Planned events have been cancelled during the COVID-19 Emergency. To keep us all healthy, respect the rules of SOCIAL DISTANCING:
Stay at least 6 feet from others.
Keep dogs away from others as well.
Wear face masks when near others.
For announcements of future events at Arlington’s Great Meadows, please sign up to the Google group through the Contact page. You will then receive news and updates about our events, including weather-related cancellations and reschedulings. This is a very low volume moderated list, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
- Scouts Carry Out Boardwalk Repair
October was a big month for boardwalk repair work at Arlington’s Great Meadows.
The first project was the total replacement of a forty+ foot section of boardwalk that was sitting at ground level and had rotted out and fallen apart over the last twenty years. It is now sitting on plastic sleepers above the ground level to keep the wood dry and should last at least another twenty plus years. This was an Eagle Scout project organized by Conall Schuette of Arlington Scout Troop 306 and completed over the weekend of October 3-5.
The second project was the replacement of individual boards that were rotting out in the Lily Pond Boardwalk. This was carried out by Scouts of Troop 313 and various adults on the somewhat rainy day of Monday October 13. Altogether over forty damaged treads were replaced and the old wood hauled away.
It is the work of volunteers such as these who maintain Arlington’s Great Meadows as a safe and enjoyable outdoor space. And special thanks to Greg Shenstone who organized and facilitated much of this effort.
David White for the Friends of Arlington’s Great Meadows, 10/18/25: www.FoAGM.org
- CLC WALKS – FALL 2025
Many walks are scheduled this Fall by the Citizens for Lexington Conservation. Check the website: (https://clclex.org/events/ ) for details, registration, updates and cancellation.
Registration is not necessary unless specifically mentioned in the walk notes. Walks will be canceled in case of steady rain/snow, unless otherwise noted. No dogs, except certified service dogs.
- Thursday September 25. The Moth Ball at Willards Woods.
- Saturday September 27. Willards Woods: A Brief Journey Through a Historic Landscape.
- Sunday October 5. Across Lexington Route N.
- Saturday October 11. Fauna and Flora of Arlington’s Great Meadows.
- Sunday October 12. Goat Pasture Walk at Chiesa Farm.
- Saturday October 18. Across Lexington Route A.
- Sunday October 19. Edible Plants – Fall Edition.
- Saturday October 25. Fall Bird Walk at the Arlington Reservoir and Lexington Community Farm.
- Sunday November 9. iNaturalist Observation Walk at Joyce Miller Meadow.
- Saturday November 29. Turkey Trot Walk – Willards Woods/Chiesa Farm
- MWRA Water Main Project and Bikeway Closure
2025/2026 MWRA Water Main Relay Project
The MWRA will re-lay the water main in Maple Street, and the Minuteman Bikeway (next to AGM) as well as a small section of East Mass Ave. Work will begin after Memorial Day on the Lowell St end of Maple Street and work towards the bike path. Work begins June 2nd.
Work will be done in 2 phases:
- Phase 1 along Maple Street and East Mass Ave (Spring, Summer, and Fall 2025)
- Phase 2 along the MMBW (Fall-Winter 2025-2026) For this phase the bike path will be closed and users of the path will be directed to Mass Ave, There will be a dedicated bike lane set up on Mass Ave between Bow Street and Maple St during this time.
Roads are expected to remain open with alternating one way traffic at times. Construction hours are generally Monday-Friday from 7am to 5pm. Any road closures and detours will be posted on this page as well as the Engineering Construction Impacts webpage.
- AGM Rapid Response Crew at Work
On Monday local steward Holly Samuels reported a tree down across the path from Fottler to Brandon.
On Tuesday morning our rapid response stewards (Greg Shenstone and David Markun) came by and cleared the path.
Now it’s all clear again!
- Natural Histories from Arlington’s Great Meadows – Common Organisms – The Common Drone Fly
As of December 2024, iNaturalist has documented 674 species submitted by 122 observers at AGM, a mix of native, introduced, and invasive plants and animals. https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/arlington-s-great-meadows
Of these 674 species, few are considered rare. Finding a rare organism is exciting, but increasingly unlikely in our suburban area. Most of AGM’s residents are common.
So the question is, why?
Here is one of AGM’s most common inhabitants, the Common Drone Fly, Eristalis tenax, also common worldwide. What is the secret of its success?Not what it seems
At first glance, it can be mistaken for a honeybee, which is no accident. It’s a Batesean mimic, a common strategy used by defenseless insects to avoid predation by resembling another insect, in this case the honeybee with its painful sting. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batesian_mimicry
A closer look at E. tenax reveals its fly identity — big eyes and tiny antenna, a thick “waist”, and two wings instead of four, as in bees and wasps. Males have larger eyes that meet at the top of the head, perhaps as an aid to finding females. E. tenax is a “flower fly”, also known as hover flies or syrphid flies. Like E. tenax, many are mimics of bees or wasps. They are also known for their exceptional flight, able to hover in mid air on nearly invisible wings, and disappear in a moment.
E. tenax is also common because its larva are not fussy. Larvae of of E. tenax live in polluted water such as drainage ditches, sewage, and other places where water is rich in organic matter the larva feeds on. Consequently, this medium has low oxygen content — a problem, because oxygen is required for the larva’s growth and survival. It has adapted by utilizing a siphon on its hind end (“rat-tail”) to access oxygen at the water’s surface, giving it its common name, “rat-tailed maggot”.
Complete metamorphosis
Like all flies and many other insects, E. tenax has multiple incarnations throughout its life, known as complete metamorphosis: egg, larva, pupa and adult. This radical yet ancient strategy for utilizing required resources at each stage of life is possible because of their relatively simple body plan and essential because of seasonal availabilities of resources and conditions for survival. For larvae, it’s all about eating — growing as quickly as possible. The pupal stage is a sort of super-charged puberty, completely rebuilding its body in its transition to adulthood. The adult fly is all about dispersal and reproduction, and its diet is mostly limited to nectar from flowers, made possible because of the more substantial diet of the maggot — as if in childhood, one ate only dinner, and in adulthood, only dessert.
The easy life
Like bees, the flower nectar-seeking habit of E. tenax and other flower flies makes them important pollinators. Bees need to collect pollen for their offspring and devote much of their time to raising their young and in the case of social bees, maintaining their colonies. Not so for the flower flies. Once the eggs are laid, the fly’s work is done.
References
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/arlington-s-great-meadows
https://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/livestock/rat-tailed_maggot.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eristalis_tenax
https://www.syrphidae.com/name.php?id=0000ffcf-2e29-45b1-8da2-ed13eebbb650
https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/17482/521.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=yInformation provided by FoAGM volunteer Andrea Golden