Abrams Creek Wetlands Preserve Bird and Nature Walks
Sat, Sep 28
|Abrams Creek Preserve
Join naturalist Jim Smith for an easy level walk, approx. 2 miles along the Abrams Creek Wetland Preserve. Meet at the entrance at the intersections of Jubal Early Dr, Meadow Branch Ave and Handley Ave. Bring water, binoculars & friends! Cancelled in the event of rain No RSVP needed!
Time & Location
Sep 28, 2024, 8:30 AM – 10:30 AM EDT
Abrams Creek Preserve , W Jubal Early Dr, Winchester, VA 22601
About the event
About Abrams Creek Wetland
The 25-acre Abrams Creek Wetlands Preserve in Winchester, VA is a calcareous muck fen and home to over 300 plant species and 200 kinds of birds. Twenty of the Preserve’s plant species appear on Virginia’s Rare Plants List, including two species found nowhere else in the Commonwealth. In addition, no other limestone-floored wetland in Virginia has as many rare plants as Winchester’s wetlands. The Abrams Creek Wetlands are diverse. It includes marshes, which are sunny and covered by grasses and wildflowers, and swamps which are shady and filled with trees and shrubs. The Preserve’s significant plants live in the sun-filled marshes.
Calcareous muck fens take 10,000 years to form naturally and like other wetlands, they capture pollutants, keeping them out of drinking water. Because of their limestone bedrock, low acidity, and high nutrient levels, calcareous fens are one of the rarest natural communities in the U.S. Mineral-rich groundwater and a sun-filled habitat allow distinct species of plants to thrive.