Wraight Bird Field Conservation Area

Wraight You Are
Northern Connecticut Land Trust: Wraight Bird Field Conservation Area, Ellington
December 2023

Before I write about how this isn’t worth your time as a standalone hike, I’d like you to read the following from the Northern Connecticut Land Trust:

The Bird Field Conservation Area is a picturesque and strategic property located on Webster Road in Ellington at the intersection with East Porter Road. The 118.4 acre parcel consists of upland forest, brooks, wetlands and hayfields. The property abuts the Shenipsit State Forest and will provide a trailhead and connection to the large network of state forest trails. The property contains watershed for Shenipsit Lake Reservoir and a section of Charters Brook, a primary feeder stream to the lake. Shenipsit Lake Reservoir provides drinking water to Ellington and the surrounding towns so it is important to protect the purity of the water feeding this lake.

I think that paragraph is a great example of what land trusts do beyond clearing trails for people to walk on. This property isn’t about a trail or a hike or me at all. And I think it’s good to get that reminder every now and then.

Especially when a property doesn’t present itself as worthy of anyone’s time to walk around. And while it really wasn’t worth my time in late 2023, it sounds like it sure will be at some point in the future – as a trailhead that connects to the Shenipsit Trail and the all the other trails within the state forest of the same name.

As Ellington has grown a bit in the 21st century, coming out to places like this will serve as a good reminder of Ellington’s true rural and farming identity. From where I parked on Webster Road, there were two unmaintained dirt roads within sight. Sure, people live on these roads, but they are not nice roads. This is the Ellington I think of when I think of Ellington… not the car dealerships and strip malls that have sprung up in recent decades.

The property was purchased from John and Gloria Wraight, who agreed to a bargain sale in order to ensure that it would be preserved and protected from development. At the request of the former owners, the property is named the Bird Field Conservation Area. This name reflects the historical use of the land by John Wraight’s father who raised pheasants and partridges that were sold to the state to be released for hunting.

That’s funny. As I walked the field’s perimeter and peered into the woods that may someday contain a trail, I enjoyed birdsong and… birds! A big ol’ red-tailed hawk soared above me before perching atop a tree. I didn’t realize the “birds” in the property’s name were birds raised to be shot and killed. Hey, a bird field with condemned birds is still a bird field.

Also as I walked the perimeter, I noticed a bunch of rockpiles. I invented some reason for this in my head – that old timey farmers cleared the field of them and just stacked them at the edges. Eh, that’s probably at least somewhat true.

The woods at the back (western) side of the property are dense and looked to be quite rocky. I’m sure the NCLT will clear an interesting trail over to the Shenipsit and beyond someday, and I’m sure that I, having hiked those woods so many times before, can well imagine the future trail and have no real need to walk it someday.

I’m excused from a revisit, Wraight? Wraight.

Northern Connecticut Land Trust
CTMQ Hikes Northern Connecticut Land Trust’s Trails