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Ware River: The Ware River is one of the most important waterways in Worcester County in terms of supporting biodiversity. Its waters, both slow meanders and fast riffles, host a suite of rare and imperiled invertebrates as well as a rich fishery. The river's glacial history offers a facinating series of sandplain and lakebed habitats throughout its course, including sandplain grassland, level bogs, pitch pine-oak forests, and even heathland. Annual flooding provides deep alluvial soils in floodplain forests and broad meadows. Once a source of power for local mills - and nearly killed by the associated pollution - the Ware River has slowly and quietly rebounded.  Millers Pond, Barre:
Miller's Pond is on the Ware River roadside of route 122, adjacent to the Barre Landfill. It's this association with the landfill that makes the frozen pond a hot-spot for winter gulls, as sometimes hundreds of gulls roost throughout the day. Along with the more common species, Iceland, Glaucous and Lesser Black-backed Gulls have been seen here. In autumn this pond is sometimes drawn down, leaving exposed mud
flats that have attracted shorebirds like Greater Yellowlegs, Least and Solitary Sandpipers.
From
Barre Center, drive route 122 east and continue on until just before
the Oakham town-line. There is a small park pond-side, but if this is
snowbound, the shoulder should be wide enough to pull onto. If you see
a stone MDC building on the right, you have gone too far.  Veteran's memorial Bridge (Silver Bridge), Hardwick/New Braintree: The Veteran's Memorial Bridge, at the intersection of route 32 and Hardwick Road (New Braintree) offers good access to the Ware River and interesting birding year-round. There is parking on both sides of the river; at the East Quabbin Land Trust canoe launch on the west side, or in the remnant roadway that once led to the old "Silver Bridge" on the east side. Once parked, walk out onto the bridge (there's a sidewalk on the bridge). To the south are expansive corn and hay fields that border the river which are often active in spring with waterfowl and blackbirds. On the east side of these fields you will also notice a large impoundment roadside that supports an active cranberry bog. Sometimes scores of ducks can be found here in the spring, while the cattail beds near the road suggest the potential for Virginia Rails in the summer. Behind the bog is a large sandpit that often supports a small colony of Bank Swallows and a Belted Kingfisher. This is all private land, but can easily be scoped from the road and the bridge. The river itself is a great place to spot early spring migrants (often the spring's first Phoebes are seen here), and in winter there is often open water that can hold a Common Merganser or two.   |
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