This field trip will visit the Hog Island Wildlife Management Area. To access we will need to pass through security at the Surry Power Station.
All participants will need a valid ID, i.e. drivers license, state ID, etc. We stress this. Some folks left their ID behind because they were riding in someone else's car and were unable to continue through.
Participants will also need one of the following to access the property:
-valid hunting or fishing license
-DWR day pass
-Restore the Wild annual pass
Licenses can be purchased online at dwr.virginia.gov/licenses
Hog Island is actually a 3,908-acre peninsula that juts into the brackish waters of the James River, creating a mosaic of tidewater habitats that include marsh, tidal channels, swamp, and beach. Agricultural fields and loblolly pine forests surround freshwater sources such as Lawnes Neck and Lower Chippokes Creek. This diversity of habitats, including the large shallow impoundments of Fishhouse Bay and Homewood Creek, attract a vast number of birds, and an exploration of the area will produce a large number of species at any time of the year. Birding the area effectively requires leaving the main road and striking off on foot along the trails that separate the peninsula’s major impoundments. Over 30 species of waterfowl and 35 species of shorebirds have been recorded at Hog Island, largely from the wetlands at the northern end of the peninsula. Birding the Carlisle Tract, south of the power plants, gives access to upland communities absent further north. Winter, perhaps the most interesting time to bird this site, brings an assortment of different birds including snow buntings, flocks of snow geese, bufflehead, mergansers, ring-necked and ruddy ducks, and large numbers of bald eagles.
We will meet in the parking lot in front of the guard house at 7:30 and carpool from there. The address to the parking lot is 5570 Hog Island Rd., Surry, 23883. Note: all vehicles going through the gate will be inspected by armed guards, since we pass through Dominion's Nuclear Power Plant. The plant office has the only restrooms on the property.
The access road is 2 miles long with views of the James River. We can stop along the route and bird. Parking is allowed in designated areas only. There are impoundments we can walk out around. It's not a difficult out and back walk.
Don't forget to bring your ID!
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