New Hampshire Nature Notes
by Eric Orff

With December running 11 degrees above average and January six degrees above the Suncook River out my window here remains ice free. I have lived here 37 winters and this is a first. When I first moved here in 1979 the following winter the river was used as a snowmobile trail. And that was the way it was for a couple decades. Even lake Winnipesaukee remains ice free, for the most part, as I write this,. Even the smaller lake and ponds are really not completely safe for ice now. I was ice fishing last weekend locally and we were very careful getting on to the ice but we did find about six inches of ice away from shore.

 

It was just over two week ago that the ground was completely bare. And still after two storms I have maybe four or five inches of snow on the ground here in Epsom. Not much of a winter no matter how you look at it....so far. It does seem like we are still a long way off from April though. Yet with such a mild winter to date no doubt most of our wildlife has faired pretty well this winter.

 

Though I haven't been seeing much for wildlife on the move around here. I did watch a small flock of turkeys feeding on a pile of manure in one of the local corn fields the other day. I haven't seen a deer in a while but I am seeing deer tracks roadside as I drive around so I know they are still on the move pretty much freely.

 

All in all not a bad winter for us and our wildlife.