Breakheart nature tour a sign of spring

SAUGUS – About 30 kids and their parents huddled around a half-dozen small holes dug in the sand on the shore of Peckham Pond in Camp Nihan in Saugus Wednesday morning.Several small pieces of eggshells were scattered around the area, and Lynn Hildenbrand of the Department of Conservation and Recreation picked them up and passed them around for the kids to feel.?The snapping turtles come up around May and they lay their eggs in the sand,” said Hildenbrand. “It?s not like a brittle egg like what we?re used to eating in the morning, they?re more leathery and reptilian.”The holes in the sand were the remnants of last year?s snapping turtle hatching, and one of the first stops on Thursday?s Signs of Life nature walk at Camp Nihan.?They lay their eggs all summer in the warm sun, then they come out toward the end of the summer,” said Hildenbrand.Hildenbrand then showed the group several animal tracks along the shore left by racoons, deer and geese.The DCR runs Camp Nihan, which is a 65-acre environmental education camp next to Breakheart Reservation, which features a wooded forest, a marsh and several small ponds and hiking trails. Hildenbrand said scout groups can also camp out there, either in tents or in one of the three cabins the DCR maintains.From the pond, Hildenbrand led the group along the Saugus River, where she pointed out a healthy group of cattails growing on the banks. Hildenbrand said this means the water in the area is very clean. However, if phragmites had been growing, which are similar to cattails but considered a weed, it would mean that salt and other pollutants are getting into the water.It was in this area she came across a blooming blueberry bush.?If there?s something for an animal to eat, there?s probably an animal around,” said Hildenbrand. “We have yet to get a blueberry because they?re going to get them before I do. We can see we have some blooms, so it will be up to how much rain we get to see whether we get nice juicy berries or a shrivelly old bush.”The group then came upon Frog Pond, where Hildenbrand had the kids quietly approach the water to spy on the turtles sunning on the rocks.Farther down from the pond sat the remnants of an old cranberry bog, where Hildenbrand said farmers installed a lock to control the flow of water into the bog more than 100 years ago.Saugus resident Ann Condon was with her 13-year-old daughter Amariah and said they try to visit Breakheart Reservation as much as they can.?We walk Breakheart every day and we think it?s a national treasure, it?s just beautiful,” said Condon. “My daughter has been in Mass Audubon for years and we go to as many Breakheart activities as we can. It really supports the sciences.”Amariah said she first got into bird-watching from having a garden in their backyard.?My mom and I like watching the birds,” she said.Marianne Downing is from Reading and said her husband and her two kids, a 5-year-old and a 6-year-old, love nature walks.?We?ve never gone on a guided one,” said Downing. “I figured it would be a lot of examples of things and things for kids to touch. That?s key to keeping their attention at that age. Even if they get bored, there?s something new they?re not expected every once in a while. I?m wondering what she?s going to show us, whether it?s a dam or a bridge. And it?s free which, in this economy, is good.”Calvin Scrivner, 9, of Lynn, was with his mom and said he was having a lot of fun Thursday.?I?m learning a lot of new things and seeing cool things like beaver dams,” said Scrivner.Hildenbrand said she gives tours on request, and any group who wants to take a nature walk can email her at [email protected] Tempesta can be reached at [email protected].