This was a second Footpaths visit to Conservancy Park – a selection driven by windy weather, proximity to home during a week with time constraints, and a hope that we would catch early spring migratory birds heading north, traveling through this birding hotspot.

The park is on a reclaimed gravel mine and features wetlands and ponds. Two trails wind around the paired ponds. The Lake Loop Trail is more open with a constant view onto the larger of the lakes.

The Lee McNeely Birding Trail arises off the Lake Loop and winds through a more wooded landscape.

Leaving the parking area the trail transitions from gravel to grass, where we were treated to flowers blooming in the lawn in the picnic area. It was the time of year when the first signs of spring bring excitement to an outing.

Persian Speedwell and Red Deadnettle – while both of these are non-natives and considered somewhat invasive, they are forageable for use in salads and as cooked greens. It is believed that both plants were brought to North America for their medicinal use in colonial days.

Heading down to the larger lake we saw some evidence of beaver that we had noted on our last visit. Clustered along the shore were sections of Box-elder trunks that had been stripped of their bark for food. Box-elder is an ideal tree for beaver as it thrives near water and, when cut down, sends up rapidly growing side shoots that will be available as a future food source.

As we continued on the trail we noted a big change from our last visit here. In February 2022, we found a localize area of Scouring Rush. Now there are much more extensive groupings along the western sections of both trails.

Scouring Rush is a primitive plant that occurs in wetlands in the northern hemisphere around the world. It reproduces by rhizomes (root spread) and by spores. The spores form in the cone shaped strobilus that develops at the tips of the stems. We find their symmetry and coloration fascinating. Scouring Rushes contain silica, which made them useful as an early form of abrasive – hence the name scouring.

The smaller of the two ponds, contrasting with the openness of the larger one, is nestled in a narrow valley. It also showed evidence of beaver activity.

On this section of the McNeely trail, the path winds through a young wood. It was unclear if the sloping hillsides were the natural terrain or the result of the past gravel operations.

The McNeely Trail eventually leaves the wood and takes you to a meadow where our Merlin Bird ID app told us we were hearing Meadowlarks from the surrounding trees, although we did not see them.

We were now on the opposite side of the larger lake and we could see the collection of timber that made up the beaver lodge on the far bank. Beaver are generally nocturnal and not often seen during the day.

A side trail gave us a nice look onto Middle Creek, an outstanding waterway that is featured at the nearby hiking venue Middle Creek Park.

From there we headed back to the parking area on a section of trail that overlooked a neighboring farm pasture.

Odds and Ends:

This Velvet Mite was about the size of a sesame seed. We enjoyed watching it scurry among the leaf litter. They themselves are predators, keeping insect and arthropod populations in check. Such bright red coloration is unusual in the natural world and it is felt that it signals to would be predators that they taste bad.

We found a pair of Cricket Frogs on their way to the pond. They were about the size of a quarter. The warty skin and the dark triangle on the top of the head between the eyes are its identifying features.

We’ve commented on the evidence that we have seen of beaver at this park. One thing that was interesting is that in all my years of hiking I had never seen any signs of wildlife feeding on invasive Bush Honeysuckle. That was until this day where we saw where a couple of branches from a specimen had been removed by beaver.

Interesting plant finding of the day – as we walked along the fence row on the eastern aspect of the park we noted some small trees that held these appendages.

I was perplexed. I was not familiar with any deciduous tree that had this shaped fruiting structure. A little further on we saw more of them on a tree that had whispy branches characteristic of the willow family.

With the help of the internet I had my answer – Pinecone Willow Gall. So this detailed structure is the result of an insect, the Pinecone Willow Gall Midge, laying eggs in the leaf bud of willow trees – in this case Black Willow Trees. Like other galls formed by insects, when the eggs hatch, the larvae secrete a chemical (hormone) that causes tissues that would have gone on to form leaves, to instead form this detailed structure that resembles a small pine cone. Generally galls of most species are a rather nondescript growth – the fine definition of this Pinecone Gall is unique. As an aside, writing pine cone as either one word or two is considered acceptable.

In summary, our quick visit to Conservancy Park was a fun little jaunt. While we did not see the migratory birds that we were hoping to, we did find, and unravel the mystery of, Pinecone Willow Galls, something that we had not seen before. That is one of the glories of hiking, you never really know what you might find, and everyday can be a day of learning. From hiking venues large to small, there is a lot waiting to be discovered.

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Photo credits to Peggy Juengling Burns.

Overview:

Location – 5820 Burlington Pike, Burlington, Kentucky, 23 miles southwest of Downtown Cincinnati.

Parking – Large well maintained gravel lot.

Facilities – Porto-let in the parking area.

Trail Conditions – largely grass or bare dirt in good condition. The trail we took totaled about 1.3 miles.

Benches – Numerous

Picnic Tables – Numerous, mostly sheltered.

Kids – Kids four and over should do well.

Dogs – Welcomed on a 6 foot leash.

Paired Hiking Trails – None at Conservancy Park but Boone Bluffs, Middle Creek Park, and Dinsmore Woods are within a couple of miles and have excellent wooded trails.

Links:

https://www.boonecountyky.org/departments/parks/conservancy_park_belleview.php

https://www.thebooneconservancy.org/lee-mcneely-birding-trail.html