Patrolled Page Brook - Zone 3

July 21 - Patrolled part of Page Brook from grid 3674 and 3663 to the entrance of the Channel. Ran into Maria and the Burkes as they were doing a training session so Page Brook got well covered today.

In addition to the usual cast of characters including Bur-reed, Thread grass, Bladderwort, White water lillies, Spatterdock, Pond weeds, Floating-heart, Pipewort and some nice Pickerelweed that still had its flowers I saw some native naiad in grid 3752. The leaves were fine and I did not see any serrations on the leaves that would suggest the invasive species (see photo below).

The majority of the Bladderwort (and there is a lot of it) is Common bladderwort (Utricurlaria vulgarisms) but I also saw a different species, Large purple bladderwort (Utricularia purpurea) in grid 3673. It initially had me concerned since the leaves were arranged in whorls that were well spaced along the stem so it looked a bit like Fan-wort or Milfoil. After carefully cutting a piece I could clearly see the bladders which for this species are located at the tips of the leaves (see photo below).