Chipmunk
- Possum
- Skunk
- Groundhog
- Whitetail deer
Amphibians:
- Green frog
- cricket frog
- gray tree frog
Reptiles
- Box turtle
- Eastern fence swift
- Five-lined skink
- Blue-tailed skink
- Black rat snake
- Brown snake
- Eastern garter snake
- Copperhead
Bugs & Insects
- Numerous beetles, bugs, bees, moths and butterflies, including the zebra swallowtail which requires pawpaw, thankfully growing in abundant here.
This diversity of native wildlife species testifies to the value of this property as breeding and wintering habitat and a migration or travel corridor.
