My sit spot is on the Hollins campus.  It’s beside Carvins Creek a little ways up from Dana.  I chose this place because I sit there often when I’m parked between classes and I think it’s beautiful, peaceful and relatively quiet.  It’s around 20 yards off West Campus Drive and has pretty views in all directions.  It has moderate shade from tree cover and some grass/shrubs as well, and I’ve chosen to sit on a small grassy knoll below a large, old tree.

The tree I decided to sit under is interesting and is labelled “218.”  It seems to be pretty old and has a bunch of debris (old leaves, branches, other organic materials) stuck on one side about one third the way up.  It seems like this may be from when the water level of the creek was much higher and the downstream flow of the creek deposited debris on one side and it remained when the water receded.  There is also an interesting area across the creek and slightly to the left of my sit-spot where there is a runoff from the top of the hill that has created a small reservoir/deposit of water which then overflows into the creek.  The flow in the area is seemingly calm, but steady.

I saw few animals during my first session – one squirrel on a tree and multiple birds flying above which I couldn’t identify clearly.  There were few fish swimming by during the time I spent there but a few crawdads and lot of water bugs.  The air was warm and humid, maybe 80 degrees, the shade is comfortable, and the breeze was nice.  There were a number of large black ants running back and forth on two logs positioned in the creek in front of me, half-submerged.  I plan on documenting the level of the water in the creek by using these two fixed logs as a gauge in future sit-spot sessions.

I had a great time sitting quietly and documenting my observations for my first sit-spot session.  It was nice to disconnect briefly and appreciate nature – it’s been a long time since I spent time alone, listening to the natural sounds around me.  It did take a little while to completely shut my mind off and calm myself to be fully immersed in the assignment.  I found myself surprised at how loud the various insects and birds could be when you focused solely on them – we’ve all gotten used to tuning them out during daily life.  I’m looking forward to observing changes in the area this semester.

I decided to observe the two logs in the stream to see if they can be successfully used as a gauge for water levels in the creek.  I plan to take a picture of the logs each time I’m in my sit-spot to compare.  I’m also planning on observing berries on the tree I sit in front of, they’re green right now, so I’m wondering if they’ll bloom in fall and change color possibly.  I haven’t been able to identify the tree yet using online sources, but I hope to get more information about it the next time I sit to hopefully pin down the species.  Lastly, I’m going to observe small plants that are popping up all around the sit spot.  They don’t blend in with the grass and are something different, almost look like baby shrubs.