By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger. Reporting from the west end of Wesley Lake right near the Windmill.
The Indians used to fish for food here, but now the modern residents of the area walk over for a hot dog and fries.
You might be surprised as to how many people enjoy Wesley Lake; not only those who live lakeside, but those who walk along Lake Avenue (both sides) or cross those two bridges, especially when the weather is warm.
We even heard from a resident of those A. Park condominiums who enjoys his views of the Lake. It is ironic that the Condoburians who live in those stylish southern A. Park residences have a better view across the Lake, thanks to Ocean Grove’s architectural loveliness, than the reciprocal view from OG north.
Our reporter Stephen walks his dog Pooja along the Lake on most mornings and he reports back on beautiful homes, interesting people, and animals including birds. Since Ted Bell sensitized us to the wildlife issues there, we have been finding lots to talk about.
Today Stephen spotted a group of 5 or 6 Merganser ducks, mostly males. They are very good divers and they were going after breakfast this morning. He also spotted some sea gulls and Canada geese in the Wesley water today.
If any of you are nature photographers, especially bird photographers, please get your gear out and get us some photos of the birds at Wesley Lake. We will post those pictures and get Ted to comment on them.
Aside from those who enjoy the view, there are aspects of the Lake that have to do with history, ecology, politics, water quality, architecture, nature, city planning, commerce, botany and tourism.
Those who visit the Lake often observe the junk that floats out there, although today, after the recent cleanup, we don’t see much stuff.
Ted Bell says, “Floating material from the streets collect at the back water area of the present dam (east end). It should be collected every two weeks in the summer, otherwise this material will end up on the swimming beaches.”
We are motivated to promote restoring Wesley Lake by studying the Lake’s history which reveals what a vibrant place the Lake was. Ted Bell tells us that the Lake was a “recreational area with over 300 boats available for pleasure and transfer of people from and to the camp meeting grounds of Ocean Grove.” He says that the Lake was never used for swimming. We know that Illumination Night was held on lakeshores with many boats carrying lanterns and with thousands of people watching from the sidelines.
Ted reports that small fish lived in the Lake including sun fish, gold fish, carp and catfish. He said that after the Lake was “drained a few years ago, the only fish that remained were two inch long goldfish and nothing else.” Now there are some catfish present again.
We mentioned that he has some ideas about bringing the Lake back. In a recent document Ted said, “Floating rafts with vegetation may be of some help to nesting birds as well as turtles, which would make the lake more interesting. ” In addition he mentioned that “muskrats were present but due to the lack of suitable foods did not survive.” Well, not so fast Ted:
About five years ago there was a muskrat diving into our backyard pond. So guess who was coming to dinner. It would disappear under water and emerge about 5 minutes later. He got none of our fish because they hid in the rocks while we hid in our kitchen overlooking the pond. We live near Wesley Lake and we contacted a trapper who was in the phone listings as Trapper Bob or some similar name. He told us to soak newspaper with ammonia and place it around where the creature had dug a tunnel. It worked. We also could have trapped it and eaten it. Supposedly this rat is delicious.
We also had a frog in our pond as big as your head. That frog undoubtedly came from WL. It got into a fight with a bird, and the frog won.
We will revisit some of these aspects of Wesley Lake again with Ted Bell since he has a long perspective on this subject.
We also welcome input from those local sources on both sides of the divide, such as Doug McQueen who is mentioned in our Nov. 9 post about our Lake lunch meeting, who are interested and want to share their ideas and observations with Blogfinger.
And here’s a link to “Dora the Hedgehog.” Dora the Hedgehog in OG
CAPTAIN AND TENNILLE “Muskrat Love” We are sending this song out to Ted Bell who actually uttered the word “muskrat” for the first time on Blogfinger.
The 2009 Study of Wesley Lake-by Monmouth University forms the basis for further action and study –great reading. It will take hard work but it can be done—Ted Bell