I had a chance to visit my forest in mid-January for three days, the second day of which a winter storm passed through depositing over a foot of snow. The steep roads leading to the forest were unnavigable by 4WD, so on the third day I ended up trudging up there on foot. It was freezing, my boots were constantly full of snow, and I very nearly lost my drone due to high winds, but it was worth it! "Special" Island In the northern section of Lot B, two streams flow from west to east, almost, but not quite, converging at one point before they leave my property and continue on downhill. These streams are shown in the drone picture above as black ribbons against the snowy background. Near the NE corner of Lot B, the northernmost stream divides into two before it recombines again and flows under the old logging road at the corner. The raised land between these two streamlets contains my largest Yellow Buckeye by far, and also my largest Sweet Birch by far. Just west of this island, just within the boundary at the NE corner of Lot B, I found what I was 85% sure was my largest Scarlet Oak by far (later to be discovered it is probably a weird Northern Red Oak, or a hybrid). In general, it seems that many of my most special tree specimens grow very close to the borders of my lots. Mature Yellow Buckeye (Aesculus flava) I caught a glimpse of this one from a distance during my autumn visit and suspected it was a Yellow Buckeye. I can now 100% confirm it: firstly the bark is very characteristic, and secondly I found a couple of seed pods with old hollowed out nuts inside. There is a smaller specimen right next to it, and a medium sized one further upstream.
The Yellow Buckeye in the picture below is from further upstream. In the upper left of the picture is a very large Blackgum that is just inside the boundary of Lot B.
Mature Sweet Birch (Betula lenta) This tree grows very near the mature Yellow Buckeye on "Special" Island. At first I couldn't identify it from the trunk which is much stouter, darker, and scalier than the many other Sweet Birch specimens on Lots A and B. However, I found a few characteristic leaves lying at its base, and looking up into the branches I could see characteristic seed clusters. The only other species of birch supposedly growing in this region is Yellow Birch, but that species has very different bark (I haven't seen one of these yet in this subdivision).
Mature Scarlet Oak (Quercus coccinea) - probably NOT! I was 85% convinced of this one. The first thing I noticed was a sprinkling of acorns on the ground, these acorns having classic Scarlet Oak dimensions (cup covering about half of the nut), although the scales on the cup seemed less "varnished" and "merged together" than those from the confirmed Scarlet Oaks on Lot A. The second thing I noticed was the bark which looked like a Northern Red Oak in its upper reaches, i.e. vertical streaks, but was much more blocky towards the base, characteristic of a Scarlet Oak. The third thing I noticed were the dead leaves at its base. They were all deeply divided, more than halfway to the central vein, which is characteristic of a Scarlet Oak, but the number of lobes was "about" nine, as opposed to the usual seven on a Scarlet Oak (hard to distinguish lobes from sub-lobes though). I had to wait for summer to compare sun and shade leaves before I could make a definitive conclusion. If it had been confirmed as a Scarlet Oak, it would have been by far my biggest one. On my June 2022 visit, I looked up at the canopy and unfortunately observed that most of the leaves were not very deeply divided, although some of the leaves in the upper canopy were. Overall, the leaves seemed to be more similar to a Northern Red Oak than a Scarlet Oak - perhaps it is a hybrid.
Biggest Blackgums (Nyssa sylvatica) A couple of months ago, surveyors found an iron pin marking the true NE corner of Lot A, giving me about 15 feet more land to the east than I thought I had (based on an offset pin that was previously thought to be the corner pin). By carefully comparing my drone pictures with online satellite maps overlaid with the plat, I can confirm that a giant Blackgum tree grows more or less on the border with the adjacent lot to the east.
Another very big Blackgum grows just upstream from the Eastern Hemlock (discussed next). This one is just inside the northern boundary of Lot B.
Decent Sized Eastern Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) Following the northernmost stream in Lot B, uphill towards the west, I came across a decent sized Eastern Hemlock tree. Like the Blackgum tree discussed above, this tree seems to be growing right on the border with Lot C. There are very few Hemlock trees elsewhere in the subdivision, and the few larger ones seem to be almost dead. However, this one still has a fair amount of leaves and no signs of trunk decay, although it is a bit sparse. A set of leaves on the ground revealed that it is infested with hemlock woolly adelgid, an Asian bug related to aphids which sucks the life out of and kills hemlock trees within a few years. Next time I visit, hopefully in spring, I planned to treat the tree to get rid of this pest before it is too late.
The drone picture below shows the Eastern Hemlock from above (the pale green vegetation in the mid/upper right of the picture) and the stream it grows next to. The red spot is a red plastic sheet I put down to mark the boundary with the adjacent Lot so it is visible by drone (I found a boundary rebar hiding under the bush just next to it).
The northernmost stream of Lot B is shown in the picture below.
The eastern reaches of my two streams in the NE corner of Lot B are shown in the picture below. The "special" island is visible where the stream on the right splits in two. The stream on the left remains totally unexplored - an adventure awaiting my next visit.
Spotted a large fallen tree from the sky in Lot B. Perhaps this fell in the storm the day before.
A drone view of the NW corner of Lot B is shown below. The pine and reddish tinged tree on the upper left are just outside the western boundary. My northernmost stream runs from the top-right of the picture to the bottom-right. A tiny orange dot in the upper right corner marks the NW corner of Lot B - I spotted the almost buried rebar poking out of a small outcrop in the middle of the stream and tied some orange ribbons around it.
I found an exceedingly shaggy-barked tree to the south of my inner (southern) stream in Lot B. Looking at the branches, the twigs are oppositely positioned, indicating that it is likely a maple, probably just a very shaggy Red Maple (confirmed in summer to be the case).
Below is a wintery scene at northern end of Lot B, looking across into Lot C and showing the Yellow Buckeye tree in the middle, and one of the streamlets at the bottom.
Below is a view of my inner stream on Lot B, and the raised land that separates it from the northern stream.
Exploration of Lot C Although I had not yet purchased Lot C in January 2022, I did a bit of exploration of the small grove of Eastern White Pines (Pinus strobus) in the NW corner. A few pictures are shown below. Obviously, they are much more visible in the winter than any other time of the year.
The picture below shows the pine trees that are contained inside the NW corner of Lot C. Three large ones and a few smaller ones. These are the only pines of any decent size in all three lots.