Where it was stinking muck. We Walk on Clean Sand Ducks in Flight and then one night Frank went fishing.

Where there were None There are Thousands. Creek Dredging cost us 3 months in sales. But the Clean water we now get was worth it ! We Provide Nesting Sites for Osprey

Here is the story about the ongoing environmental impovements around our Headquarters Ranch. It even impresses me!

When we started raising oysters the area around our dock was knee deep in black stinking muck. Now we leave footprints in the sand. A friend who is a pilot recently dropped by with a startling photo. It showed riples in the sand covering our entire cove. I'd scan the picture for you but it is 3 times the size of my scanner! The area that is sand bottom has expanded to about 6 acres!

When we got started the fishing was pretty lousy to. One of our stockholders came by to get in a little fishing. He and I spent 5 hours and only caught two 9" Croakers. In recent years we have gotten 7 or maybe it is 9 certificates in Maryland's Department of Natural Resources for fish caught from the dock!. They include a 9" Spot, 12" White Perch, 17.5" Croaker, and a 24.5" Trout (weakfish)! Obviously the birds have figured it out. There are lots more of them!. We now have a Kingfisher, Loons, and a pair of Bald Eagles sit on a tree in sight of the dock on most sunny winter days. Green Herons raise their young nearby and teach them to hunt on our oyster floats. We have wathced Blue Herons dancing as they sparred for the right to fish here. I wathced in amazement as a LESSER Snowy Egret positioned an 8 or 9" White Perch in his bill and then swallowed it. The fish was twice the size of his head! Last year we had a rare Bluebill Duck that hung around the dock for over a month and slept on an oyster float at night.

Enough about birds lets talk aboutkids. A couple of years ago, we brought a group of 4th graders to the dock. They went through six oyster bags collecting the animals in them. They counted the shrimp, mud crabs, and small fish and squeezed the seasquirts. The AVERAGE bag contained 65 grass shrimp, 74 mud crabs, and 41 small fish. No wonder there are bigger fish around!

I can't imagine what this year will bring but I am sure of one thing. I will continue to marvel at the wonders of nature and the changes taking place.

It takes a lot of fish to feed these hungry chicks

But momma is up to the task once pappa catches them