Tag Archives: Senior Skip day

Thank You Happy Valley for the Beach Clean-up!

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A huge shout out today to the volunteers from Happy Valley for the Good Harbor Beach clean-up Saturday morning! The photo below shows Richard and Donna setting up a tent of provisions for the volunteers.

Happy Valley is the fourth group of volunteers to tackle Good Harbor Beach this spring. You may ask, does the beach need so many clean-ups? The answer is a resounding yes!

This past week was Senior Skip Day with, at one point, reportedly, approximately one thousand kids at GHB. The teens came from high schools all around Massachusetts including Brookline, Stoneham, Wakefield, and Marlborough (these are the names of the schools provided by the kids). Beginning around 9am, the kids began pouring onto GHB, and drinking right from the get-go. Fortunately, the portable bathrooms this year are open in May (thank you City!) But they ran out of toilet paper so the dunes soon became the place of choice to relieve themselves. The kids were asked repeatedly to keep out of the dunes and to clean up their trash.

By early afternoon, there was an alcohol related fender bender in the parking lot. I don’t know if this is what prompted the Gloucester Police to come but at around 3:00 pm, there were two officers on the beach breaking up the party and carrying six-packs off the beach.

Thank you to whoever called the police! The weather was lovely and warm and there were a number of families on the beach that appeared very uncomfortable around the large groups of drunk and belligerent teens.

The above photos are of how the kids left the beach, and this is after the trash had been collected into piles by volunteers and the DPW. The gulls got into some and many pieces were blown into the dunes, along the shoreline, the marsh, and all around the parking lot.

We citizens who love and treasure Good Harbor Beach do not mind sharing the beach with teens skipping school, we just don’t think they should leave their mountains of trash behind, and also relieve themselves in the dunes. We are grateful to the DPW for cleaning up the garbage and grateful to all the volunteer groups that have been coming this past spring  however, we really need to manage out trash better. Allowing it to blow into the ocean and beach habitat is simply not acceptable!

Two suggestions, and if you think of any, please share-

Hand out trash bags to beachgoers, especially large groups.

Assign an officer on the beach to give out tickets for littering. Word would get out soon enough if the fines were steep enough.

 

 

 

 

 

PIPING PLOVER UPDATE FROM GLORIOUS GOOD HARBOR BEACH – AND ADDRESSING SENIOR SKIP DAY

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There appear to be two pairs of Piping Plovers at Good Harbor however, after another week of super highs tides, powerful winds and heavy rain, our Piping Plover nest scrapes have all but disappeared. Saturday afternoon all four were foraging in the outgoing tide. Two are our original pair, a third is a bossy territorial male, and the fourth wasn’t on the scene long enough to tell. Late Sunday afternoon found all four huddled together behind mini hummocks and divots escaping the whipping wind.

The highest tide of the spring (on the night of April 16), the one that brought in the heap of ghost fishing gear to GHB and a dead Minke Whale to Folly Cove, went straight away up to the base of the dune.  That tide washed away all active nest scrapes.

Storm tide night of April 16th brought ghost gear to GHB and a Minke Whale to Folly Cove

The high tide on the night of April 29th , although not quite as high as the tide two weeks earlier in April, again washed away all active nest scrapes. Hopefully, the Good Harbor Beach Piping Plovers will catch some better weather in May!

Note- the above update was written Sunday evening. On this mild Monday morning, I found Mama and Papa back to courting and nest scraping! 

At several of the other beaches that I am filming at, the nests and scrapes have not been disturbed by the tides. Here you can see this beautiful nest with three eggs as it was thankfully spared.

Senior Skip Days – This past week there was reportedly a tremendous gathering of kids on Good Harbor Beach, for senior skip day. Thursday morning I was on the beach when about twenty or so arrived. We had several friendly conversations. They are good kids and were there simply to enjoy a fun day with their friends, something that we did not see much of last year because of the pandemic.

I was not in the least concerned for the safety of the Plovers. Because of the super high tides and as of this writing, there are currently no nests scrapes, no nests, and no chicks on the beach. Adult Plovers fly away if a person gets too close.

Later that afternoon, after reading the reports of hundreds of kids trashing the beach I stopped by again at GHB. There were again only about twenty kids. It had become so unpleasantly windy I didn’t stay long and can’t imagine the kids stayed much later. The following morning after another high tide there was only a smattering of cans and bottles half buried in the sand. I have to say, we see much, much worse harmful plastic pollution and garbage left behind on the beach by adults and families, especially after sporting events and parties, and of course, there is the ever present dog poop in plastic.

Party remnants after kid’s senior skip day – not great but we’ve all seen much, much worse…

such as the adult’s dog poop mess left at Wingaersheek Beach, May 1, 2021 

Our community has done a fantastic job in restricting pets from GHB, beginning April 1st, which makes the beach safer and cleaner for all. Joe Lucido and the Gloucester DPW are amazing in installing the symbolic roping to coincide with the Plovers arrival. These actions are the two most essential in helping Piping Plovers get off to a good start.

We are still in the midst of a global pandemic. So many of us have been isolated from our friends and family for many, many months. There will be tens of thousands of visitors to our shores this summer enjoying summer fun. People flock to Good Harbor Beach because they recognize it is a very special place. From daybreak til day’s end, everything about Good Harbor Beach is magnificent! The way the tides and wind change the landscape daily, the most glorious sunrises and rosy pink sunsets, views of the Twin Lighthouses, families strolling, sunbathing, surfing, kite flying, picnicking, volleyball playing, hikes to Salt Island, swimming (especially kids in the tidal creek!), dunes teaming with life, and the wild creatures attracted.

Once the chicks hatch, Plover Ambassadors will be on the beach throughout the day offering insights about the Plovers. I know we can all be tolerant and respectful towards each other and the wild creatures that find safe harbor at Good Harbor. I think it’s going to be a fantastic summer!

Piping Plover Ambassadors 2020