The (Not so) Rural Pennsylvanian

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  • A Spring Visit to the Willows

    The Willows Park has been featured on this blog before. It is a 47.5-acre estate purchased by Radnor Township in 1973 from the Zantzinger family. Situated at the end of a long, winding driveway is a three-story mansion. The mansion was built in 1910 by John Sinnott Jr. for his wife, and referred to as Rose Garland. The mansion and 47.5 acres that now make up the park were purchased by Clarence Geist in 1937 as a wedding present for his daughter. The estate was then called Maral Brook, which was a combination of their first names, Mary and her husband, Alfred Zantzinger. The site was renamed The Willows because of the beautiful willow trees that surround the property.

    Little Darby Creek winds through the property and is dammed to form a small pond. I have been coming to the Willows for many years. The property has been a popular spot for birding, and migrating waterfowl can sometimes be seen on the pond. It is also a spot that has been stocked for the first day of trout season. Renovation work done to the pond quite a few years ago seems to have reduced the number of birds that use it and the nearby creek. Sadly, maintenance of the mansion and cottage is inadequate. The cottage no longer seems to be in use and is falling into disrepair. The mansion sat vacant for nearly a decade. It is currently being renovated and hosts limited events. It no longer appears to be available for weddings. It was once booked years in advance for weddings. It’s hard to understand why a financially productive property like this was allowed to sit vacant and fall into disrepair.

    These geese have found some prime real estate for a nest.

    A short distance away, on Church Road, sits one of two distinctive stone “Dragon Tooth” bridges over Darby Creek. The other is near the intersection of Sugartown and Church Roads.

  • A Heron Rookery

    An interesting site along the Chester Valley Trail near Valley Forge is a great blue heron rookery. The site has been active now for several years, with birds arriving to nest in late February. The site is adjacent to two old quarries, and great blue herons can be seen flying over the nearby area.

    The birds nest together in a colony.
    An overview of most of the site.

  • Spring is Trying to “Spring”

    It feels like the season is a bit late this year. However, the early bulbs and the forsythia are finally making an effort.

    Snowdrops, The Willows in Radnor
    Daffodils and forsythia, Berwyn

    Below are some early Spring scenes from around Valley Forge.

    A lovely horse boarding farm on Yellow Springs Road.
    The Pawling Farm, part of Valley Forge National Historical Park

  • Late Winter on French Creek

    The grim winter weather continues in Chester County. I was able to get away on a Sunday to visit a few spots along French Creek.

    Rapp’s Dam Covered bridge has been featured before on this blog. This bridge is a 105-foot-long (32 m), Burr truss bridge that was constructed in 1866 by Benjamin F. Hartman. It has fieldstone abutments, horizontal siding and boxed cornices with returns at its portals. It is one of three covered bridges that cross French Creek, the others being Hall’s Bridge and Kennedy Bridge. The Rapps Bridge was renovated in 1978 and again in 2011.

    The bridge is adjacent to the French Creek Heritage Park which has picnic tables and access for the French Creek Trail.

    Snyder’ s Mill also sits in the park. It was a linseed oil mill in the 1800s, and could be the graining mill of the 1775 Continental Powder Mill Complex. In recent years, Snyder’s Mill had been on the verge of total collapse. The East Pikeland Historical Commission has stabilized the mill and is working to promote the site as a heritage tourism destination.

    A short distance upstream is the Hares Hill Road Bridge, a single-span, wrought iron, bowstring-shaped lattice girder bridge. It was built in 1869 by Moseley Iron Bridge and Roof Company and is the only known surviving example of this kind.

    This building in the Kimberton area caught my attention.

  • What a Difference a Year Makes

    Since I began learning how to do astrophotography post-processing over the past year or so, there as been a definite change for the better in the end results. I have put a few examples below. The differences are mainly down to taking an increased number of exposures per image and improvements in processing skills and software. Here are a few examples.

    The Monkey Head Nebula . I had considered this one of my fairly good images.
    Monkey Head redux, this time in Hubble Palette using Veralux Alchemy script in Siril.
    The Rosette Nebula in RGB.
    The Rosette, also strangely in RGB. More processing time and better software to bring out more blue.
    The adorable Cocoon Nebula in RGB. I was probably was too light on the star stretching here.
    The Cocoon Nebula in Hubble Palette using the Veralux Alchemy script in Siril.

    To see some truly awful astrophotography, you can go back to some of my early Hubble Challenge posts. You can find these posts by clicking on Hubble Challenge category link at the top of the page.

  • Another Smart Telescope and a Hubble Challenge Update

    Here are some new astrophotography images taken with the Seestar S30 Pro. These images were processed with only the in-app software. These photos show the wide field capability of the scope. Mosaic mode was not used, and all were cropped to some extent.

    IC 434, the Horsehead Nebula
    M 42. the Orion Nebula, with NGC 1981, the Coal Car Cluster.
    M 31, the Andromeda Galaxy with a short integration time.

    The Hubble 35th Anniversary Challenge has been completed. You can read more about the challenge here on the Night Sky page. Although I did set out to complete the gold level, I managed to earn the Gold Certificate and pin. The pin was a bonus, as I didn’t realize there was one for this program.

  • A Wintery Lock 60

    The Schuylkill River once had a navigation along its length. A few structures associated with this waterway remain – including Lock 60 at Mont Clare, Montgomery County. I visited on Valentine’s Day as part of a trip along the River to look for waterfowl. A few areas of the River that were free of ice had groups of ducks, including Hooded and Common Mergansers, Goldeneye, Mallard, Greater Scaup, Ring-necked, Bufflehead and a rarity – the Tufted Duck.

    Lock 60 is a fully restored, working lock on the Schuylkill Canal, originally built as part of the Schuylkill Navigation system. The lock is demonstrated for groups and during special events by the Schuylkill Canal Association. This lock, one of 71 originally built on the canal, was constructed in the 1820s and was originally part of the Oakes Reach. The site includes the original Locktender’s house as well as canal information and interpretation. The house is open by appointment and during special events. 

    The lock gates

    Some views of the lockkeeper’s house.

    The Locktender’s House

    Some looks along the Canal and the River – sadly no ducks were present here, as both areas were covered in ice.

  • A Few New Astrophotos

    As the weather continues to keep me indoors, I thought I’d post a few astrophotos taken with the Dwarf Mini smart telescope. Temps are on the rise, so I hope to get out this weekend to do some bird watching.

    The Rosette Nebula in Monoceros. This is an RGB photo,
    The nearly full moon.

  • A Lucky Birding Day

    This winter has been particularly harsh, with prolonged periods of below average temperatures that have kept me trapped at home when the snow fails to melt around my car. I did, however, manage to travel to a farming area in northwestern Chester County to do some birding on New Year’s weekend.

    This area is known for attracting winter migrant species that prefer open habitats, such as horned larks, Lapland longspurs, and snow buntings. I have had lucky seeing the horned larks before. This time, I saw the flocks of birds but had difficulty making out individuals with my binoculars or camera. However, a popular bird sound id app did pick up all of the species above, including the snow bunting and longspur. To access this site, one has to try to pull off by the side of the road and sit an wait. There was one other car during the time I was there. The locals must think we are crazy.

    In terms of pictures, I had to content myself with scenes of the local area.

    Gee, this farm looks familiar.
    Cows sheltering in the woods.

    I made my way home via Marsh Creek State Park. Alas, the gull photos I took there were too distant and blurry.

    A pensive scene on an overcast day.

  • A New (and Tiny) Smart Telescope

    A belated Christmas gift brought the redundantly named Dwarf Mini smart telescope my way. You can see more information about this scope here. I was interested in this telescope due to its extreme portability and the ability to get a wider field of view compared to my Seestar S50.

    Weather here this Winter has been below average in temperature and overcast. When it does clear, it has been very cold and windy. Here are some sample photos I managed to get processed with only the Stellar Studio software in the Dwarflabs app. Most of these stellar objects here have been featured in this blog before. Total integration time for most targets was about 1-2 hours.

    M31, the Andromeda Galaxy
    M45, the Pleiades
    M33, the Triangulum Galaxy
    C19, the Cocoon Nebula
    M44, the Beehive Cluster
    M35, the Shoe Buckle Cluster with NGC 2158 in the lower right
    The Eastern Veil Nebula in Cygnus

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